human directionals

The LA Times has a great (and funny) article about the guys who wave arrow shaped ad signs by the side of the streets in SoCal. These "human directionals" - as they are called in adspeak - are among the most bizarre things one can see while driving around. One might argue it's one of the newest and most sinister forms of the rampant commercialization of the public space, yet another post-modern form of exploitation invented in California, and/or the latest in corporate -sponsored, hypernarcissistic subcultural practice vying for eyeballs on Youtube.