As I was driving on Interstate 81 North in Pittston, PA today, I noticed a billboard for a now defunct restaurant suddenly made a return appearance. Not quite sure why the sign was resurrected, but after seeing it, something looked a little odd.
I pulled off the Interstate and made my way back to find the sign in order to get a better look. What I saw up close and personal was indeed what I saw in the distance. I stopped for a moment, and said to myself, “well, that couldn’t have been good for business!”
Whoever designed the billboard, never proofread the sign before it went up, and the billboard was displaying an incorrect exit number. There is no exit 570 off Interstate 81 or any other roads nearby for that matter. 570 happens to be the telephone area code for this part of northeastern Pennsylvania. The exit you would need to take to get to this former eatery would have been 175.
Now the home of Tony Stella’s Goodfellos, 1901 Highway 315, Pittston used to be the Mayfair Supper Club and reincarnated into a few nightspots including Bella Vino and most recently Stultz’s “All-U-Can-Eat” which had a lifespan close to that of a fruit fly (which happens to be 30 days).
It makes me wonder how things like this get bought and paid for despite being inaccurate. Did the owner not review the mock-up for the billboard before it was printed and installed? Did customers or employees not notice its error and bring it to someone’s attention? Did the billboard company think something was off when they put the sign up knowing there was no exit 570? The company, Besko Media, has an office locally so they can’t plead ignorant.
Whether you’re designing a billboard that will be seen by 60,000 people a day, or designing a cover for a menu that will be seen by 50 people a day, take the time to review it once, twice, even three times. Then have others do the same. Chance are you’re going to find something that’s incorrect or could have been done better.
In the mean time, if you’re looking for a place to eat, go ahead and try Tony Stella’s Goodfello’s. They’re located underneath the ugly yellow and black billboard advertising a tacky “All-U-Can-Eat” joint off the Interstate. Just don’t take exit 570. God only knows where you’ll end up.