Short version: The city is dropping some cash to put up signs all over the place that point to various places of interest like famous restaurants, neighborhoods or attractions. Some are whining about this though when they found out that the signs will only be leading the way to attractions that have paid the city for the sign placement.

There are lots of problems people can, and should, be complaining about, but this isn’t one of them. The whiney business owners need to just shut up and pay for the advertising or don’t. You don’t expect to get free billboards from the city, and you shouldn’t expect to just get on the signs because you think your restaurant is special.

Everyone knows those Dirt Cheap ads with that dumb Chicken jumping around. What you didn’t know is that Dirt Cheap has spent upwards of _$9._2 Million dollars in advertising between 1993 – 2009!

That little detail was a nugget of WTF information embedded in the court documents about the trademark lawsuit between Dirt Cheap and competitor Cheap Cheap.

Dirt Cheap, a chain of 12 St. Louis-area discount liquor and cigarette stores, filed a suit this week in federal court in St. Louis against the owners of stores called “Cheap Cheap,” alleging trademark infringement.

[Read More]

We’ve had our little Advertising link up on the top of the site since day one, but really it had nothing there. We were playing it cool, as if we were leaning on the hood of our website with an unbuttoned jeans jacket and one leg up on the car.

Now we’re actually making a go at this.

A trip to the advertising page now gives you sample ad sizes and prices for a month of advertising on a site that’s just too cool for  your competitors. We’re talking as low as $20 a month. For our sexy readers we think about when we’re lonely because we love them so much it hurts our special parts, don’t worry: There will be no more space on this site taken up by ads than there is now. Which is good for you, the readers, and for you, the advertisers, since your ad won’t get lost in a whirlwind of blinking crap.

“Johnny Londoff, Chevrolet!”

Johnny Londoff, Sr., the long-time car dealer that had one of the catchiest jingles in St. Louis history has died at the age of 86.

Londoff founded the Chevrolet car dealership in Florissant on Dunn Road.   Londoff started the dealership in 1960.   Before that, he owned a dealership in North St. Louis which he had started in 1946.

Londoff was well known for his catchy advertising jingle and his talent for promotion on billboards, radio, TV, and newspapers.

[Read More]

The city of St. Louis is launching an advertising campaign to help with the chronic issue of car break-ins within the city limits.

The crime has blossomed in recent years, with the advent of GPS devices and MP3 players. The thrust of the new initiative is to alert motorists to not leave anything in sight inside their cars. The campaign will be managed through window posters and billboards paid for by the police department, a total of about $7,500.

[Read More]

I’m not here to be that guy that tells everyone that racism doesn’t exist any more.  It totally does and seen plenty of it with my own eyes.  This however, isn’t it:

When Sonja McClendon searched for senior housing for her 87-year-old black father in St. Louis County, she spotted advertisements for housing centers that didn’t feature any black people.

[Read More]

The Missouri Supreme Court is apparently mulling over a law that would require all advertisements for lawyers to include the statement:

“The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisement.”

You know, because if not, I was totally gonna.

Here’s how it would work if the law passes for each type of ad (from STLToday.com and the Missouri Board of Governers):