Billboards

Dismissed and often overlooked,billboards were a major force in shaping public opinion during this period. For much of our history, billboards have multiplied as highways have expanded, as car travel has become more common. Advertisers and activists recognized whatcould bedone by reaching such a wide audience. Even public health, war bond sales and civil rights campaigns turned to billboards to get its message out. The directness and commonness of the billboard lent itself to the speaker of information, and an influence of public opinion, about social issues one aspect of the larger picture of social reform in the first half of the twentieth century..