Thinly-veiled brand promise can be unnerving. Especially next to an oxymoron like “new york spring water.”

People just do anything they feel like these days…

Click here to check out the original billboard post first, if you haven’t already (partial image displayed below for easy-breezy reference).

This Travel Show ad is the the first to go up in that space. This is the exact same billboard, from the far left, avoiding the obstructed views.

It’s surprising what folks can do with duct tape and staple guns, while concurrently reinforcing every Jersey stereotype ever.

They have another one of these signs out on the street pointing into the exit, the arrow indicating, “Hey, that’s an exit!” rather than illustrating traffic flow. But the whole thing with the arrow pointing IN to the EXIT is more than enough ambiguity to create stuttered brake lights and jerky second-guessed steering. Then this on the way out and it all just becomes silly…

Which is good because if you have any trouble, you have double the assistance of the Help and Support Center.

This is a sign on the Mars Petcare campus in China (Mars, as in M&Ms. And yes, they are in the pet food business – Pedigree, Whiskas, and Sheba are all Mars brands).

It’s a fun barrage of things that, for your own safety, you can’t do – including sleeping, spitting, playing, and taking pictures.

As for this photo itself, is it unauthorized? I don’t think so – I mean, really, you need a picture to reference if you’re going to remember all that.

I guess there’s a few possibilities here. Could be the manufacturer, and the shirt itself is made from something like flash paper. Or maybe it’s a problem with consumers, putting space heaters in cribs or something.

Honestly, I can only think of one child who’s parents should be concerned about whether or not his clothes are flame-resistant.

But really, note how small that tag isn’t. They seem pretty serious.

I didn’t expect to top the last recession DVD salesman, but we have. Heroically. And on the same street corner.

I can honestly say I have never been closer to purchasing a DVD for $5 than I was right here. Commanding the attention of thousands of New Yorkers at rush hour on the corner of 7th Ave & 34th, this man unabashedly paced back and forth, fearlessly shouting, “Everyone! Come and see! Everyone! Come and see!”

I was secretly hoping he was about to hog-tie a tourist with a steel bar off the stair railing.

And while generally speaking I am an advocate of relevancy in marketing, I can’t fight the awesomeness of those cowboy boots.

I found myself unconvinced of the utmost effectiveness of this particular location.

A whole lot.

My friend Meredith spotted this on the subway. This is Duane Reade reminding New Yorkers of a fact preferred left unsaid – and doing a marvelous job of illustrating the convenience of a little Purell hand sanitizer.

I like it.