Giant ad on Inquirer building in doubt

A plan to temporarily drape the Inquirer-Daily News Building with a massive advertisement for the film Bee Movie was in doubt yesterday, after community groups denounced the effort, calling it "garish" and "shocking."

The advertising needs approval before it can go up, and representatives from Philadelphia Media Holdings, which publishes The Inquirer and the Daily News, sought that permission yesterday morning from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. PMH is seeking to cover large swaths of the building, at 400 N. Broad St., with advertising "wall wraps" and to dangle a 50-foot inflatable bee from the upper floors.

But at least two community groups - the Logan Square Neighborhood Association and an anti-blight organization known as SCRUB - strongly opposed the proposal.

"People think of The Inquirer as the paper that's out there talking about what we should expect of our city. This seems to fly in the face of that," said Mary Tracy, director of SCRUB.

PMH chief executive officer and Inquirer publisher Brian Tierney, however, described the ad campaign as a chance to do something creative.

"It's meant to put a smile on people's faces, and I think it will. It's only for three weeks, so let's give it a go," Tierney said.

Zoning Board of Adjustment Chairman David Auspitz delayed ruling on the matter until Tuesday, and he requested that PMH and the community groups meet and try to work out their differences.

At a meeting last night, PMH representatives presented details of the plan to the Logan Square group and fielded questions - but no decision was made.

"We're going to await the decision of the community group," said PMH spokesman Jay Devine. Some Logan Square members, he added, seemed placated when they learned that future ads would also have to be individually approved by the city.

A Logan Square representative late last night said the group voted "overwhelmingly" to oppose PMH's proposal.

Tierney said that if there was serious opposition to the proposal, PMH would revise or even scrap the campaign entirely. "If it's a genuine issue for folks, and I mean for more than just five people, we won't do it," Tierney said.

Citing business reasons, Tierney declined to say just how much PMH stood to make off the proposed ads, but he characterized the amount as "very little, minuscule, pennies."

What Tierney does hope to gain is some positive attention for the PMH brands.

"If we can do this, it'll be all over the local media and people will be talking about it" he said.

But journalism ethicist Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute said the proposed deal should raise questions for reporters at The Inquirer and Daily News and for readers as well.

"Why do you need to take a time-honored building that houses two reputable papers and wrap it up and turn it into some kind of animated character?" Steele asked. "Is it strictly being done to make money? Are times that bad?"

Tierney dismissed any ethics concerns, noting that the papers' news and advertising divisions were well-separated.

"With Bill Marimow and Michael Days running the show, I have no worries about influence or anything like that," Tierney said, naming The Inquirer's and Daily New's top editors.

If the advertising for Bee Movie, an animated feature starring Jerry Seinfeld scheduled for release in early November, is approved, it would not be the first massive organism to adorn the Inquirer-Daily News building.

Under former Daily News editor Zack Stalberg, the building's tower held a giant, inflatable King Kong to promote the paper's afternoon edition.

And in May, "flying pigs" were projected onto the south side of the building to celebrate increases in circulation.

"It strikes me as something that's just fine," Stalberg said of the bees blitz. "I would just urge everybody to have a sense of humor about it."

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Contact staff writer Patrick Kerkstra at 215-854-2827 or pkerkstra@phillynews.com.