The Fall of the Billboard
If a billboard falls in the middle of a field, does anyone notice as they’re speeding past?
Driving across the middle of the country, kids and husband finally sleeping, I had time for my favorite long drive activity: looking at billboards. As I started searching for those ridiculous headlines that you see so often in the middle of nowhere, I found the scenery to be more frightening than humorous. Sign after sign posted variations of, “Your Ad Here.”
As a lover of media and advertising, I felt a cold shudder. It was like driving through my childhood neighborhood, turned into a ghost town. For the first time since my own bad news and layoff, I felt true fear. I found myself wishing that my kids’ whining was still a distraction as I held my breath through the graveyard.
On the upside, among all of the empty space, I still found a few of those nutty little advertisers that need our help. For instance, after being served a 3-board teaser message about Jesus, we were delivered to the doors of the XXX Adult Video Store and Massage Parlor. At least God and porn still have budgets.