Earlier today, as I was traveling down Alder Street, something caught my eye. In a sea of billboards competing with each other for my consciousness, I almost missed it. I almost went right by without registering it. But the face staring out from the huge, seemingly commonplace billboard was one that deserved attention, and quietly demanded it.
I had already looked away when it struck me. I had to back up and look again. Sure enough, in a city where every bare surface is covered with the cold face of commerce, where murals are illegal unless they're selling something and Clear Channel serves as gatekeeper of our collective consciousness, I had stumbled upon something different. This jaunty little pig was not selling anything. More revolutionary still, the little rogue was actually imparting an animal rights message! Surely I must be seeing things, I thought. After all, doesn't Clear Channel own every billboard in the city? Clear Channel once refused to sell ad space for a sign promoting vegetarianism, claiming that such a message was "too controversial." (Though, of course, "public service" slots for the forest industry, claiming that logging saves forests from fires, are not considered controversial at all by Clear Channel. Nor are signs advertising for the meat industry, or billboards selling women's bodies along with the cheap products they adorn and are adorned by.) Upon closer examination, I discovered that this was not a billboard at all, but an expertly executed banner.
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