Billboards now deliver news of local deaths

GUNNAR OLSON

Des Moines Register

October 21, 2009

Last Updated October 24, 2009

Des Moines residents are learning about people's deaths in a new way: electronic billboards.

The obituary, long a staple of newspapers, has taken an evolutionary twist, thanks to Iles Funeral Homes of Des Moines and the local division of Clear Channel Outdoor.

"This is not anything I've ever heard of," said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association in Brookfield, Wis.

Obituaries have broken out of print in recent years with the advance of technology, notably the Internet.

Funeral homes publish obituaries on their Web sites, and Koth said she's heard of funeral homes that post obituaries on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. But she said advertising on billboards is new territory.

The electronic billboards are not posting full obituaries; drivers would never have time to read them. The signs are more like service announcements.

Alternating with ads for vacation getaways and gas station soft drinks, the 8-second announcements feature the deceased's name and the day, time and place of the funeral. A picture is optional.

Families don't pay extra.

"We thought that might be a good way to do something similar, to get those service announcements out," said John Wild, general manager at Iles.

The program started with Clear Channel approaching Iles about advertising its funeral homes on electronic billboards, Wild said. He said Iles wasn't interested in advertising itself directly but wondered about doing service announcements.

Tim Jameson, president of the Des Moines division of Clear Channel Outdoor, was mum on details of the program, declining to share even how many electronic billboards the company has in the Des Moines area.

Wild counted at least five, on Interstate Highway 235, 63rd Street, Ingersoll Avenue, Southeast 14th Street and Army Post Road.

Tony Alwin, a senior vice president in marketing and creative with Clear Channel Outdoor, one of the world's largest providers of digital billboards, said he had not heard of the program in Des Moines until a reporter called. He thought it was a good idea.

"I've got to find out more," Alwin said. "That could be something we want to explore more with all of the markets."

Not everyone is a fan.

"Out from the back pages, huh?" said Marilyn Johnson, author of "The Dead Beat," a 2006 book about obituaries.

Johnson, who spent two years studying obituaries from around the world, said billboard obituaries "invite a lot of bad taste."

She said old family photos make bad enough reproductions in newspaper columns, let alone being blown up onto a billboard.

"It could cause accidents, right? Wouldn't you like drive into a telephone pole if you saw your neighbor up there and didn't know? ... "What are you going to do, pull off and mourn?"

Jameson played down questions of whether the ads posed safety issues, saying drivers could just as easily receive news of a loved one's death via a call on their cell phone.

Like it or not, today's world moves at a faster pace, and that includes many distractions on the road, Jameson said. He said the companies that adapt will survive.

"If you think about it, the family living room is not the family living room," he said. "The living room is the minivan."

RODNEY WHITE/REGISTER PHOTO

This electronic billboard can be seen from the northbound lanes of Interstate Highway 235 near Euclid Avenue in Des Moines.