Public Perceptions of Billboards: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

While outdoor advertising is currently the fastest-growing traditional advertising medium, the value of billboards to the public has long been debated. Drawing on a conceptual framework developed by Farris and Albion (1980), contrasting two schools of thought about advertising's economic and societal role, this study reports a meta-analysis of more than 100 surveys of U.S. public opinion toward billboards, covering almost eight decades of findings from more than 100,000 participants. Variables analyzed include the degree to which the public believes billboards are informative, entertaining, irritating, and helpful to the economy; in need of more regulation; and beneficial overall. Results suggest that, both historically and currently, consumers view billboards positively, and a strong majority do not support billboard bans. Moreover, the overall results are more supportive of the notion that the public subscribes to the Advertising = Information school of thought as opposed to the Advertising = Market Power school.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the guidance of the editorial team in developing this paper, as well as help in obtaining survey results from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (including its archives in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University) and Scenic America. Neither organization is responsible for the contents of the article.