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PrintThe city allows advertising on its buses and other vehicles, but this isn't stopping a push by two City Council members to ban advertising on one truck, according to a recent Missourian report.
This black truck drives around Columbia every day for about 12 hours. It doesn't have a destination. Instead, it rotates various advertisements on each of its sides. Tiger Mobile Advertising owns the black vehicle.
First Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz and Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe complained about the truck. Hoppe said the truck is different from company vehicles and city buses.
“It was driven around to attract attention,” Hoppe said in the article. “It's basically a mobile scrolling billboard with no other purpose than to be a mobile scrolling billboard.”
Second Ward Councilman Jason Thornhill said it might not be appropriate to tell a private company that it can't use a mobile advertising truck since Columbia just signed a $200,000 contract for advertising on city buses, according to the article.
The council referred the issue to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Would you support a ban on the mobile advertising trucks?
Show Me the Errors 
Comments
Interesting that 10% of those answering the poll said they'd explain in a comment and I'm the first one.
As far as a waste of fossil fuel, this is a prime example of it. But since the city doesn't ban other fossil fuel intensive activities of questionable value, they shouldn't ban this one.
I've seen it a few times, BTW, and I can't remember one advertiser. One advantage of stationary boards is people see them repeatedly if they're near their daily routine.
DK
With a growing community, traffic congestion is a real concern. It seems to me could use some smart regulations on mobile billboards.
Dynamic advertisements on vehicles must be stationary outside of a moving lane of traffic. Furthermore, when traveling to the stationary location, no dynamic advertisements can be visible. Vehicles that have static advertisements may operate as normal vehicles on our roadways.
Traffic in this town is bad enough without adding more congestion. Have your rotating message billboards attached to a vehicle - but make sure it's parked and not holding up other personal and commercial traffic.
How long before we have a bunch of mobile billboard drivers on the road just advertising to each other? Ha!
Who really cares..? This is just plain idiotic!
Let them advertise, they have a right to be on the road like anyone else. If they want to pay for the gas to run up and down the road with a sign on their vehicle; that is their right!
I hope the city bans it, and the company advertising sues the holy crap out of the city over it!
Rick Gurley.