Billboard Insider gets a lot of questions from readers, and especially in light of the upcoming election, on political billboard advertising in particular. Here’s a recent example:
“We have a person here in Vegas that wants to run some pro Trump messaging on our units. He is not affiliated with the Trump campaign, does not have a pac or any other affiliation. Just a guy wanting to run some billboards that says Vote Trump. Knowing that campaigns have to have their disclaimer of who paid for their advertisement, does this individual? If they don’t have a disclaimer what potential issue(s) do either the billboard company and or advertiser run in to?”
According to federal law, the type of political billboard advertisement described by the reader is an “independent expenditure,” defined as “an expenditure for a communication, such as a website, newspaper, TV, or direct mail advertisement that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, and is not made in consultation or cooperation with, or at the request or suggestion of any candidate, or his or her authorized committees or agents, or a political party committee or its agents.”
Independent expenditures are not contributions, and as such, they are not subject to contribution limits. However, as the reader asks, there are requirements on disclaimer notices for independent expenditures. Specifically, “communications paid for an individual, a group, a political committee, a corporation, or a labor organization, but not authorized by a candidate or a candidate’s campaign, must contain a disclaimer notice identifying who paid for the communication and indicating whether any candidate or candidate’s committee authorized the communication.”
As to the particular wording of the disclaimer notice, it must contain the full name of the individual, group, political committee, corporation, or labor organization that paid for the communication, along with any abbreviated name it uses to identify itself. The disclaimer must also provide the payor’s permanent street address, telephone number, or website address, and it must further state that the communication was not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. The following is a typical example of the required disclaimer notices for an independent expenditure: “Paid for by the Fishermen’s Union PAC (www.fishunion.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
There are also special requirements for printed communications, like billboards. Specifically, printed communications must contain a printed box that is set apart from the contents of the communication. The print size of the disclaimer in this box must be of sufficient type size to be clearly readable by the recipient of the communication, and the print must have a reasonable degree of color contrast between the background and the printed statement.
I think this answers the reader’s questions, and more. If not, this or any other readers know how to contact me, and I’m sure we’ll have an interesting conversation about politics as well.
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