Tolland's town manager has received several complaints about a new billboard on I-84 promoting the Electric Blue Café strip club.
It was put up a week ago on the eastbound side of the highway near the rest stop by Exit 70.
Some drivers and Tolland town leaders are raising concerns about it being an inappropriate distraction.
The strip club is defending the sign, saying there is nothing illegal about it.
“It’s nothing more than the girls in their bathing suits I’m sorry, I don’t see any nudity in there, OK,” said Katrina Kulakova, public relations director for Electric Blue. “Maybe a little bit risqué but still it’s our business, right?”
Tolland Town Manager Steven R. Werbner said he has received several complaints from residents and commuters about the ad being offensive. It shows two adult dancers, not wearing much at all, and one is seen next to a pole.
Drivers who spoke to NBC Connecticut on Friday said they aren't so sure it's appropriate.
“It’s a little more than I would except,” Alex Merida from Boston said. “Kids are driving by and everything.”
“It’s a little too much in your face,” Ursula Meyer, of Bridgeport, said. “You know I think I remember the old sign was like silhouettes, which can be maybe tasteful.”
Kulakova said there is nothing illegal about the billboard.
“We know the laws what we can put up and what we cannot,” she said.
While some argue it could be a distraction to drivers, Kulakova said this new ad does not pose any more of a danger than other highway signs.
“Honey, some men get distracted by anything, OK,” she said. “We did not have one accident because of our billboards.”
Department of Transportation spokesperson Kevin Nursick said the DOT has no authority over billboard content, adding it is a First Amendment issue. The DOT can only enforce issues such as the size or brightness of a billboard.
Nursick told NBC Connecticut there are no technical violations with the strip club’s new billboard.
