Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Clear Channel vs. SPY in Encinitas

The Scripps signage was underneath the SPY billboard that was removed by Clear Channel Communications. Photo by Ken Harrison
The Scripps signage was underneath the SPY billboard that was removed by Clear Channel Communications. Photo by Ken Harrison

A billboard that created controversy along Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas was taken down early Thursday morning, September 6, at around 6:20 a.m.

The sign, advertising SPY sunglasses, read: “Happy to Sit On Your Face.” The sign's removal created more controversy when a protest group of 20 formed at around 7:00 a.m. — supporting the sign and the company. The group, lining both sides of 101, received honks from passing motorists. Some of the protest signs read: “I'm Happy.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

SPY's marketing director, Devon Howard, says their billboard was a teaser in the first of a five-billboard campaign to announce the company's February 2013 release of a new type of sunglass lens, which will be branded as “Happy” glasses because they will allow in sunlight's blue light spectrum.

Studies have identified “blue light” as possibly helping humans feel better, keeping one more mentally alert and emotionally present. The building industry, along with auto manufacturers, are also experimenting with blue light glass. A few window companies now offer glass that allows blue light.

SPY, founded by surfers and skaters in Carlsbad in 1994, has used the Encinitas billboard for over a year for various ads. They continue to hold the lease. By September 15, the company's second ad in the “Happy” series will be put up. The company is requesting that the current billboard, advertising Scripps (which was underneath the controversial SPY promotion), be painted over immediately and left blank.

Clear Channel Communications, the sign's owner, did not share with the company how many complaints were received, or from where — government officials or community activists? Howard said SPY has received “tons of support from emails and phone calls. It put a smile on people’s faces when they drove to work.”

Clear Channel originally approved the ad's wording. They announced late in the afternoon on September 5 that the sign would be removed early the next morning. NBC's Channel 7 and San Diego 6 both sent news trucks to the site, and Chip Franklin's KOGO radio talk show covered it live, all of which helped to create the impromptu protest that followed the sign's removal.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Could Supplemental Security Income house the homeless?

A board and care resident proposes a possible solution
The Scripps signage was underneath the SPY billboard that was removed by Clear Channel Communications. Photo by Ken Harrison
The Scripps signage was underneath the SPY billboard that was removed by Clear Channel Communications. Photo by Ken Harrison

A billboard that created controversy along Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas was taken down early Thursday morning, September 6, at around 6:20 a.m.

The sign, advertising SPY sunglasses, read: “Happy to Sit On Your Face.” The sign's removal created more controversy when a protest group of 20 formed at around 7:00 a.m. — supporting the sign and the company. The group, lining both sides of 101, received honks from passing motorists. Some of the protest signs read: “I'm Happy.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

SPY's marketing director, Devon Howard, says their billboard was a teaser in the first of a five-billboard campaign to announce the company's February 2013 release of a new type of sunglass lens, which will be branded as “Happy” glasses because they will allow in sunlight's blue light spectrum.

Studies have identified “blue light” as possibly helping humans feel better, keeping one more mentally alert and emotionally present. The building industry, along with auto manufacturers, are also experimenting with blue light glass. A few window companies now offer glass that allows blue light.

SPY, founded by surfers and skaters in Carlsbad in 1994, has used the Encinitas billboard for over a year for various ads. They continue to hold the lease. By September 15, the company's second ad in the “Happy” series will be put up. The company is requesting that the current billboard, advertising Scripps (which was underneath the controversial SPY promotion), be painted over immediately and left blank.

Clear Channel Communications, the sign's owner, did not share with the company how many complaints were received, or from where — government officials or community activists? Howard said SPY has received “tons of support from emails and phone calls. It put a smile on people’s faces when they drove to work.”

Clear Channel originally approved the ad's wording. They announced late in the afternoon on September 5 that the sign would be removed early the next morning. NBC's Channel 7 and San Diego 6 both sent news trucks to the site, and Chip Franklin's KOGO radio talk show covered it live, all of which helped to create the impromptu protest that followed the sign's removal.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Five new golden locals

San Diego rocks the rockies
Next Article

Classical Classical at The San Diego Symphony Orchestra

A concert I didn't know I needed
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader