Back in January, when Calvin Klein Jeans first revealed its new ad campaign shot by renowned photog Steven Meisel, company execs said it was so unbelievably racy, they wouldn't even be able to buy commercials on cable TV. But they didn't say anything about 100-foot billboards on Houston Street! "Looks like the recession isn't taming the cheap sluts and man-whores," writes Bowery Boogie. And thank God for that. [Bowery Boogie]

Here in New York, advertisers will toss up huge billboards on every flat surface, zoning laws be damned (see here for nice chart illustrating how much the police care about illegal advertising). Well that's pretty embarrassing for us, because they're even cracking down on the insane proliferation of billboards in Moscow. In Russia! Is America poised to take back the international "Rampant and Rapacious Uncontrolled Advertising In Service of Almighty Capitalism" title? Well, only if the economic crisis doesn't force Moscow to quit taking down billboards before it starts. It's a nice idea, but we don't want to cut into revenue here!

Middling designer Kenneth Cole is well known for writing his own pun-tastic advertising copy after only seconds of thought, and he hasn't lost his razor-sharp mind. Yesterday there was already a Kenneth Cole billboard up for Obama's election: "A precedent we can be proud of.—Kenneth Cole." He had one ready for a McCain election, too: "Out with the old...In with the older.—Kenneth Cole." In case of a third party victory, he could have gone with: "OMG I'm so surprised I didn't even think one up! Well okay how about like, 'Third is the word.' Yea, I like that because it has, like, different levels. Raoul, send that one over to the billboard people.—Kenneth Cole." [NYT]

"Since 9/11, I've secretly measured the socioeconomic well-being of New York City by the advertising content and graphic design of the billboards on the Long Island Expressway between the Midtown Tunnel and the Greenpoint Avenue exit in Queens. I like seeing lots of billboards, and I want them to be filled with terrific ads." [Creativity Online]

We're told this "liberated" billboard was spotted near the Jersey entrance to the Holland Tunnel. We're also told Anderson Cooper will be signing copies of his new book, Dispatches From the Edge, at the Union Square Barnes & Noble on June 6. We cannot imagine this is a coincidence.

In the face of natural disaster, we too wonder what the fuck to wear. A riveted hobo bag really would go nicely with those deadly muscles aches and pains.