By Alex Swart
On a recent road trip from Los Angeles to Austin and back again, my travel partner Ellen and I talked about Westerns—the only genre named after its physical setting. Our windshield framed big skies, rugged mountains, and expanses of desert scrub punctuated by saguaro sentinels. The epic landscape whooshing by reminded us of classic movies filmed in the region, such as My Darling Clementine (1946), Broken Arrow (1950), the original 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and Tombstone (1993). Road signs marked storied western cities—Tucson, El Paso, the real-life town of Tombstone, and Lordsburg—where the climactic gunfight in Stagecoach (1939) took place.
Our Western reverie was intermittently interrupted by billboards. Yep, billboards. Outlawed in some countries, it's an advertising platform proliferating like sagebrush along Interstate 10. Billboards selling real estate, fast food, faster cars, and auto accident attorneys. Riffs on the injury lawyer mantra “We’ll fight for you!” had the unintended effect of motivating me to drive more judiciously through contemporary wagon trains of camper vans and semis.
Ellen and I were more intrigued by a series of roadside promotions reminiscent of 1950s sci-fi film advertising. They're billboards promoting THE THING? comprised of brusquely-lettered blue headlines on vibrant yellow backgrounds, with torn-paper blood-red snipes containing exhortations. This graphic style feels organic to open stretches of the rural Southwest known for extraterrestrial abductions. THE THING? outdoor campaign extends across three states and culminates in a geographically-determined location, Exit 322 (which leads to the confusingly-named Texas Canyon—actually in Arizona near the New Mexico border). At a frequency determined by vehicle speed (typically 75 mph/120 km), motorists are pitched a sequence of related messages: THE THING? WHAT IS IT?, and promisingly, THE THING? IT’S A WONDER! Or confidently, THE THING? YOU’LL BE AMAZED!, as well as a vaguely religious appeal, THE THING? WILL YOU BELIEVE? After being conditioned by hours of earnest highway huckstering, we were ready to be AMAZED! So, when the next billboard commanded us to EXIT NOW it seemed inconceivable to refuse.
We parked in front of a long, low emporium at the top of a mesa—one of many Bowlin Travel Centers throughout the Southwest. Building signage enticed us with GIFT ITEMS, SOUVENIRS, JEWELRY, FIREWORKS! and, of course, THE THING? Another sign promised that the museum was OPEN EVERY DAY. Inside was a treasure trove of suncatchers, turquoise jewelry, Navajo rugs, and tchotchkes galore.
I couldn't wait to explore the MYSTERY OF THE DESERT! Was it a mummified alien? A dinosaur? Or the remains of a half-human, half-animal hybrid? Was it really amazing? Sorry, can’t tell you. When I asked the store manager standing behind the display counter to see THE THING?, he ruefully replied that the museum side of the store housing the attraction was closed because floors were being refinished. Disappointing? Sure. But if I had seen THE THING?, I wouldn’t give away its secret. And hopefully, if you ever see it you won’t either. I did buy a cool refrigerator magnet though.
The amiable manager mentioned to Ellen that in the 1950s THE THING? billboards spread east all the way to St. Louis. The campaign’s campy style doesn’t appear to have changed much since then. It still evokes a more innocent time and therein lies its charm. THE THING? remains a testament to the power of outdoor advertising. That’s a space where I have some experience—billboards, bus wraps, and building banners written and designed by our firm, SwârtAd, have promoted major brands from Times Square to Sunset Blvd. But if the Bowlin folks ever asked us to rethink THE THING? campaign, we’d have to say no. Because it’s perfect just the way it is.
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