Billboards and other outdoor advertising spaces across the country are urging viewers to take steps to protect endangered species as part of an Earth Day campaign organized by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America.

OAAA announced in early April that it had partnered with the Earth Day Network for the #ProtectOurSpecies campaign, which offers members downloadable ads featuring endangered species that can be displayed on digital billboards and bus shelters. The ads direct viewers to EarthDay.org, the network's official website. April 22 marks the 49th Earth Day since the annual event was launched in 1970.

"The OOH industry has a long history of supporting public service efforts, including species protection awareness," OAAA CEO Nancy Fletcher said in a statement. "We want to do more and are proud to support Earth Day and its awareness campaign." http://bit.ly/2VXWp7m

In a commentary on the media industry news site Media Post, Denis Hayes, the principal organizer of the first Earth Day, said he had approached OAAA about the possibility of using billboards to raise awareness of the annual event. He learned that Ken Klein, the association's executive vice president of government affairs, spoke to his high school assembly on the original Earth Day as a student growing up in Ohio.

"More than ever, Earth Day requires a big platform, commanding our attention in a mobile, busy world," Hayes said. "As the ice melts today, polar bears and other threatened species are prominent on high-contrast, hard-to-miss, large-format signs, with a call-to-action." http://bit.ly/2ZqFD36

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