Scenic America and its pro-beauty allies scored a critical judicial win last week when the Wisconsin Seventh Circuit upheld the city of Madison’s ban on digital billboards. Chief Judge Diana Sykes applied the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Austin v. Reagan to reject Adams Outdoor Advertising’s First Amendment suit. Adams Outdoor Advertising sued…

Advertisers looking for new ways to catch consumers’ attention are turning to the skies, using elaborate drone displays to deliver their messages. This emerging form of advertising introduces fresh concerns about safety and the impact of such intrusions on the scenic beauty of our skies. According to an article that appeared last month on SmartCitiesDive.com,…

November 3 Marks the 24th Anniversary of the State’s Ban on Billboards On November 3, 1998, Alaskan voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to formally ban billboards throughout the state. The Alaska Prohibition of Billboards Initiative, also known as Measure 5, decreed that “Alaska shall forever remain free of billboards.” With the passage of the law,…

A new report takes aim at the privacy concerns raised by digital billboards, examining how advertisers use the insights they capture from digital ads to tailor the messages served up to people on digital billboards. Developed by Big Brother Watch, a non-partisan and non-profit civil liberties organization based in the UK, the report shows how…

Scenic America is celebrating #BatWeek, October 24-31 by taking a closer look at these fascinating creatures and how we can better protect them and their habitats by limiting light pollution—particularly the light pollution caused by digital billboards.   Research suggests that artificial light can have a negative impact on nocturnal creatures, such as bats, that…

With recreational marijuana now legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, dispensaries are looking for ways to reach new customers—and many of them are turning to outdoor advertising. In an article that first appeared earlier this month in the Lansing State Journal, reporter Mike Ellis called out the boom in billboards promoting cannabis…

Billboard issues came to a head in communities across the country this month, resulting for wins for scenic conservation advocates in Cape May, NJ, and Eureka, CA, and mixed results in Connecticut. Earlier this month, Cape May, NJ, officials rejected two separate applications for digital billboards on roads leading to popular resort destinations. In considering…

Think billboard blight is just a problem in America? Think again. More, and bigger, billboards are coming soon to Canada’s largest city, as the Toronto City Council approved a request to install “super-sized” digital billboards on various corridors in the city. Measuring nearly 700 square feet, these monstrous signs exceed the city’s current signage size…

At 4:31 am on January 17, 1994, residents of Los Angeles were shaken by two things: the Northridge earthquake, and strange lights that appeared in the sky. Otherworldly and ethereal, these lights alarmed people enough to call their local emergency services to report a “giant silvery cloud” hovering above the city. Was it some kind…

Scenic America continues its diligence in protecting the nation’s safety and beautification efforts by working quickly to ensure that an amendment filed on H.R. 8294, the six-bill appropriations minibus, was stopped. The amendment would have kept the Federal Highway Administration from enforcing the Highway Beautification Act (HBA) by cutting off all funding to implement the…