Signs and/or wonders: How much is too much?

We're back, and we're talking about signs. Urban advertisements. Billboards, pole signs, and much more.

We sure do put up with a lot of signs telling us what to do. Why are we so permissive with our eyeballs? Well, in recent decades, there have been movements across the globe to rid cities of public advertising. We discuss this trend and much more. Plus, what implicit values and priorities are built in to the way advertisement is allowed in cities?

Links:

Want to learn more on this episode’s topic? Here’s just a short list of interesting resources:

• The Stealthy Politics of Urban Advertising
• Can cities kick ads? Inside the global movement to ban urban billboards
• Advertising: Why billboards and outdoor ads are booming in a smartphone age
• The Ad Screens on Ride-Hail Cars Collect Data, Too
• Cities Lose Supreme Court Case on Sign Regulation
• Here Are the Tools to Hack into Your City's Public Advertising
• Shedding Light on Digital Signs (PDF)

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Check us out on Twitter and Instagram @webuiltitpod.

Hosted by AJ Fawver and Jordan Clark. Edited by Jordan Clark.

Music in this episode: Sounds of the Supermarket, Blue Dot Sessions ("Sandy Shuffle"), Homer & Jethro ("The Billboard Song"), Isaac Horwedel, and Gary Nintendo ("Riding a giant eagle over the mountains")