Odd Billboard Leads to 911 Calls
It's just an ad for BMW
By YVONNE NAVA
Updated 10:57 AM EDT, Mon, Jan 18, 2010
A life-sized man and teddy bear perched atop a billboard on Interstate 95 are prompting alarmed drivers to dial 911.
Concerned motorists who spotted the pajama-clad male mannequin and the teddy bear on top of a Connecticut billboard worried that the odd pair was real and was in danger of toppling over.
The billboard is an ad for overnight test drive being hawked by BMW of Bridgeport, Conn. The figures were lifted to the top of the billboard about two months ago, the Associated Press reported.
"For whatever reason, it's working because people are looking at it," the dealership's general sales manager, Tim Coughlin, told The Connecticut Post.
"It has become distinctive and sort of like a signature."
Dispatchers at State Police Troop G barracks have been telling callers that the man isn't real and the figures have been up there a while, the AP reported.
Coughlin said he's received a lot of interest in overnight test drives because of the ad.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut
First Published: Jan 18, 2010 7:48 AM EDT
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