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The Billboard Finger

By Miss Cellania in Advertising on Nov 27, 2009 at 11:09 am


A billboard in Chattanooga has people doing double takes. You have to look twice before you see which finger the woman is giving you -her ring finger. The caption reads, “She’s tired of waiting.” The ad is for a local jeweler.

“If you look at it twice you ought to get a chuckle,” said Barry Schenck of M.M. Schenck Jeweler, “that’s what we are hoping for.”

Schenck says it’s not the first time he’s paid to post more than a dozen billboards before Christmas, but this latest stunt is getting feedback.

“It’s sort of putting a lot of pressure on young men to ask their girlfriends to marry them,” said Carolyn Miller of Chattanooga.

Critics say Schenck’s ploy is in bad taste, but Schenck stands behind the scheme. He says the woman in the picture is no actress.

“She is single, she does have a boyfriend, and she is waiting,” said Schenck.

Link (with video) -via Simply Left Behind


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COMMENT
  1. Gauldar
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 11:32 am

    Meh.

  2. Cluck
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 11:42 am

    I think Robin's Jewelers in the Philly region have had ones like this up for at least most of a year if not longer. At least this one she is not in a wedding dress.

  3. amocksun
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    I live here! I've seen that. Figures it would be a controversy here.

  4. pwscott
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Very clever. :p

  5. Alex
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    Girlfriend ... check.
    Engagement ring ... check.
    Next step: hot air balloon!

  6. E-Sizzle.
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    The *finger* doesn't bother me, but this woman looks pissed. Good luck to the groom to be.

  7. Luke S
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    There is one for Robbins Diamonds near the Philly sports stadiums that has bee there for about a year that says "shes waiting" Its basically the exact same one

  8. ted
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    This raises an unusual point.

    If the middle finger is offensive, then shouldn't this picture of the ring finger be considered offensive as well, since it conveys the same impression and reaction?

    It's like those commercials where they bleeped out the word "frozen", so it sounded like they were bleeping something more offensive (that began with "f").

  9. Cola
    Nov 27th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh... I'm a heterosexual woman with a boyfriend and all, but it's things like this that make me never want to get married. I don't want to be one of these people that treats marriage like some freaking stage in life I have to go through. Like it's just the logical outcome of dating someone for a long time. What, is he going to run away if we don't "tie the knot"? Wouldn't that mean he never loved me to begin with? Why would I want to marry someone like that? Why rush in the first place? What does being married really change? I wouldn't even change my name and I'm the kind of person who needs my personal space.

    I know, I know, jewelers have to make a living and this weird cultural obsession with marriage is a good way to do that, but personally, I don't buy into it.

    Also, I don't like diamonds.

  10. heather
    Nov 28th, 2009 at 1:18 am

    Wait...
    “She is single, she does have a boyfriend, and she is waiting,”

    Don't the first two points contradict themselves? Or is she just that desperate to get a ring on her finger.

  11. marishka
    Nov 29th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    Heather: no, the first two points don't contradict themselves. On every form, census, survey, etc you come across, there are check-boxes for "single", "married", "divorced", or "widowed". There is no check-box for "dating the same person for four years with no voiced commitment".

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