I don’t know if this is just a Washington thing, but I’ve been noticing this series of billboards for the “76″ gas station chain, peppered all around the highway (rendering them sort of impossible to get a picture of with my phone).
You can’t really read from the picture, but it says
We made this billboard
boring so you’d keep
your eyes on the road.
Google searches and blog searches bring up nothing about it. Either these billboards aren’t as common as I think they are or I’m the only one who notices this, but to me they seem really passive-aggressive, and maybe even sarcastic.
There’s a whole slew of them, and though I paraphrase the sentiment is the same.
You’re right, it was
probably just a
bump in the road.
Yeah, the road would
be safer if everyone
drove just like you.
They seem really backhanded, particularly with the connotation I get from the choice in font color.
I mean, compare
You’re not gaining weight.
All your pants probably
shrank in the wash.
versus
You’re not gaining weight.
All your pants probably
shrank in the wash.
It REALLY feels like the second one is backhandedly calling you fat, right?
Sorry you didn’t get an
invitation. It probably
got lost in the mail.
Of course you’re pretty.
But what men really like is
your personality.
Well, fashion is cyclical.
I’m sure leisure suits will
come back into style.
And so on, and so on…
(Writing those out feels like writing passive-aggressive haikus.)
Am I the only one who sees these? Am I just being cynical? I really don’t know what to think of them.
The slogan on each one is “We’re on the driver’s side.” so I understand that the gist of it, ostensibly, is supposed to be “We at ConocoPhillips think you’re a great driver and that you’re right about all things that involve driving because you’re good enough and smart enough and we’re on your side,” but they seem to me to be really condescending.
Are these outside of the Seattle metro area? Are there any existing pictures of them that I couldn’t find? Do they come off differently to you? Comment with sightings or pictures.
We have them in Portland too.
The one that really amuses me is the one that says something like “hey, you just missed a great parking space”… which is situated such that the only people who can see it are just coming off the Morrison Bridge, and haven’t passed a potential parking space in over half a mile.
We have on the 18 as well.. I enjoy them, though I tend to think about them more than I should and focus less on the road… which is why I hit that Fire Hydrant that one time… grin.
That’s exactly as they come off to me. There’s one on 4th and Yesler or so about backseat drivers that’s easy to take a picture of because it’s just right there.
Though I will admit I often find passive aggressiveness hilarious.
Have you noticed that they are all in a 6-7-6 haiku format?
No, I haven’t seen these ads, but the (Union) 76 brand doesn’t generally operate in my neck of the woods. We get Conoco (for the most part) and Philips 66 (though those are disappearing). I guess the driving force is name recognition: people around here are likely to recognize ConocoPhilips, as they’re headquartered here. In any case, Houston has an ordinance forbidding billboards and a large variety of other outdoor advertisements (with grandfather clauses, of course, and it does exempt signs for businesses on that property), so even if ConocoPhilips used the Union 76 brand around here, we still would generally not see the ads–unless you’re in Pasadena or unincorporated Harris county, as outdoor advertising space is at a premium.
On an unrelated note, my pants aren’t getting tight. They’re getting loose. In fact, they’re falling off of me.
Yes, and they’re creepy.
Not quite as creepy as those “go human go” Quaker billboards from earlier this summer, but still creepy.
This is why I like Vermont. Billboards are illegal. Makes for much more pleasant drives.
There’s a pair of them near my house, the first says “Drivers: Lost?” and the second says “Passengers: This is YOUR fault.” Another has a picture of a yellow VW and says something like “This is for those of you playing ‘Slugbug’.” The one I dislike the most says “We totally agree, someone should really tell her this isn’t the autobahn.” with the last four words in red, precisely the sarcastic tone you observed.
Nope, They haven’t come up in the state of Texas. We just get a lot of God quotes all over the place.
“You think it’s hot here?”
–God
The ones you made were gold, and no, we don’t have any of those here on the east coast. Instead we get those annoying Chik-Fil-A cow ads.
Yes, they seem very flip.
We don’t have those in Philadelphia, but I’m going to have to petition to get some.
They kind of tip their hand with the second example, no? Hard to see any way to take it at face value. “No, you totally didn’t just commit vehicular manslaughter. Totally. Didn’t look anything like a hobo from here!”
I hope other businesses pick up on this style.
Look at yourself.
You clearly need
TO EAT ANOTHER CHEESEBURGER
Haven’t seen any of those signs in Georgia.
But familiar striking is
THE ATTITUDE.
I like you
very much. Because
YOU’RE SUCH A NICE PERSON.
I saw one around Lake City somewhere–I think it’s across the street from the Deja Vu (I was looking for directions on how to get away from there)–but the sign says:
Passengers,
Don’t drop the ball this time.
Doesn’t that go beyond passive-aggressive, and become just full-on aggressive? Passive-aggressive would be more like:
You’ve got a driver’s license
and at least a fourth-grade reading level.
I’M SURE YOUR MOTHER IS PROUD.
Hey here’s a point. If I can’t read that sign from your pic, how the hell am I supposed to read it while driving on the highway without sparing it any attention. It’s like 10 words to be read on a medium font at a glance?
Naw its the billboard equivalent of the tiny bumper sticker that says “if you can read this you are too frackin close”.
Your notice and commentary of these is great, thanks!
Those have totally been creeping me out. I’m all like:
Why would I buy gas from
people who sound like they’d pick
me apart /behind my back/?
Besides the fact that they are from an oil company (they are evil, right?) I think they are pretty clever and funny.
These are the types of signs
That make you feel insecure
SO THAT YOU’LL BUY MORE PRODUCT
There’s like 14 of those things on my trip from the West Seattle Ferry to the Kent valley. Big around the airport I guess.
You’re right. The highlighting in red somehow does make it more…smarmy. I don’t know why.
There’s a certain clothing line up here in The Great White North that puts different lifestyle ‘suggestions’ on their bags. Things like ‘Drink more water’ and ‘Friends are more important than money’ and ‘The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness.’ While I don’t disagree with any of the statements they put on the bags, I find it preachy that they feel they need to tell me these things. Like I don’t know that I should be drinking more water. But reading it on a shopping bag sure ain’t gonna be the thing to make me do it.
It’s a fine line between cleverly amusing and annoying. And if it’s done wrong, it makes you go out of your way to avoid a product that you probably wouldn’t have thought twice about purchasing before you saw the ad. Epic fail.
I like the 76 billboards. They seem to be a nod to the old (30 yrs before my time) Burma Shave billboards, which had wry doggerel written in a series of billboards along the road.
His cheek
Was rough
His chick vamoosed
And now she won’t
Come home to roost
Burma-Shave
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There’s one of those billboards in Queen Anne. At first it was an innocuous one and then it changed to the “bump in the road” message. I was shocked at first (can they *do* that??), but now I appreciate the snarkiness. If they’re really all 6-7-6, that’s kind of cool.
Apropos of the Burma Shave comment: I went to the revolving restaurant in the Space Needle once, and wrote out a series of cocktail napkin messages and put them on the stationary ledge over the course of an hour:
For rainy days
We always save
They’re frequent here
Burma Shave
I crack myself up. Unfortunately, the other patrons didn’t seem to get it…
[blue] Am I just being cynical? [/blue]
[blue] I really don’t know [/blue]
[red] what to think of them. [/red]
really passive-aggressive
Excellento
They clearly seem to be aiming for the charm of the old Burma Shave signs, but it just falls flat when paired with the eternal snark that passes for humor today. I mean, it’s totally pervasive. It’s impossible to listen to any radio commercial break, for example, without at least one ad including someone doing or saying something obviously stupid with another pointing out the obvious in a superior, condesceding fashion. Take out all the “I’m smarter than you and you look funny ,too” jokes and John Stewart looses half his shtick.
Have we, as a society, become that insecure that we need to base so much of our entertainment and humor not on laughing at ourselves and with others, but on ridicule and showing up the other guy? (OK, I know I’ve made myself a target, so bring it on)
Who noticed that the title to this section is a take off on a song from “The Music Man”?
It was my favorite song when I was a little kid and Ron Howard was a little kid in the movie.