MediaBuyerPlanner: The company that had planned to put bare-bottomed ads up on the billboards that are located on two sides of a Times Square church has agreed to a compromise.
The ads for the Washlet – a bidet toilet that uses warm water and air – originally planned to show a row of naked bottoms with smiley faces across them. After being taken to court, the company compromised with the Times Square Church, and revised the ad by putting a wide, white band across the row of rumps, writes USA Today.
The situation is just part of a trend that has communities across the nation protesting what they see as offensive signs, according to the article. Clear Channel recently removed a billboard for a company that claims YourMarketingSucks, for example, after receiving a call from the New Rochelle, N.Y. mayor’s office. The mayor’s office claimed it had received “more than a dozen calls” complaining about the sign.
The article includes several other instances of billboards being ordered to be removed, or of advertisers coming to compromises with cities.
David Hudson, a scholar at the First Amendment Center, a forum for the study of free-expression issues, says that commercial speech doesn’t receive as much protection as political speech. “The legal landscape is muddled enough that there are a lot of constitutional arguments that can be made, and I think that’s why you see decisions that go all over the place,” he is quoted as saying.
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