I don't know if anyone else has these billboards...
“Trust Me.”
Traveling down several of the major highways in the Twin Cities you will encounter many billboards. Most of them don’t catch your attention, but one in particular may stick out. This billboard is located on 35W south bound into Minneapolis. It’s not flashy, there isn’t any bright lights, but it seems to deliver a louder message than any of it’s peers.
What would a billboard have to do to catch one’s attention? The creators of the “Trust Me” billboard seem to have mastered the skills need to make even the most weary of drivers think about the message it delivers. By being uncomplicated and easy to read it creates a bold statement. The sign itself is very simple, made up of primary colors and a plain font. All that the billboard reads is; “Trust Me” -God.
The setting that this billboard is in is one of the most congested traffic areas in the Twin Cities. Rush hour insures that plenty of people have time to look at the billboard. Because the billboard is on the southbound side of the freeway there are more people see it on their way to work than people who see it on the way home. Whether it was purposeful or not, this positioning allows people to think about the message as they go about their day.
One of the most important aspects about the sign is that there is nothing on it but the main message. There is no copyright, logo, or sponsorship information. By not having those things, which most people are used to having to wade through to get to the point, the creator of the sign makes the statement more powerful. The absence of these things says to the viewers, there is nothing more important than the message being delivered.
The audience being addressed is every car that drives by on this highway. The audience is coming from the suburbs to the city and many of them are on their way to work. Most of the audience are adults who can drive because more people drive by themselves than with others. The message being delivered means a different thing to all the people who see the sign. Because the audience is very diverse the message becomes more generalized.
The activities of the audience also change what the message could mean. Is it “Trust Me” there will be something better for you after all this traffic? Or could it be “Trust Me” this is nothing compared to what you might experience in your afterlife? Perhaps the creator of the board did not have a message in mind and purposely left the billboard completely open to interpretation.
One of the questions that can be asked of this billboard is why the creator wanted to convey this religious message to this audience. Are the people driving southbound on 35E in greater need of a religious message than the people traveling west on 694? Perhaps the creator feels that people who drive in general need a reminder of religion.
The main question about this billboard continues to drift back to the starting point; what gratification does the person who paid for this billboard receive? It is not monetary, because there is no product to buy. It probably costs them a very large amount of money for the billboard. The gratification must lie solely in the aspect of awakening peoples spiritual beliefs in a world where spirituality is often forgot. These people, driving along one of the busiest highways in the cities, have become so tied up in all of the current things that surround them that the creator wanted to remind them of something larger than that moment. The knowledge of this possible awakening is the gratification.
The fact that someone spent their money on a cause that would show them no monetary gratification can also be a positive aspect of this sign. Not many billboards can say that they have a greater purpose than scraping in the money. This part of the sign makes is more likely to be remembered than its commercial brothers and sisters.
So is this billboard successful in it’s intentions? One could assume so because it has been remembered, and it has gotten people to think about something larger than traffic. The billboard “Trust Me” is still an advertisement for something, but not what people are used to seeing the medium used for. It is an advertisement for greater awareness.
Traveling down several of the major highways in the Twin Cities you will encounter many billboards. Most of them don’t catch your attention, but one in particular may stick out. This billboard is located on 35W south bound into Minneapolis. It’s not flashy, there isn’t any bright lights, but it seems to deliver a louder message than any of it’s peers.
What would a billboard have to do to catch one’s attention? The creators of the “Trust Me” billboard seem to have mastered the skills need to make even the most weary of drivers think about the message it delivers. By being uncomplicated and easy to read it creates a bold statement. The sign itself is very simple, made up of primary colors and a plain font. All that the billboard reads is; “Trust Me” -God.
The setting that this billboard is in is one of the most congested traffic areas in the Twin Cities. Rush hour insures that plenty of people have time to look at the billboard. Because the billboard is on the southbound side of the freeway there are more people see it on their way to work than people who see it on the way home. Whether it was purposeful or not, this positioning allows people to think about the message as they go about their day.
One of the most important aspects about the sign is that there is nothing on it but the main message. There is no copyright, logo, or sponsorship information. By not having those things, which most people are used to having to wade through to get to the point, the creator of the sign makes the statement more powerful. The absence of these things says to the viewers, there is nothing more important than the message being delivered.
The audience being addressed is every car that drives by on this highway. The audience is coming from the suburbs to the city and many of them are on their way to work. Most of the audience are adults who can drive because more people drive by themselves than with others. The message being delivered means a different thing to all the people who see the sign. Because the audience is very diverse the message becomes more generalized.
The activities of the audience also change what the message could mean. Is it “Trust Me” there will be something better for you after all this traffic? Or could it be “Trust Me” this is nothing compared to what you might experience in your afterlife? Perhaps the creator of the board did not have a message in mind and purposely left the billboard completely open to interpretation.
One of the questions that can be asked of this billboard is why the creator wanted to convey this religious message to this audience. Are the people driving southbound on 35E in greater need of a religious message than the people traveling west on 694? Perhaps the creator feels that people who drive in general need a reminder of religion.
The main question about this billboard continues to drift back to the starting point; what gratification does the person who paid for this billboard receive? It is not monetary, because there is no product to buy. It probably costs them a very large amount of money for the billboard. The gratification must lie solely in the aspect of awakening peoples spiritual beliefs in a world where spirituality is often forgot. These people, driving along one of the busiest highways in the cities, have become so tied up in all of the current things that surround them that the creator wanted to remind them of something larger than that moment. The knowledge of this possible awakening is the gratification.
The fact that someone spent their money on a cause that would show them no monetary gratification can also be a positive aspect of this sign. Not many billboards can say that they have a greater purpose than scraping in the money. This part of the sign makes is more likely to be remembered than its commercial brothers and sisters.
So is this billboard successful in it’s intentions? One could assume so because it has been remembered, and it has gotten people to think about something larger than traffic. The billboard “Trust Me” is still an advertisement for something, but not what people are used to seeing the medium used for. It is an advertisement for greater awareness.