Signs of the Times

For many years now we have seen people standing on street corners, holding signs touting various stores, products or services. Loans, real estate developments, insurance, tax services, car dealerships. Sometimes these “hawkers” were in clown costumes, or animal suits. Other times, they would just stand there, doing very little save turning toward a different direction as the traffic light changed.

I’m sure many of us assumed that most of them were homeless people. I know I did. Or certainly they must have been destitute in some way. Why else would someone take a job like that, (especially in Phoenix during the summer) and how much could they be getting paid for “standing on the corner, watching all the cars go by?”

I confess that, way back in 1967, one of my first jobs was walking up and down Wells Street in Chicago with a sandwich sign. I was dressed as an old-time fireman, and the sign proclaimed a giant Fire Sale at a trendy men’s store (even though there had been no fire). I was paid one dollar an hour.

Now, almost forty years later, Hip Hop, Break Dancing and pure showmanship have altered this strange promotional medium into a new genre of “performance advertising.”

No longer is someone paid to merely “stand” with a sign. Now, one witnesses feats of juggling, spinning, and flipping these signs with such precision that you would think they were on a TV contest show. These new street-sign performers look drivers and passers-by right in the eye. Challenging them, not so much to heed the message on the sign, but to acknowledge their skill and dexterity.

“I know you’re looking at me. Did you just see what I did? Was that amazing, or what?” Huge smiles on their faces tell us, “I’ve got talent, and I’m havin’ fun doin’ it!”

The specific advertising message may get lost in all this, but these sidewalk sign-spinners are a treat to watch. And I believe the ones who hired them know it. I can hear them now, “Forget about making sure they see the ‘Zero Down’, just get them to stop and come in.”

As I cruise past, I have just one additional thought: “Do they have agents?” If not, they'll probably need them soon.