Apple's 'illegal' Boston billboard at center of political controversy

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 42
    One more battle involving apple
  • Reply 22 of 42
    mark2005mark2005 Posts: 1,158member
    The "billboard" actually makes the semi-industrial/elevated highway/parking lot area look nicer, given its bright colors. (I've been there many times in person as it's also next to Chinatown.)



    Before the iPod ads were placed there (before the touch, it was a series of different nano ads), it used to be a giant mural with dolphins and fish. That was nice too.
  • Reply 23 of 42
    As a MURP student, I've come to have a greater appreciation for codes and ordinances like the one regulating this scenario. If Apple (or the 3rd party advertiser) had simply followed the process (which isn't really that cumbersome) this wouldn't be a problem.



    In fact, Boston seems to have a pretty democratic (i.e responsive and fair) process of regulating outdoor advertising. Not all municipalities have a board (probably comprised of local businesses and city officials/planners) to regulate these issues. Thus, some advertisers are simply shut out by the process if their plans don't meet required specifications.



    In other words, before attacking Boston and its officials, at leats understand that they're doing this the right way, unlike the advertiser who purposefuly violated city code.
  • Reply 24 of 42
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    I certainly can't speak to the local codes, but wow, that's a tacky ad. Not only is it needlessly enormous, if I were paying for a billboard ad, I wouldn't want to post one where its immediate surroundings don't look nice or tidy.
  • Reply 25 of 42
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    What a rundown hood. Must be near a railway or highyway.

    Or does all of Boston look like that?



    yea bean town looks worn and tired ,



    this topic is cutting edge news

    thank you >> AI << for the watching grass growing is more than reading these articles of late
  • Reply 26 of 42
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    I certainly can't speak to the local codes, but wow, that's a tacky ad. Not only is it needlessly enormous, if I were paying for a billboard ad, I wouldn't want to post one where its immediate surroundings don't look nice or tidy.



    huh ??

    jeff you sound so anti apple lately

    that ad rocks dude

    we had a very large mets player from 1996 dwight gooden in NYC . and it was so over the top smash face that it works. of course you need to love the subject to approve I guess .



    i mean really jeff we are attacked all day with ads >>at least this one is fun



    peace
  • Reply 27 of 42
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    huh ??

    jeff you sound so anti apple lately

    that ad rocks dude

    we had a very large mets player from 1996 dwight gooden in NYC . and it was so over the top smash face that it works. of course you need to love the subject to approve I guess .



    i mean really jeff we are attacked all day with ads >>at least this one is fun



    To me, the excessive size is the only thing that is obnoxious about it, but why make excuses for that? Isn't Apple supposed to be about the subtle, tasteful, etc., don't you think the testosterone fest of being so outsized clash with that image?



    And the surroundings really do look a bit run down.
  • Reply 28 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Roland21 View Post


    That's the bigger ad i ever seen! REALLY BIG!



    Seems like some of you guys don't get out much but billboards like this are all over the place in NY. Boston has allays been a cluster F---K and always out to make a few extra bucks anyway they can. Do you remember the adult swim debacle? Ugh the mayor is an idiot... I mean who would send out a task force to round up a bunch of litebrights? I should mention that Adult Swim had the proper permits and a good friend got fired over it... and yeah it's a very ghetto city, always has been. Much of the east coast is that way; due to the 200 yr old infrastructure it's hard to make changes. The east coast is kinda like Windows I guess. we need to ditch some legacy code yet it's still where I want to be.



    here's a link about the Adult Swim fiasco...



    http://www.boston.com/news/local/art...eneration_gap/
  • Reply 29 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bedouin View Post


    Good thing the city has time and money to waste bickering about how big a sign is rather than something actually productive.



    Well think if it this way:



    Say you have a large billboard that pays real estate and property taxes a few hundred feet away. You have a billboard because back in the day that was the only way to get such a large, stable (won't blow over in the wind) platform for large signs visible from the highway. You pay taxes and licensing fees if you are the owner (variable but temporarily fixed costs year over year), and you take in fees to post the adverts. You are also conforming to sign bylaws, and the best part is only so many are allowed so traffic is safe and least distracted.



    Along comes a building owner who illegally paints, or posts to the whole side of his building for an advert that breaks a number of lesser defined sign and property bylaws, and you are losing out on advertising because the mindshare and visual spectacle of an 8 story building is far better than your piddly 25-50 foot signage.



    So the hurt is not intangible. Property standards in municipal government is busy enough...they usually enforce sign bylaws on top of making sure people aren't dumping garbage and leaving car wrecks in their front yards. In my City it's just as bad...and yes all of those cool building-size ads are illegal, or sitting on the edge of being so. The pressure to enforce comes from people who are losing the benefit of a working business model. That kind of business complaint is championed by the Councillor or Mayor.



    It's an interesting topic...once you lose control of your bylaw enforcement, you see posters and garbage everywhere as a result. Then the big players come in, and how do you stop that? You don't - you only control it as best you can. The end result is that every square inch of your neighbourhood could end up plastered in ads that end up abandoned in some way or another depending on which "space" is hot from one week to the next.



    Don't think this is so cool...you'll have ads on your streets and driveways when they get done with it all. That's why restrictions are often imposed to keep things controlled and sane.



    Imagine adverts on the side of every tall building you see.
  • Reply 30 of 42
    wow thats a big billboard!
  • Reply 31 of 42
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    To me, the excessive size is the only thing that is obnoxious about it, but why make excuses for that? Isn't Apple supposed to be about the subtle, tasteful, etc., don't you think the testosterone fest of being so outsized clash with that image?



    And the surroundings really do look a bit run down.





    i liked the over sized testosterone fest thats seen/scene for miles around



    pk ok it is way way over board in size and it does insult locals who may be poor

    and 3 yrs of it can be very obnoxious.



    so i stand corrected



    peace

    0
  • Reply 32 of 42
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    i liked the over sized testosterone fest thats seen/scene for miles around



    pk ok it is way way over board in size and it does insult locals who may be poor

    and 3 yrs of it can be very obnoxious.



    so i stand corrected



    peace

    0



    It's OK to like it, I thought the size was incongruent with Apple's image.
  • Reply 33 of 42
    mark2005mark2005 Posts: 1,158member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    I certainly can't speak to the local codes, but wow, that's a tacky ad. Not only is it needlessly enormous, if I were paying for a billboard ad, I wouldn't want to post one where its immediate surroundings don't look nice or tidy.



    Since it's mainly to be viewed from the elevated highway across from it, it doesn't make a difference what the neighborhood looks like, and the size becomes appropriate. (The picture is taken from the edge of being underneath the highway.)



    The surroundings may not look so nice, but the whole area behind that building (the other side) is rapidly being gentrified. A little while ago, new 1 and 2-bedroom condos (some being converted warehouses) in that area were going for $600K-$800K, and that's with the housing "crash."
  • Reply 34 of 42
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    LOl you can buy locks and itunes cards inside. These are some smart guys. I wonder if the wearhouse was asked to carry itunes cards.
  • Reply 35 of 42
    multimediamultimedia Posts: 1,034member
    I love that ad. How can they object to such a wonderful work of art?
  • Reply 36 of 42
    lwslws Posts: 9member
    So, is that ad more than two times bigger than the store floor area in Boston?
  • Reply 37 of 42
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mark2005 View Post


    Since it's mainly to be viewed from the elevated highway across from it, it doesn't make a difference what the neighborhood looks like, and the size becomes appropriate. (The picture is taken from the edge of being underneath the highway.)



    I'm aware that it's a billboard. But even then, why does it need to be so large? That's far larger than a typical billboard.
  • Reply 38 of 42
    You think they could take some of that $110,000 and clean-up the weeds around the billboard.
  • Reply 39 of 42
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    It's OK to like it, I thought the size was incongruent with Apple's image.



    remember all those tanks surrounding the tera flop mac tv ad ???



    or the intel guy in silver suit on fire ??



    yet it took mac 2 decades to, mention the no virus advantage ...



    enjoy your football sunday

    go jets !!
  • Reply 40 of 42
    The funny thing, IMO, is that the article mentions a "flagship" Apple Store that has less than half the square footage of the ad.
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