New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposes to sell naming rights to bridges and to rail and subway stations to corporate advertisers. Meanwhile, in Rome, city planners have been very successful raising funds for restoring ancient buildings and monuments by selling advertising space. Billboards hang on scaffolding while a structure is being renovated.
In the summer of 2004, 50 important sites with aging facades were available to the highest advertising bidder-including the Pantheon-while a huge (and very suggestive) billboard advertising Glam Shine lipstick hung over the Spanish Steps. Is this a win-win situation?
What are the ethics of mixing public and private imperatives in this way? Where should the line be drawn?