Billboards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Billboards - Essay Example Panels come in several sizes, named according to the number f sheets f paper originally needed to cover them, such as 8-sheets and 30-sheets. Posters are found mostly in populated areas, in or near cities and towns. Painted bulletins are larger boards situated along highways and major roads. Their name refers to the fact that they were originally painted by hand at the site. (Greenwire 1-7) In Central London, putting messages on outdoor boards used to be extremely labor-intensive. The sheets for poster panels were pasted onto the board while bulletins were hand-painted. Both were created either at the board site or at a central location within the market or region. Because this had to be done in each market, differences resulted in the look f the message from one market to another (and even one site to another within the market). Today, thanks to computer technology, poster panel messages are created electronically and then shipped either in one piece or in sections to the board site. Bulletins still tend to be hand painted, but computers are now used to make sure that the finished product looks identical across boards. Today, bulletins are often created using other materials, such as lithography or special stretch vinyl. (Nadeau 29-29) When we see towards changes in billboards in Las Vegas, in the past 40 years the ind... So you won't see any billboards in Hawaii or Vermont, for example. Unlike other media that have editorial material too, outdoor billboards exist solely for advertising messages. They are primarily a local medium, bought on a market-by-market basis, but are used by both national and local advertisers. The type f business using the medium has changed considerably in the past 20 years. For many years, the biggest category f advertiser was the tobacco industry, but in 1999, legislation was passed prohibiting the advertising f tobacco messages on any outdoor billboards. (Gregory 80-84) This not only had a significant impact on the tobacco industry, it freed up many high-profile and well-positioned billboards across the country for other advertisers who had never been able to buy that space because the tobacco companies had long term deals with the billboard companies. Today, you are far more likely to see billboards from local retailers, the travel industry, or health care providers than you would have even 5 years ago. (Greenwire 1-7) With outdoor billboards you can tailor your message to members f a particular ethnic group using their own language or culture yet still reach a mass audience within a specific market. You can buy space in areas with heavy concentrations f Hispanic people, for example, reaching them where they live, work, and shop. It is harder to reach a large portion f these groups with traditionally "Anglo" television or magazines. Furthermore, it is valuable to be able to reach nonnative English speakers in their first language, whatever language that might be. (Gerfen 50-51) Outdoor advertising is a good supplementary medium, helping to add reach and frequency to a media schedule at reasonable