I'm not sure if this is something that mainly occurs in the South, or if it's all over the country in this sucky economy. Maybe it's even in other countries - some of you folks in other parts of the world will have to let me know.
I've noticed a trend people standing on the street near some businesses holding advertisements for those businesses. Some are old, some are young. Most of them have earphones or earbuds in, jamming to some music while they work. A folding chair is often nearby, along with a cooler. If it were me doing the job, that cooler would have to have something in it besides Gatorade and Snickers bars.
You can tell some of those folks got the job of standing outside in the traffic because they were the low men on the totem pole. The expression tells it all. Some of them make the best of a bad situation, dancing and waving to the drivers. Some of them, particularly at income tax time, at least have the anonymity of hiding behind a costume. Although I'm not sure the Statue of Liberty or Uncle Sam wore Nike tennis shoes. I could be wrong, though.
I wonder if anyone has done any research on the effectiveness of this particular kind of advertisement. Obviously it must work to some degree, or more and more businesses wouldn't be jumping on board with it. I've seen these folks outside pizza places ($5 FOR A TWO-TOPPING MEDIUM!!!!!), pawn shops and jewelry stores and other places that buy gold (WE BUY BOLD!!!! TOP DOLLAR!!!!!), furniture stores (GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!!!!! EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!!!), and one that I saw for the first time today (HUGE TOOL SALE!!!!!) Does that mean they were having a huge sale, or were they selling huge.... never mind.
I'm certainly not knocking the folks who do these jobs. With the way the economy is today, people are darn lucky to get a job anywhere doing anything. I'm just curious as to the effectiveness. And the cost-effectiveness.
Because clearly I don't have enough to worry about.
2 comments:
Our rural town is much too small to need directions to the shops - walk the lenght of the High Street, and you have seen almost all of them! Howver for years and years in Edinburgh there would be a young man standing on Princes Street with a sign directing you to a GOLF SALE - I never did go and look at this perpetual sale, as I don't play golf!!
Northern Civilization has about a half a mil in population and THEY have people with the "hold the sign" jobs. I always feel sorry for them in the heat and cold. Last winter I gave a guy a hot chocolate and you'd think it was a million bucks!
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