Your Wife Is Hot ...

[Hum]

In the world of advertising, it's all about the buzz ? you tell your friends, they tell theirs.

And in this age of social networking, multiply that to the nth degree, marketing experts say.

Six billboards ? two large and four smaller ones ? will go up in eastern Allegheny County in the next couple of weeks with a simple message: "Your Wife is Hot." One is already up along Route 30 in North Versailles.

It's the kind of message that could get people talking.

"To some, it might be offensive, but it's not against the law," said Chuck Thomas, 22, of the Hill District, as he waited for a bus on Friday morning near the billboard on Route 30.

A "Your Wife is Hot" billboard campaign that ran in southern states promoted air conditioning companies.

"I think it's neat," said Audrey Guskey, associate professor of marketing at Duquesne University.

Viral marketing ? using social networks to create a large-scale buzz about your product ? is big these days, Guskey said. With a catchy phrase, advertisers can get consumers to pass along their messages on the Internet at no cost to them.

And today, that billboard in North Versailles could be a topic of discussion literally around the world, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, which tracks the social impact of the Internet.

"If (advertisers) do something noteworthy or clever, it will start chatter," he said. "That's the name of the game."

On average, 79 percent of American adults use the Internet, Rainie said.

The social networking numbers can be huge. YouTube says it has more than 2 billion views per day; the typical Facebook user -- and there are 200 million of them -- has 130 friends.

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[CGar]

We have those in Texas... but they have a "get your AC fixed" in small text below it, not quite as weird lol

[Ironman273]

Uhh... yeah. We've had those ads in south Florida for a while now. Another company even came out with a "Your wife is NOT hot.... because she repaired her A/C with out company" and got sued by the original company.

[GrayW]

CGar that makes more sense. How on earth are you supposed to guess that it's for AC companies otherwise :/

"Your Wife is Hot" with nothing else on the sign is just stupid and is something I would completely ignore.

[Hum]

How many men are reading that sign, and saying, "Yeah, I wish !" :laugh:

[He's Dead Jim]

The best one I saw was on the back of a dirty white van;

"I wish my girlfriend was as filthy as this"

[Ironman273]

These were the ads we saw in our area:

[Growled Member]

"Your Wife is Hot" with nothing else on the sign is just stupid and is something I would completely ignore.

Same here. It means nothing.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

"Your Wife is Hot" with nothing else on the sign is just stupid and is something I would completely ignore.

I agree. However, I think it's a subliminal message, propaganda to make husbands spend cash on things like cosmetics and designers' clothes for their wives. It has nothing to do with AC imho haha.

[ajua]

Same here. It means nothing.

I kind of agree with that, but this is what makes buzz and gets people to talk about it in the first place.

Look, there are already articles in the press talking about it. We are even discussing it here.

That is what the person/company behind that campaign wanted.

[BeerFan]

I kind of agree with that, but this is what makes buzz and gets people to talk about it in the first place.

Look, there are already articles in the press talking about it. We are even discussing it here.

That is what the person/company behind that campaign wanted.

Agreed 100% - the attention was their only goal, and it's working!