ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some research tips for accessing images and descriptions of outdoor advertisements in their contexts so writer’s are not limited to writing about those that their can physically access. Outdoor advertising is a broad term that describes a diverse field of media objects including billboards, signs, posters, and screens that adorn the facades of urban buildings, face drivers on highways, confront shoppers in stores and malls, barrage travelers in airports and transit stations, and confront fans at sports arenas, music venues, and theaters. Unlike television, film, or computer screens, outdoor advertisements do not demand or even encourage undivided attention. Video recordings are useful if the advertisement is on a moving vehicle, if it’s typically viewed by vehicles moving at high speeds, or if the advertisement consists of moving images. In addition to photographs, verbal descriptions and illustrators’ renderings of historic outdoor advertisements in old newspapers, journals, or archival documents are useful documents.
