County May Sell Advertising Space at Parks, Beaches

Orange County would sell advertising space on hundreds of beach and park benches, trash cans, telephone booths, lifeguard towers and signs under a proposal that the Board of Supervisors will consider this week.

The marketing campaign, which the county is pursuing in concert with local coastal cities and the state parks service, would change the look of Orange County’s prized beaches.

But it could also generate more than $800,000 a year in badly needed revenue for use in maintaining and improving the coastal recreation areas.

“With our diminishing budget picture, it becomes critical that we rethink how we deliver services to the public,” said Larry Paul, manager of coastal facilities for the county Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department. “We need to find a better way to do business. This proposal will provide us with funds that the [county] doesn’t have.”

Officials stress that the marketing effort would be sensitive to the natural look of the beaches, and that agencies would seek out “appropriate, inoffensive” corporate sponsors such as auto makers and soft drink companies. Advertising from alcohol and tobacco companies would be prohibited.

The coastal agencies are also considering an “adoption” program in which companies would pay for maintenance and upkeep of a stretch of beach in exchange for signs recognizing their contributions.

“We don’t call it advertising. It’s more corporate sponsorship,” said Jack Roggenbuck, district supervisor for Orange County’s seven state beaches. “We don’t want to just plaster corporate logos all around here. There has to be some public benefit to it.”

Nonetheless, some environmentalists are already raising concerns.

“People go to parks and the beaches to get away from the work of man,” said Elisabeth Brown, president of the Laguna Greenbelt. “I think it could only work if it was very low-key and you had strict guidelines. Having the kinds of advertisements you see on the bus shelters would look awful.”

But Pierce Flynn, executive director of the National Surfrider Foundation, said he generally supports the marketing effort.

“It’s a nice form of partnership between public agencies, businesses and citizens to help fill a need,” he said.

The county’s proposal is similar to an aggressive beach marketing effort in Los Angeles County that has drawn mixed reviews from residents. The campaign--best known for the rows of beach trash cans emblazoned with the logo of “the Wave” radio station painted on them--nets $1.3 million a year in revenue.

Huntington Beach receives about $250,000 from its own marketing program, including the donation of Chevrolet trucks to its marine safety division. Simple Green, a cleaning product, “sponsors” the city’s beach and has its logo on trash cans.

“We’ve cut back so much in our beach maintenance that we would have real problems without sponsors,” said Ron Hagan, the city’s community services director.

Orange County’s other beaches and parks are ideal for corporate promotional activities because more than 12 million people visit them annually, marketing experts said.

“The beaches are well used. It’s part of the local lifestyle,” said Dusty Brogan, marketing director for the Los Angeles County Beaches and Harbors Department. “It’s an opportunity [for advertisers] to target those user groups.”

The proposal comes three months after Orange County emerged from bankruptcy, which exacted a heavy toll on its Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department. Under the county’s bankruptcy recovery plan, the department will lose $80 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years.

The cutbacks leave officials with less money to maintain and expand parks and beaches, even though attendance continues to rise.

If the Board of Supervisors approves the department’s proposal, officials would begin seeking potential sponsors, probably with the assistance of Los Angeles County’s marketing department.

Once advertisers are identified, each agency would evaluate the proposal to determine whether it meets their standards. The Board of Supervisors would give final approval to all sponsors on county beaches and parks.

“Some people’s immediate reaction is, ‘My God, this is crass commercialism,’ ” Paul said. “But we have checks and balances in place. If a city council or board doesn’t want a certain sponsor, it can just vote no. We are looking for tasteful, unobtrusive forms of corporate sponsorship.”

State officials said advertisements would likely be limited to small logos on signs, street furniture and lifeguard equipment.

Adding new billboards or other overt forms of advertising to beaches is prohibited by state law, they added.

Under a pilot program last year, the Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water Co. donated signs containing high-tide information, swim safety tips as well as the company’s logo for lifeguard towers.

“It’s not advertising for advertising’s sake,” Roggenbuck said. “It’s a sponsored public service message.”

Advertising is not new to Orange County beaches, which used trash cans with the distinctive Coppertone suntan lotion logo through the 1970s.

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For Sale

County officials have proposed seeking corporate sponsors to contribute money and equipment to county beaches and parks in exchange for the right to display their logos there. The campaign could generate up to $800,000 in revenues. Some places where the logos might be displayed:

* Benches

* Lifeguard towers

* Telephone booths

* Trash cans

* Signs

* Lifeguard clothing

* Water temperature boards

Sources: County Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department, California Parks Service