It took workers just a few minutes to remove a controversial billboard that prompted complaints.
About a week ago, Carlsbad-based sunglass and goggle company SPY put up the billboard on Highway 101 just off Encinitas Boulevard boasting, “Happy to Sit on Your Face.”
“We can at this to have some fun,” said SPY Marketing Director Devon Howard.
While the eyewear company said it was all in good fun, the billboard management company decided the fun was over and pulled the ad early Thursday.
“A lot of people don’t understand why a sign like that would be okay,” said nearby business owner Lisa Avilia.
She said her customers have been discussing the sign in her salon as a double standard for the community that was recently involved in the Surfing Madonna mosaic debate.
The 10-foot-by-10-foot mosaic mysteriously appeared under a railroad bridge in the same area as the billboard in April 2011.
After months of debate, the piece of art was removed with the artist's help but is still in search of a home.
As for the SPY billboard, by the beginning of the morning commute, workers had removed the advertisement and replaced it with an advertisement for health care company.
