Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Pennsylvania

Re: Original Magazine Ads

The first sale doctrine applies to this, which says that on first sale of a work of art, the copyright owner loses the right to prevent further transfer of ownership of the original work. So, if you bought copies of original magazines, so you had the original ads, you could do this. Do not alter the originals or you run afoul of another provision relating to derivative works.

The exclusive rights of a copyright owner under section 106 of the copyright act include the right to make copies, to make derivative works and the right of public display of pictorial works.

Here is a site that already does what you are asking about. http://www.azboss.com/~danasam/dadhome.html

As a practical matter, it is unlikely any advertiser would object to your doing this with originals. If you start making copies or reproductions of originals, you might well draw fire from some advertiser, although even there the advertiser probably would not object because publicity is the purpose of most advertising.