Mystery surrounds ‘God’s’ billboards
BY ANA MCKENZIE
The Brownsville Herald
There’s one billboard that stands out among the crowd advertising health care, car sales and upcoming political figures.
It’s completely white with a few black words that read things like “You think it’s hot here?” and “Let’s meet me at my house Sunday before the game.”
The advertiser isn’t someone you can directly call or e-mail. The “advertiser” is God.
“The messages are often playful but are generally positive in na-ture,” said the Rev. Robert E. Maher of St. Joseph’s church in Edinburg. “I applaud the effort to gently remind people of some of the more important things in life.”
Though Maher hasn’t spoken about the billboards to his congrega-tion, he acknowledges their effectiveness and realizes the advertiser’s sincere motives.
But, the advertiser cannot be contacted or praised because no one knows who it is.
In 1998, an anonymous donor contacted an advertising agency with an idea for a local billboard campaign that would get people to think about a daily relationship with God.
The agency came up with the idea of creating a series of quotes from God to be placed on billboards, according to Godspeaks.com, the billboard’s Web site.
The idea was simple. White boards with black type all signed by God, according to the Web site.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), an or-ganization comprised of companies that own and rent billboards, offered to use the sayings as their national public service campaign for 1999. About 10,000 billboards emerged in 200 American cities — all free-of-charge. The space to display the billboards amounted to an equivalent $15 million.
Attempts to contact Lamar Advertising Agency, which owns many of the local billboards, for comment were unsuccessful.
“I don’t know how affective they are,” said the Rev. Scott Luckey of the Faith Presbyterian Church on Los Ebanos Road. “But sometimes, you have to get things across very quickly, so in that sense, I think they can be affective.”
According to Godspeaks.com, the OAAA said the billboards are “a positive way to get people thinking about spirituality and increase the numbers of those who are going to church.”
“No one has ever come to our church because of the billboards to my knowledge,” Luckey said. “But, I’m sure someone out there has been spiritually affected by them.”
Zenya Pepin, a self-proclaimed agnostic, can’t help but “chuckle” when she drives by them.
“I just think it’s great advertising,” she said. “But, they don’t make me want to get up and go to church the next day or anything.”
Mystery surrounds ‘God’s’ billboards
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