Human billboard: Difference between revisions
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{{cquote|Formerly people were content to paste advertisements up; now they are ambulant. One man had a pasteboard hat, three times as high as other hats, on which is written in great letters, 'Boots at twelve shillings a pair - warranted'.<ref name="u75">{{cite web | url=http://www.urban75.org/london/billboards.html | title=London placard carriers and 'sandwich men', 1820 -1840 | work=London Street Advertising | publisher=Urban75 | date=September 2004 | accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref>}} |
{{cquote|Formerly people were content to paste advertisements up; now they are ambulant. One man had a pasteboard hat, three times as high as other hats, on which is written in great letters, 'Boots at twelve shillings a pair - warranted'.<ref name="u75">{{cite web | url=http://www.urban75.org/london/billboards.html | title=London placard carriers and 'sandwich men', 1820 -1840 | work=London Street Advertising | publisher=Urban75 | date=September 2004 | accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref>}} |
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The banning of posters from private property in London in 1839 greatly increased the use of human billboards.<ref>{{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 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070416160511/http://www10.gencat.net/probert/angles/exposicio/ex12_critspaperang.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-04-16}}</ref> Besides holding signs, some human billboards would wear [[sandwich board]]s. Charles Dickens described the advertisers as "a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board".<ref name="u75"/> 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. |
The banning of posters from private property in London in 1839 greatly increased the use of human billboards.<ref>{{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 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070416160511/http://www10.gencat.net/probert/angles/exposicio/ex12_critspaperang.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-04-16}}</ref> Besides holding signs, some human billboards would wear [[sandwich board]]s. Charles Dickens described the advertisers as "a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board".<ref name="u75"/> 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.MY NAME IS TAHA |
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==Modern times== |
==Modern times== |
Revision as of 13:28, 25 July 2011
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Human_billboards_Stockholm_2008-07-16_cropped.jpg/220px-Human_billboards_Stockholm_2008-07-16_cropped.jpg)
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 advertising tattooed on the body. Sign holders are known as human directionals in the advertising industry, or colloquially as sign walkers, sign wavers, sign twirlers or (in British territories) sandwich men. Frequently, they will spin or dance or wear costumes with the promotional sign in order to attract attention.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/London_human_billboards_Scharf.jpg/220px-London_human_billboards_Scharf.jpg)
Human billboards have been used for centuries. In 19th century London, the practice began when advertising posters became subject to a tax and competition for wall space became fierce. Prince Pückler-Muskau described the activity in 1820s London as such:
Formerly people were content to paste advertisements up; now they are ambulant. One man had a pasteboard hat, three times as high as other hats, on which is written in great letters, 'Boots at twelve shillings a pair - warranted'.[1]
The banning of posters from private property in London in 1839 greatly increased the use of human billboards.[2] Besides holding signs, some human billboards would wear sandwich boards. Charles Dickens described the advertisers as "a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board".[1] 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.MY NAME IS TAHA
Modern times
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/HumanDirectional.jpg/220px-HumanDirectional.jpg)
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 arrows in order to direct traffic to the location being advertised. Eye Shot, a Lake Forest, California company claims to have invented modern sign spinning using arrow-shaped signs.[3] 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 filed patent applications for a number of its "signature moves".[3]
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.[3][4] Some companies like Enlarge Media Group and Jet Media are able to offer human directionals as "sign walkers", a less distracting form of sign twirling.[5] Further restrictions on sign walkers in Arizona caused Jet Media Promotions, the state's largest supplier of human billboards, to sue the city of Scottsdale. The company's owner then successfully campaigned for legislation that made it illegal for cities in Arizona to ban such advertising.[6][7]
Demand for human directionals has significantly increased since the introduction of sign-twirling techniques. 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% of the 3,600 people who visited model homes in a housing development in Moreno Valley, California were directed there by human directionals.[4] 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.
In the U.S., independent tax preparers, and some tax-preparation chains, use sign wavers in costume, seasonally near the US personal income tax deadline of April 15. The costumes are usually Statue of Liberty or Uncle Sam costumes.[8][9] This seems to be a recent, 21st-century trend and is becoming common and competitive.[10]
Sign wavers are also commonly used in the U.S. for Halloween stores, which are only temporary and relocate each year, and thus do not have permanent store signs, nor time to gradually build a customer base by word of mouth, or by being shown on web mapping services. These human billboards often wear a Halloween costume supplied by the store.
Clothing
Advertising on clothing has also long been used, with T-shirts being extremely popular. At first, T-shirts were used exclusively as undergarments, 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.[11] The 1948 United States presidential campaign featured a T-shirt with "Dew It for Dewey", referring to candidate Thomas Dewey, which is now housed in the Smithsonian 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" wore T-shirts outfitted with a small television screen and a DVD player, called "TelePAKs".[12] This was duplicated in the United States in 2004 with "Adver-Wear" that made its debut advertising the film I, Robot.[13]
Tattoos
In 1999, Vibe magazine predicted that companies in the next millennium would pay people to get tattoos advertising their brands.[14] In March 2001, American professional basketball player Rasheed Wallace rejected an offer from advertising firm Fifty Rubies Marketing to wear a tattoo advertising a candy company's product.[15][16][17][18] 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.[19][20] In September 2001, a prominent online casino paid boxer Bernard Hopkins US$100,000 to wear a temporary tattoo on his back during his championship fight with Félix Trinidad,[21] making him the first athlete to wear a tattoo advertisement during a professional sports event.[22] Six months later, the company did the same to participants in the television show Celebrity Boxing.[23]
The company's efforts drew immediate criticism from consumer watchdog groups. Despite this, the move was successful, with the casino's web site traffic increasing 200% after the airing of the show.[23] 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 2003 UEFA Cup final.[21]
The first person to have permanent tattoo for advertising purposes was a 22-year-old named Jim Nelson, who in 2003 sold the space on the back of his head to CI Host, a web hosting service for $7,000.[24] In the first six months after its application, the tattoo drew in 500 new customers for the company.[25] In 2005, Andrew Fischer gained worldwide notoriety for auctioning his forehead space on eBay for temporary tattoo advertising, with the final bid coming in at $37,375 for thirty days' worth.[26][27] Since then, tattoo advertising has become relatively popular, with a number of companies offering such services, and even large companies like Toyota having used it.[28][29] However, The Globe and Mail reported that there were more people selling parts of their body for advertising than there were buyers.[30]
Other
For the launch of its Windows Vista software, Microsoft employed a "human billboard" which was a performance art piece reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil.[31] In this event, people were suspended along the side of a building and moved banners across a backdrop, creating the Vista logo in the process.
See also
References
- ^ a b "London placard carriers and 'sandwich men', 1820 -1840". London Street Advertising. Urban75. September 2004. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Ventura, Jordi. "Gems from the History of Advertising Posters". Palau Robert. Archived from the original on 2007-04-16. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ a b c Semuels, Alana (May 1, 2007). "The fine art of making a point". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-05-02. [dead link]
- ^ a b Raney, Rebecca Fairley (November 19, 2006). "The Signs of a Cooling Market in California". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Lipka, Nate (June 26, 2008). "Spin-Doctors". College Times. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ Irwin, Megan (March 28, 2007). "Sign Wars". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
- ^ Mossad, Jason (September 28, 2008). "Gilbert to reverse 'sign walkers' ordinance". East Valley Tribune. Retrieved 2009-02-23. [dead link]
- ^ Adams, Mary (April 19, 2011). "How Did Tax Day Become A Marketing Holiday?". Retrieved 2011-05-06.
- ^ "It's Tax Day!". April 18, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
- ^ B, Hunter (February 9, 2011). "TAX TIME: Give me Liberty or ..." Retrieved 2011-05-06.
- ^ Dixon, Mark E. "A T-Shirt History". Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Cox, Kate (November 23, 2003). "The human billboards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Vincent, Roger (July 2, 2004). "Have you seen what's on TV-shirt today?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ O'Briant, Don. (August 10, 1999 ) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The newsstand: Brown's much-hyped talk walks the walk. Section: Features; Page D2.
- ^ 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 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Walker, Rob (June 23, 2003). "Show Us Your Tats". Slate.com. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Coates, Pete. (October 7, 2001) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Ads show up on bodies. Hopkins wore tattoo for online casino. Section: C Sports; page 2.
- ^ a b McCarthy, Michael (April 4, 2004). "Ad tattoos get under some people's skin". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Larratt, Shannon (September 27, 2004). "Tattoo my head with anything anti-Bush!". BMEzine. Archived from the original on 2007-03-20. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "World's First 'Living' Advertisement Makes A Big Splash" (press release). CI Host. December 8, 2003. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "Forehead ad auction hits $30,000". BBC. January 14, 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Dagan, Richard (April 19, 2005). "Advertising and the Human Billboard". Dagan Designs. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Roberts, Genevieve (January 17, 2005). "It's not subtle, but body advertising is a lucrative way of using". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "Forehead Advertising Goes Mainstream". Adrants. April 8, 2004. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Goldman, Eric (January 2, 2006). "Tattoo Advertising/Human Billboards". Technology & Marketing Law Blog. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Fried, Ina (January 24, 2007). "Microsoft to launch Vista with human billboard". CNET. Retrieved 2007-05-03.