Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts
The first tenuous step to turn billposting into a respectable profession came in 1872, when eleven concerned billposters decided to form the International Billposters’ Association of North America, the first association of advertisers in the country. The Billposters’ Association assured advertisers that their members were the only ones able to provide reliable and certifiable billposting services. They followed through on this promise by having members pledge with bonds that they would fulfill contracts for billposting, and then by penalizing those who reneged on contracts.
In 1895, the Billboard Advertising magazine had been declared the official organ of the Associated Billposters’ Association, but that relationship lasted roughly seven months. When the journal began to report controversies within the association, especially strong-arm tactics of its leaders in reducing competition, the association severed ties.
The American poster craze of the 1890s coincided with the rise of vocal opposition to billboard advertising as an immoral and corrupting influence. Though theatrical posters were targeted specifically, the increasing use of images of women in a variety of advertisements was central to the debate. In response to the charges of immoral advertising content, the association imposed penalties on members who posted any paper carrying sensational or suggestive titles and content and warned lithographers and theater owners to use their influence to end the use of objectionable posters on billboards.
In 1909, the organization took final steps to obliterate the ad-hoc practices of as-chance-may-have-it or unprotected postings. Members could post ads only on spaces that they owned or leased, and they were required to provide clients with contracts of exactly where and for how long the advertiser’s posters would be displayed. No other posters could be assigned to that location.
