An actress sued Belvedere Vodka after her image was used unwittingly in an ad that jokes about date rape. The ad shows a drunken frat boy type holding back a girl who looks horrified. The ad says, "Unlike some people Belvedere always goes down smoothly." more ›

If an ordinance passed unanimously today by the Los Angeles City Council gets Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's signature, all forms of mobile billboards are about to be outlawed. The ban includes billboards on trailers, cars, mopeds, or bikes, reports City News Service. more ›

Times are tough, and some Southlanders are turning to extreme measures to make ends meet and fight foreclosure. Consider, for example, the Buena Park husband and father of one who allowed an unconventional marketing company to turn his home into a brilliant billboard, ruffling the feathers of neighbors in the process. more ›

A David versus Goliath struggle has erupted in West Hollywood, and the local pet-loving community is voicing its opinions loud and clear. Yesterday, a community pet shop with just two Los Angeles locations received an unexpected two-year anniversary present atop their Santa Monica Boulevard store. more ›

City Controller Wendy Greuel announced today that Los Angeles could have an extra $23 million in the bank had officials not dragged their feet to approve permits for advertising on street furniture. more ›

Have you seen Chevy's new "Then & Now: 100 Years of Chevrolet" commercial? Set to the comforting vocals of Ray Charles belting out "America the Beautiful," the ad is quite creative, elicits a heavy wave of nostalgia and is all-American. And its concept might have "borrowed" from the popular blog Dear Photograph. more ›

The L.A. City Attorney's office is suing the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, alleging that the hotel illegally displayed supergraphic advertising on its exterior walls. C'mon, L.A.! Hollywood needed to know when "How to Train Your Dragon" was hitting theaters! more ›

Four advertisers have said they will no longer support KFI radio's "John & Ken Show" following an awareness campaign mounted by several Latino and immigrants' rights groups. Verizon and AT&T Wireless are yanking their ads, reports the Burbank Leader, and grocers Vons and Ralphs, who have run ads on the show in the past, say they will not do so again. more ›

What's good to the last drop? How about for your video lunch a look at coffee commercials over the years, from the flustered housewives of the 1960s who need Folgers' instant to perk up their domestic bliss, to Juan Valdez greeting you with his "Buenos dias!" from your cupboard. more ›

Carl's Jr, the Southern California burger chain known for their heavy marketing to the douchebag demographic, has agreed to change several ads that customers have complained are deliberately misleading, reports the OC Register. The ads are for a 2 for $5 burger deal. In two of the ads, the voiceover says, "Unlike the debt crisis, your appetite is something we can fix." The deal applies to the Western Bacon Cheeseburger -- but instead of showing that burger in the ads, the company used an image of the bigger, juicier Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger. more ›

The battle over the exclusive right to install thousands of bus benches in the city for the next 10 years has been won — and the winner is Florida-based Martin Outdoor Media, according to The Daily News. A city council vote on Friday afternoon brings an end to the battle by two sides heavily armed with lobbyists and a cash-strapped city hall looking for a cut of the bench's advertising revenue (they got $2.76 million over 10 years). Caught in the middle were bus riders who like to have a seat while they're waiting for their bus. more ›

Los Angeles is a hotbed for startups. Mark Suster, a long-time investor in L.A. startups, informed Business Insider of the three main areas where Los Angeles excels - online video, advertising and vertical e-commerce. He also named fourteen local startups that everyone should be following. more ›

Following pressure from several groups including a change.org petition launched by Ms. Magazine, the California Milk Processor Board's latest campaign website EverythingIDoIsWrong.org morphed into GotDiscussion.com where the The Milk Board, operated by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and best known for the "got milk?" campaign, posted a quasi-apology (aka "sorry to the few humorless idiots we offended") on Thursday. more ›

Media Leaders, the social media strike team that manages Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for over a dozen brands, hosts an influential networking event tonight in Santa Monica. more ›

According to rap icon Dr. Dre, what "we" do in L.A. is drive around Downtown in the dark, dark night, in a dark, dark car with a kickin' stereo system. So are you buying what he's selling? more ›

San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow has been in a coma since his attack by unknown assailant in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium on March 31st. Authorities are continuing to work to locate the suspects in the brutal beating, and today hundreds of billboards will go up around the city to help find them, reports CBS2. more ›

A class action lawsuit filed against Taco Bell asked the fast food chain "where's the beef?" and now that lawsuit has been dropped, reports MyFoxLA, after Taco Bell made alterations to their "marketing and product disclosure." At issue was the amount of beef in the beef mix they put in their various menu items; the suit alleged false advertising, claiming that the "meat" was made of more binders and fillers than actual beef. more ›

CBS Outdoor will pay more than $4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the City of L.A. alleging that six of its supergraphic advertising placements were not permitted. The terms of the settlement allows CBS Outdoor to continue to advertise using supergraphics, or "tall wall" billboards, on three of the four buildings in question, the exception being 1025 N. Highland. more ›

It looks like Taco Bell's PR team has been working overtime after a how legit-is-your-meat lawsuit alleged that the meat in your Chalupa is full of "extenders" that add fake volume. The Huffington Post reports that a new "Thank You for Suing Us" campaign hit today's editions of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times and other papers. more ›

In an era when advertising is based on honesty, and the fast food industry prides itself on serving only the highest-quality fresh ingredients in their thoughtfully prepared dishes, it is nothing short of shocking that OC-based Mexicasual giant Taco Bell has been slapped with a lawsuit alleging they're lying when they say their food uses "seasoned ground beef" or "seasoned beef." more ›

Calling it a "new and creative approach in raising revenue for the general fund," Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines is applauding the School Board's unanimous vote yesterday to approve pursuing corporate sponsorships to support programs. The Board's vote authorizes Cortines to seek corporate sponsorships of up to $500,000 to generate revenue that will go towards sustaining sports and arts programs. more ›

A state law that will take effect January 1st will allow local governments to regulate mobile billboards, those unhitched trailers that display advertisements and are left on streets for weeks or months at a time, mostly in the San Fernando Valley. Complaints over the years have piled up about the signs because residents see them as blight, a public safety hazard and reason why parking can be difficult in some areas. more ›

Around the world, all eyes were on the coverage of the 33 trapped Chilean miners being brought to the surface after a 69-day ordeal; the miners' eyes, however, were shielded from the elements by dark sunglasses by Oakley, an Orange County-based company, who donated 35 pairs, according to an AP report published in the Daily News. more ›

Thanks to a law signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this month, cities now have the power to ban mobile billboards, and Los Angeles, which pushed the issue with state legislators, will be no exception. Today a city council committee (.pdf) will discuss three motions that could spell out the death for the unhitched trailers that display ads throughout the city, mostly in the San Fernando Valley. more ›

Just Say Now, the pro-pot legalization group using the web to mobilize support, have found a new home for the very same ads that were yanked by Facebook earlier this month. The ads are now running on Google. more ›

If you're a Facebook user, you surely have noticed the targeted ads that appear on the sidebar of the site's pages. One of those ads that ran earlier this month was from Just Say Now, a group that is using the internet to grow support for the movement to legalize marijuana, explains the Huffington Post. more ›

A petition to put a local billboard tax measure on a future West Hollywood ballot has been submitted to city hall and it already has city leaders on the defense. Even before a petition has been approved for circulation -- enough residents need to sign it in order to be placed on the ballot -- City Councilmember Jeffrey Prang this afternoon sent out a "voter advisory." more ›

Lonnie Franklin, Jr., considered to be the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer, was arrested in the vicinity of a billboard erected to aid in his capture. Now the electronic billboards--updated to laud local law enforcement for their work on making the arrest--are caught in a crossfire of opinions about their role in the community. more ›

The Los Angeles City Attorneys office this week filed for a civil law enforcement action in regards to five supergraphic locations around Los Angeles. Vanguard Outdoor LLC sign company, a handful of sign installers and property owners were all named as defendants. "These supergraphic signs were and are illegal in that they were erected, and have been used and maintained, without required permits and inspections," alleges the complaint, which describes them as public nuisances. more ›

Have you noticed any new supergraphics around town? How about walls that usually carry supergraphics that are now blank. LAist reader Josh this morning took the above photo and asked "for as long as I can remember there's been an ad for Apple's latest iDevice covered the north face of this building. Is this the latest casuality in the supergraphic showdown?" more ›