Human billboard

In the 19th century London, the practice began when advertising posters became subject to a tax and competition for wall space became fierce.

A man walks the Palais Royal and the most frequented streets in the neighbourhood, with one large placard covering the whole of his back, and another extending along the front part of his body down to his knees.

Another California company, AArrowSign Spinners, conducts "boot camps" to train its employees, and has also filed patent applications for a number of its "signature moves".

[6] Further restrictions on sign walkers in Arizona caused Jet Media Promotions, the state's largest supplier of human billboards, to sue the city of Scottsdale.

The company's owner then successfully campaigned for legislation that made it illegal for cities in Arizona to ban such advertising.

At first, T-shirts were used exclusively as undergarments, but as early as the 1930s, they were already used for advertising, with a 1939 The Wizard of Oz promotional shirt being a prized collector's item today.

[14][15][16][17] However, a month later, the cheerleaders for Lincoln Lightning's High Voltage Dance Team wore 2-inch by 4-inch temporary tattoos ("tadoos") that advertised local companies on their bare midriffs.

[24] In 2005, Andrew Fischer gained worldwide notoriety for auctioning his forehead space on eBay for temporary tattoo advertising, with the final bid coming in at $37,375 for thirty days' worth.

[30] Although he had originally intended to keep the tattoo, Hartsburg expressed disappointment with the defeated candidate's post-election comments and decided to have the design removed, but has stated that he does not regret his decision in getting it.

For the launch of its Windows Vista software, Microsoft employed a "human billboard" which was a performance art piece reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil.

In this event, people were suspended along the side of a building and moved banners across a backdrop, creating the Vista logo in the process.

[citation needed] BuyMyFace.com was a website created by two University of Cambridge graduates, Ross Harper and Edward Moyse, to repay almost £50,000 in student debt (equivalent to £76,967 in 2023).

Each day the site would display portrait pictures of the pair with an advertiser's logo or alternative image painted on their faces, with travel, activities and stunts able to be sponsored.

Writing in the Guardian, John Harris described them as "huge, seven-foot square things, bolted on to tubular constructions that look like crucifixes".