- Human billboard
A human billboard is someone who applies an
advertisement on his or her person. Most commonly, this means holding or wearing a sign of some sort, but also may include wearing advertising as clothing or in extreme cases, having advertisingtattoo ed on the body. Sign-holders are known as human directionals in the advertising industry, or colloquially as "sign walkers" or "sign twirlers". Frequently, they will spin or dance with the promotional sign in order to attract attention.History
Human billboards have been used for centuries. In 19th century
London , the practice began when advertising posters became subject to atax and competition for wall space became fierce. Prince Pückler-Muskau described the activity in 1820s London as such:The banning of posters from private property in London in 1839 greatly increased the use of human billboards. [cite web | url=http://www10.gencat.net/probert/angles/exposicio/ex12_critspaperang.htm | title=Gems from the History of Advertising Posters | publisher=Palau Robert | first=Jordi | last=Ventura | accessdate=2007-05-03] Besides holding signs, some human billboards would wear
sandwich board s, thus giving rise to the name "sandwich men". As the novelty of seeing humans carrying placards wore off, advertisers would come up with variations on the theme in order to catch the eye, such as having a "parade" of identical human billboards, or having the human billboards wear outrageous costumes.Modern times
Human directionals are still widely used, especially in areas that have a lot of pedestrian traffic, but even in places that have a great deal of automobile traffic. For the latter, the signs will frequently be shaped like
arrow s in order to direct traffic to the location being advertised. Eye Shot, aLake Forest, California company claims to have invented modern sign spinning using arrow-shaped signs.cite news | url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spinners1may01,1,2572262,full.story | title=The fine art of making a point | publisher=Los Angeles Times | first=Alana | last=Semuels | date=May 1 2007 | accessdate=2007-05-02] The modern human directional employs a number of tricks to attract attention, such as spinning the sign on one finger, throwing it up in the air and spinning it, or even riding the sign like a horse. Another California company, Aarrow Advertising, conducts "boot camps" to train its employees and has also filedpatent applications for a number of its "signature moves". However, the use of such attention-grabbing tricks has been criticized by city officials as being distracting to drivers and as a result, a number of cities have banned sign twirling, cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/realestate/19nati.html?ex=1178337600&en=2eb3ba4922e4b271&ei=5070 | title=The Signs of a Cooling Market in California | publisher=The New York Times | date=November 19 ,2006 | first=Rebecca Fairley | last=Raney | accessdate=2007-05-03] although some companies like Enlarge Media Group are able to offer human directionals as "Sign Walkers", a less distracting form of sign twirling. cite news | url=http://media.www.ecollegetimes.com/media/storage/paper991/news/2008/06/26/News/Spin-Doctors-3385772.shtml | title=Spin-Doctors | publisher= "College Times" | date=June 26 ,2008 | first=Nate | last=Lipka | accessdate=2008-07-14]Demand for human directionals has significantly increased over the last few years. In temperate and warm locations, sign holders can be employed year-round and their effectiveness has been amply demonstrated. For example, during the month of October 2006, nearly 8 percent of the 3,600 people who visited
model home s in a housing development inMoreno Valley, California were directed there by human directionals. The Entertainment Factory in Florida provides human directionals to several successful businesses in Central Florida. Some use them as their sole form of advertising. Naturally, there are concerns that just as in 19th century London, as human directionals become more and more commonplace, their effectiveness will be diminished. Well known companies includeAArrow Advertising and Directional Concepts.Clothing
Advertising on clothing has also long been used, with
t-shirt s being extremely popular. At first, t-shirts were used exclusively asundergarment s, but as early as the 1930s, they were already used for advertising, with a 1939 "The Wizard of Oz" promotional shirt being a prized collector's item today. [cite web | url=http://www.markedixon.com/new_page_10.htm | title=A T-Shirt History | first=Mark E. | last=Dixon | accessdate=2007-05-03] The 1948 United States presidential campaign featured a t-shirt with "Dew It for Dewey", referring to candidateThomas Dewey , which is now housed in theSmithsonian Institution . T-shirts have since been used to advertise all different kinds of products, services, and political messages.The newest trend is to have moving pictures on clothing. The first instance of this was done at the 2003
Rugby World Cup , where "Telstra girls" woret-shirt s outfitted with a small television screen and aDVD player , called "TelePAKs". [cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/22/1069027386749.html?from=storyrhs | title=The human billboards | publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald | first=Kate | last=Cox | date=November 23 2003 | accessdate=2007-05-03] This was duplicated in the United States in 2004 with "Adver-Wear" that made its debut advertising the film "I, Robot". [cite news | url=http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=3973 | title=Have you seen what’s on TV-shirt today? | publisher=Los Angeles Times | first=Roger | last=Vincent | date=July 2 2004 | accessdate=2007-05-03]Tattoos
In 1999, "Vibe" magazine predicted that companies in the next millennium would pay people to get tattoos advertising their brands. [O'Briant, Don. (August 10, 1999)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "The newsstand: Brown's much-hyped talk walks the walk." Section: Features; Page D2.] In March 2001, American professionalbasketball playerRasheed Wallace rejected an offer from advertising firm Fifty Rubies Marketing to wear a tattoo advertising a candy company's product. [Rogers, Glenn. (March 21, 2001)San Antonio Express-News "Next step: body art ads." Section: Sports; Page 5C.] [Rubin, Adam. (March 22, 2001) New York Daily News "Tattoos used as Ads have drawn NBA's ire." Section: Sports; Page 80.] [Vukelj, John. (June 2005)Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal " [http://law.fordham.edu/publications/articles/200flspub6142.pdf Post No Bills: Can the NBA Prohibit its Players from Wearing Tattoo Advertisements?] Vol. 15; page 507.] [Ostler, Scott. (March 25, 2001)San Francisco Chronicle "The sky is falling or the odds of Ryan Leaf being a hit with Bucs." Section: Sports; Page D2.] However, a month later, the cheerleaders for Lincoln Lightning's High Voltage Dance Team wore 2-inch by 4-inch temporary tattoos ("tadoos") that advertised local companies on their bare midriffs. [Talalay, Sarah. (April 22, 2001)South Florida Sun-Sentinel "Houston: No Tiger, No Problem." Section: Sports Sunday; page 20C.] Tribou, Richard. (August 15, 2001)The Daytona Beach News-Journal "Tadoo" new gimmick for advertisers." Section: News-Journal; Page 6D.] In September 2001,online casino GoldenPalace.com paid boxerBernard Hopkins US$100,000 to wear atemporary tattoo on his back during his championship fight withFélix Trinidad .cite web | url=http://www.slate.com/id/2084647/ | title=Show Us Your Tats | publisher=Slate.com | first=Rob | last=Walker | date=June 23 2003 | accessdate=2007-05-03] Hopkins was the first athlete to wear a tattoo advertisement during a professional sports event. [Coates, Pete. (October 7, 2001)Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Ads show up on bodies. Hopkins wore tattoo for online casino." Section: C Sports; page 2.] Six months later, the company did the same to participants in the television show "Celebrity Boxing ".cite news | url=http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2002-04-04-tattoo.htm | title=Ad tattoos get under some people's skin | publisher=USA Today | first=Michael | last=McCarthy | date=April 4 2004 | accessdate=2007-05-03]GoldenPalace.com's efforts drew immediate criticism from consumer watchdog groups. Despite this, the move was successful, with GoldenPalace.com's web site traffic increasing 200% after the airing of the show. The company has since followed up with temporary tattoos on a topless woman at the 2003 U.S. Open and a
streaker who ran at the 2003 French Open as well as the 2003UEFA Cup final.
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