{"id":1883,"date":"2007-05-13T12:47:40","date_gmt":"2007-05-13T16:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1883"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:49:15","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:49:15","slug":"utility-poles-and-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Utility poles and free speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In today&#8217;s Toronto Star, writer Murray Whyte <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/News\/article\/213341\">examines the current state of postering<\/a> in the city and discovers that the corporate advertisers are not only taking over our street furniture, they now control postering on major streets.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span id=\"ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder_article_NavWebPart_Article_ctl00___BodyLineup__\">They&#8217;re the legacy of decades of posters announcing everything from the disappearance of a much-loved pet to a garage sale to a fledgling band&#8217;s gig to, on one recent afternoon, a curious proposition to &#8220;Breathe Less, Live Longer&#8221; (from the Buteyko Breathing Association of Canada).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>These are the familiar, the traditional: neighbourhood communiqu&eacute;s writ just large enough for locals to notice, then take or leave.<\/p>\n<p>But on main arteries, like Queen, King, Yonge, College and Bloor streets, neighbourhood notices are withering beneath a flexing of corporate muscle. A recent survey: Companies like Gillette and Amp&#8217;d Mobile, blockbuster movies like <em>The Reaping<\/em>, or mega-clubs such as Koolhaus have pasted over the humble one-offs that sprout up from the grassroots.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been a real shift,&#8221; says Matt Blackett, creative director of <em>Spacing<\/em> magazine, which grew out of a campaign to save postering. (The magazine&#8217;s first issue, in 2003, the slogan: &#8220;Freedom of speech is a thousand times more beautiful than clean lamp posts.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>But paving the way for corporate takeover is not what Blackett and company had in mind. &#8220;The ones who can afford massive outdoor advertising campaigns are the ones who do the most postering now,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>On every second pole on Queen, a massive baby-blue poster with bright orange lettering heralds &#8220;Freedom,&#8221; a sprawling, corporate-sponsored musical event at the Guvernment. Underneath it, a handful of smaller postings are cast in darkness, invisible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Read the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/News\/article\/213341\">full article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In today&#8217;s Toronto Star, writer Murray Whyte examines the current state of postering in the city and discovers that the corporate advertisers are not only taking over our street furniture, they now control postering on major streets. They&#8217;re the legacy of decades of posters announcing everything from the disappearance of a much-loved pet to a<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Utility poles and free speech&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21757,32],"tags":[5689,5688,668,5686,5685,5690,370,5691,498,1106,16,316,5684,341,454,5687],"class_list":["post-1883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-streetscape","tag-amp","tag-buteyko-breathing-association-of-canada","tag-creative-director","tag-director-of-spacing-magazine","tag-freedom","tag-gillette","tag-king","tag-massive-outdoor-advertising-campaigns","tag-matt-blackett","tag-murray-whyte","tag-posters","tag-queen","tag-the-reaping","tag-toronto-star","tag-writer","tag-yonge"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Utility poles and free speech - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Utility poles and free speech - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In today&#8217;s Toronto Star, writer Murray Whyte examines the current state of postering in the city and discovers that the corporate advertisers are not only taking over our street furniture, they now control postering on major streets. They&#8217;re the legacy of decades of posters announcing everything from the disappearance of a much-loved pet to aContinue reading &quot;Utility poles and free speech&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-05-13T16:47:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T19:49:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Spacing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/\",\"name\":\"Utility poles and free speech - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-05-13T16:47:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T19:49:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8c83ce5c55781ffa1799b2f82e10f6fc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Utility poles and free speech\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8c83ce5c55781ffa1799b2f82e10f6fc\",\"name\":\"Spacing\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d01c1420044e2ba7942209492e19eb9c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d01c1420044e2ba7942209492e19eb9c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Spacing\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Utility poles and free speech - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Utility poles and free speech - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"In today&#8217;s Toronto Star, writer Murray Whyte examines the current state of postering in the city and discovers that the corporate advertisers are not only taking over our street furniture, they now control postering on major streets. They&#8217;re the legacy of decades of posters announcing everything from the disappearance of a much-loved pet to aContinue reading \"Utility poles and free speech\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2007-05-13T16:47:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T19:49:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Spacing","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Spacing","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/","name":"Utility poles and free speech - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg","datePublished":"2007-05-13T16:47:40+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T19:49:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8c83ce5c55781ffa1799b2f82e10f6fc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/poster-pole.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/05\/13\/utility-poles-and-free-speech\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Utility poles and free speech"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8c83ce5c55781ffa1799b2f82e10f6fc","name":"Spacing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d01c1420044e2ba7942209492e19eb9c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d01c1420044e2ba7942209492e19eb9c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Spacing"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/spacing.ca"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38988,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions\/38988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}