Bus-Stop ‘Flashers’ Vanish in O.C. After Complaints

Quick as a flash, 60 men in trench coats have disappeared from Orange County.

Plastered inside the county’s bus-stop shelters as part of an advertising campaign for alternative rock radio station KROQ-FM little more than a week ago, the trench coat wearers were torn down this week when residents and county officials complained that the posters were in poor taste.

“We own the shelters, but they’re on public property . . . and the public complained,” said Michelle Laniel, marketing services manager for Bustop Advertising Network in Irvine, which removed 40 KROQ ads on Wednesday “We have to take that into account.”

The ads feature a man in a tan trench coat exposing himself to an elderly woman, who responds, “No thanks. I listen to Kevin and Bean.” Kevin Ryder and Gene (Bean) Baxter are morning disc jockeys on the radio station.

Laniel said that Bustop has about 20 of the ads up in Los Angeles County, but has received no complaints about those. “It’s no secret that Orange County is more conservative than Los Angeles.”

A second company, Target Media of Anaheim, had about 45 of the flasher ads placed in its 350 bus-stop shelters in Orange County. After a county official complained, company owner Bruce Seidel agreed to take down all of its ads in unincorporated parts of the county--about 20 in all. Ads that are on city streets will stay up unless residents complain about specific locations, Seidel said.

“Since we’re on public streets, we’re very sensitive to what the public feels,” Seidel said. “If anyone calls and says ‘We don’t like it,’ we’ll remove it.”

KROQ general manager Trip Reeb was unavailable for comment Friday.

But Greg Helm, of the Los Angeles-based Stein Robaire Helm advertising agency that created the flasher campaign, said the controversy is unfortunate.

“It’s a shame, because it was all meant to be in jest,” Helm said. “I guess the times have changed. It used to be a weekly joke on ‘Laugh-In.’ ”