Inspectors deflate SpongeBob promotion
Lawrence city inspectors put the squeeze Wednesday on an animated, inflatable sponge.
Three deflated SpongeBob SquarePants balloons were removed from Burger King rooftops after inspectors deemed the restaurant chain’s promotion to be in violation of city codes.
“I had to send a guy up there with a knife to get it down,” said Aaron Scafe, a manager at the Burger King on Sixth Street, which soon stuffed its balloon into a storage room. “It’s too bad. It was pretty cool. I had all the kids believing that SpongeBob was up there for real.
“I mean, c’mon. What’s he gonna do? Knock down a plane or something?”
No, the promotional SpongeBobs had threatened something else: sanctity of the city’s sign code.
Businesses cannot exceed their permitted signage without a permit, said Barry Walthall, the city’s code enforcement manager. And Burger King did not file a $10 permit application for any of its three locations.
“It’s considered a temporary sign, and a temporary sign permit is required for a temporary sign,” Walthall said. “The sign code is in place to protect the health, safety and welfare of the community, and that includes the aesthetic value of our streets, and traffic safety, and eliminating clutter.”
SpongeBob’s problem: He might have been too visible.
Reader Reaction: Spongebob’s“He was hard to miss,” said Walthall, referring to the Nickelodeon star as “Mr. SquarePants.”
The balloons took their rooftop positions Friday in Lawrence, part of Burger King promotions in preparation for this weekend’s release of “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” featuring the voices of Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin and Jeffrey Tambor.