Human Billboard
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A human billboard is someone who displays an
advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
on their 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
tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...
ed on the body. Sign holders are known as human directionals in the advertising industry, or colloquially as sign walkers, sign wavers, sign spinners, sign twirlers or (in British territories) sandwich men. Frequently, they will spin/sway or
dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
or wear costumes with the promotional sign in order to attract
attention Attention or focus, is the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either subjectively or objectively. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
.


History

Human billboards have been used for centuries. In the 19th century
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, the practice began when advertising posters became subject to a
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and competition for wall space became fierce. Prince Pückler-Muskau described the activity in 1820s London as such: Furthermore, besides holding signs, some human billboards would wear sandwich boards. Charles Dickens described these advertisers as "a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board". It was claimed in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' in mid-1823 that such human billboards were a London invention—while a familiar sight in London, the " biped advertisement" was new in Paris at that time. The banning of posters from private property in London in 1839 greatly increased the use of human billboards. 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 An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
s 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. 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, AArrowSign Spinners, conducts " boot camps" to train its employees, and has also filed
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
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. 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. Further restrictions on sign walkers in
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
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 Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...
that made it illegal for cities in Arizona to ban such advertising. 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 Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's pop ...
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. 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 of the
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...
or Uncle Sam. This seems to be a recent, 21st-century trend and is becoming common and competitive. Sign wavers are also commonly used in the U.S. for
Halloween store Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...
s, 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 Web mapping or an online mapping is the process of using, creating, and distributing maps on the World Wide Web (the Web), usually through the use of Web GIS, Web geographic information systems (Web GIS). A web map or an online map is both served ...
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. 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
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. T-shirts have since been used to advertise all different kinds of products, services, and political messages.


Tattoos

In 1999, '' Vibe'' magazine predicted that companies in the next millennium would pay people to get tattoos advertising their brands. In March 2001, American professional
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
player Rasheed Wallace rejected an offer from advertising firm Fifty Rubies Marketing to wear a tattoo advertising a candy company's product. 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.Tribou, Richard. (August 15, 2001) '' The Daytona Beach News-Journal'' 'Tadoo' new gimmick for advertisers". Section: News-Journal; Page 6D. 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, making him the first athlete to wear a tattoo advertisement during a professional sports event. Six months later, the company did the same to participants in the television show '' Celebrity Boxing''. 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. 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 The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
as well as the 2003
UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
final. The first documented instance of person being paid to get a permanent tattoo for advertising purposes was 22-year-old Jim Nelson, who in 2003 sold the space on the back of his head to CI Host, a
web hosting service A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web h ...
for $7,000. In the first six months after its application, the tattoo drew in 500 new customers for the company. In 2005, Andrew Fischer gained worldwide notoriety for auctioning his forehead space on
eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
for temporary tattoo advertising, with the final bid coming in at $37,375 for thirty days' worth. Since then, tattoo advertising has become relatively popular, with a number of companies offering such services, and even large companies like
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
having used it. However, ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' reported that there were more people selling parts of their body for advertising than there were buyers. During the 2012 U.S. presidential election campaign, professional wrestler Eric Hartsburg garnered media attention for getting a Romney campaign "R" logo permanently tattooed on his right temple. Hartsburg had offered a tattoo-placement via eBay and was contacted by an unnamed Republican supporter, who paid $15,000.00 for the promotion. No direct connection to the official Romney campaign was claimed. Although he had originally intended to keep the tattoo, Hartsburg expressed disappointment with the defeated candidate's post-election comments and decided to have the design removed, but has stated that he does not regret his decision in getting it. However, Hartsburg ultimately kept the tattoo, and it remains on his temple to this day.


Other

For the launch of its
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software,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
employed a "human billboard" which was a
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
piece reminiscent of
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...
. 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. BuyMyFace.com was a
website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
created by two
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
graduates, Ross Harper and Edward Moyse, to repay almost in student debt (). Each day the site would display portrait pictures of the pair with an advertiser's logo or alternative image painted on their faces, with travel, activities and stunts able to be sponsored. The year-long project began on October 1, 2011, and by the end had reportedly earned more than the debt owed.


Legality

In many countries this type of ad is considered illegal. According to London Hackney Carriage Act 1853 ( 16 & 17 Vict. c. 33) and section 9 of the Metropolitan Streets Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 134), it was not lawful for any person to carry any picture, placard, notice, or advertisement, on any carriage or on horseback or on foot in London except those which are approved of by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis or the Commissioner of the
City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force#United Kingdom, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle Temple, Middle and Inner Temple, Inner Temples. The for ...
. In 2002, a London judge ruled that "golf sale" placards were not covered by laws on attaching adverts to buildings, leading to an increase in human billboards in central London. Writing in the Guardian, John Harris described them as "huge, seven-foot square things, bolted on to tubular constructions that look like crucifixes". A law was planned to ban them in 2006.


In popular culture

*In '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' season 4 episode 11 ("Drive") Marty Deeks goes undercover as a sign twirler. *In '' Hawaii Five-0'' season 5 episode 10 ("Wawahi moeʻuhane"/"Broken Dreams") Jerry Ortega gets a job as a sign twirler working for Kamekona. *In the 2020 film ''
Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
'', major supporting character Moonwind is a sign twirler. *Lead character Evelyn Wang in the 2022 film '' Everything Everywhere All At Once'' is a sign twirler in another universe.


See also

* Stanley Green (Protein Man), well-known Londoner who campaigned against dietary protein for many years * Forehead advertising * Sandwich board * Chindon'ya - traditional walking advertisements in Japan


References


Further reading

* * * * *


External links

* {{Commons category-inline Billboards Tattooing Advertising tools