Public space activists are claiming a big victory today: the Ontario Court of Appeal has just upheld the validity of the City’s billboard tax, created in 2009 and challenged by the outdoor advertising industry. The background: in December 2009, after years of discussion and a concerted campaign by public space activists, the municipal government passed [...]

At its meeting last night, the Toronto Public Library board approved a plan to hire a contractor to sell advertising on the backs of due-date slips. TPL will also hire a consultant to look for other in-library advertising opportunities that, in the words of library staff, will “maximize revenue and minimize impacts to the delivery [...]

There are some who hope Toronto can advertise its financial troubles away. Early last year, the Toronto District School Board briefly flirted with a scheme to install ad-displaying video screens in schools, before abandoning the idea. Last summer, the TTC signaled that it might be interested in allowing corporate sponsors to name subway stations. More [...]

Our city’s ubiquitous street advertiser, Astral Media, pulled 38 bus-shelter ads yesterday after receiving an unknown number of complaints regarding their lewdness. The offending image: posters for the movie Goon, in which actor Jay Baruchel is sticking his tongue out between two fingers—what the Canadian Press called a “sexually suggestive sign.” (Duh.) The posters were [...]

SPOTTED BY: Eli Singer, followed up and photographed by Kyle Bachan WHERE: College and Bathurst streets WHEN: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.; photographed Sunday at 7:30 a.m. WHAT: On Saturday afternoon, some unknown/heroic Torontonian(s), clearly fed up with Astral Media’s enormous info(less) pillars that have been sprouting up around the city, decided to take a stand. Two [...]

Joining the ranks of rejected garbage bins with huge ad panels, transit shelters that don’t shelter, and push-pedal garbage bins that have been falling apart at an alarming rate, lately Torontonians have been confronted with a new form of failure in our street furniture: giant “InfoToGo” pillars. Today though, there were a couple of very [...]

Over the course of the past few weeks, new sidewalk accoutrements have been installed on many downtown streets. They’re called “InfoToGo pillars,” but they contain very little information—at least, very little pertaining to the city. Every single pillar is supposed to feature a neighbourhood map, right on the skinny part that faces the sidewalk. The [...]

WHERE: The TIFF Bell Lightbox, 35 feet up WHEN: 8:20 p.m. WHAT: This is why people hate TIFF. Many press releases, earnest attempts to create intrigue and build-up, all promising a “spectacle” to kick off the festival. And what we got was a dancer hanging off a wire martini glass, advertising Skyy vodka. Keep an [...]

Click on the map to view a full-size version. Back in March, the TTC indicated that it would entertain proposals to sell naming rights to subway stations and subway lines. It was a small clause buried in a long document outlining the requirements for those seeking to bid on the TTC’s advertising contract, and we [...]

Photo courtesy of Ian Pattillo. SPOTTED BY: Ian Pattillo WHERE: Bloor Street just east of Bedford Road WHEN: Monday afternoon WHAT: They say that money doesn’t grow on trees, but in this case it at least latched onto one. While walking yesterday afternoon, reader Ian Pattillo noticed this five dollar note “taped in an upper [...]

Far be it from us to deny you, our faithful readers, the joys of our new SUBWAYTM system in all its glory. After receiving numerous requests, we now have available for downloading: the complete route map, and all four mock-ups of the stations in the newer, shinier, sponsored Toronto(ist) Transit Commission.   COMPLETE ROUTE MAP [...]