Why the ‘We love our mayor’ billboards suddenly disappeared from Nashville

Billboards with the message, “We love our mayor,” made national headlines when they appeared off the interstate in Nashville one day after Mayor Megan Barry admitted to an affair with her former police bodyguard.

But the three digital signs, each on different stretches of Interstate 24 near downtown Nashville, quietly went away soon after popping up.

It turns out they were removed because the person who paid for the advertisements was unwilling to reveal his or her identity.

Carly Zipp, senior director of communications for the billboard company Outfront Media, said the signs were taken down on the evening of Feb. 2 because they lacked "proper attribution" — a requirement of its political ads.

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Tennessee law requires that political advertising provide adequate notice of the identity of persons who paid for and, where required, who authorized the communication.

One of the signs was near the Interstate 24/40 split, another was close to the Fessler Lane exit on Interstate 24, and a third was north of downtown close to the Spring Street exit.

Zipp said the agency that facilitated the billboard purchase was San Francisco-based SF Media Communications Inc. But she said the media company did not disclose their client.

Zipp did not comment when asked how Outfront Media became aware of the problem or why the billboard was allowed to go up in the first place.

SF Media Consultants has a history working in the music industry, one of Nashville's staple brands. According to its website, the firm has done advertising for Big Machine Records, Capitol Records, EMI, and Universal Music Group as well as big-name artists such as Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Lady Antebellum and Florida Georgia Line.

Lauren Anderson, senior vice president for SF Media Consultants, did not return a message seeking comment.

Sean Braisted, a spokesman for the mayor, said the mayor’s office is unaware of who paid for the billboards. He said Barry's campaign committee, Friends for Megan Barry, was not behind it.

Likewise, Bonnie Dow, treasurer of Women for Tennessee's Future, a political action committee that has supported Barry, said the PAC did not pay for the billboards.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.