Bad, bad billboards (Part 2 of 3)

Highway spam! Litter on a stick! Sky trash! Whatever we call them, billboards are ugly, intrusive, and sometimes pointless. Is billboard blight a problem? I think so, but what do other people think?

Recent polls commissioned by various states and universities reveal the same definitive fact--People do not like billboards. They favor moratoriums on new construction of boards, if not outright bans. In Houston, 81% of the citizens strongly support the city’s ordinance which will remove all billboards by 2013. In Missouri, 78% of citizens oppose any new billboard construction. (I sympathize with them, since their state is already inundated with outdoor advertising.) Citizens of Florida favor reduction in the number of billboards by a 10-to-1 margin. Los Angeles has recently instituted a moratorium on new construction, while they formulate a strict signage plan.

Some states have long-standing bans on boards. Hawaii led the way in the 1920’s by removing all billboards and banning new construction. On a visit to Molokai a couple of years ago, I drove the entire length of the 26-mile island with nothing but the occasional palm tree blocking my view of the blue Pacific. Paradise, indeed! Maine and Vermont removed all billboards in the 1970’s. One Vermont businessman expressed his view: “I do not think the short-term gains that billboards would bring to my business are worth the permanent degradation to our scenic roadsides…Visitors have come to expect more of us.” Alaska joined them in 1998 by passing a state referendum prohibiting billboards, and Montana is considering such a measure. Over 700 communities nationwide have banned new construction and instituted plans for gradual removal.

Other than the obvious degradation to the environment, how do billboards damage our quality of life? Excessive outdoor advertising is detrimental to our health. Boards bombard everyone, including minors, with messages encouraging alcohol and tobacco use. Outdoor advertising contributes to the numbers of automobile accidents, and it stunts economic growth in states and communities.

Sign overload endangers our health by increasing our levels of stress. A study at Texas A&M measured blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, rapid eye activity, and facial muscle movement of drivers as they commuted. One set of drivers sped through urban blight on roads cluttered with billboards and large on-site signs. The other group motored through areas unspoiled by billboards. Guess which group had higher stress levels.

Billboards cannot be turned off, so their messages are visible to all, including children. Studies in Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit found that 75% of the existing billboards were located in minority neighborhoods, and three-fourths of those boards advertised alcohol or tobacco. Of the top ten billboard advertisers nationwide, eight are tobacco or alcohol companies.

The Outdoor Advertising Association of America brags that motorists cannot ignore their product. You may have seen signs that state, “Does outdoor advertising work? It just did!” The Federal Highway Administration maintains that there is a positive correlation between numbers of billboards and frequency of automobile accidents. Traffic safety is often cited by billboard opponents as a basis for regulation of signs, and federal and state courts have agreed. Do you sometimes find that you are trying unsuccessfully to read all the information on the boards as you drive? A study in Virginia found that on one road in that state, a person driving 45 miles per hour would have to read five times the average reading speed, or 1363 words a minute, to read all the billboards.

Environmental concerns include the destruction of thousands of trees per year by outdoor advertising companies. Many billboards are located on private land, but some states allow billboard companies to cut trees on publicly-owned land so that motorists have unobstructed views of boards. Outdoor advertising companies may call this practice “vegetation control” or “right-of-way maintenance,” but it is nothing more than cutting down our trees for their gain. According to a U.S. General Accounting Office report in 1986, 1100 trees were cut in Louisiana so that billboards at just two sites could be seen from a highway. A 1994 survey in Missouri found that 80% of the citizens oppose the state law which allows tree-cutting on public rights-of-way in front of signs. Recently the Georgia Supreme Court stood up for citizens’ rights by ruling that cutting trees on public land for the purpose of billboard visibility is unconstitutional, because the private benefit to the billboard companies does not engender a correlating benefit to the state and its citizens.

Billboards are ugly, intrusive, damaging to quality of life, and dangerous. Are some of them just pointless? In an area near the Lake of the Ozarks, gigantic double-decker signs advertise the WOW (Walk on Water) Church and the Williams Oncology Service. A traveler might be moved by the spirit to check out the WOW Church, if only to see if it lives up to its name, but surely no one will choose an oncologist because of outdoor advertising.

Next week--Are billboards bad for business?