Day to day, every day, we are accosted by words.

Look around. Everywhere our landscape is dotted with slogans, catch phrases, deals and appeals for our time, attention, and money.

Advertising is everywhere and cannot be avoided. Signs. Everywhere. Words from someone else selling, or telling us, what we need, what to believe, and how or when we can see it.

It goes well past products or prestige, and the message is not always clear, but it clutters any and all vacant space within our sight lines.

You get the message.

There is no escape. You can’t help but see the billboard blocking the sunset, larger-than-life banners flapping on the edge of the high-rise, day-bright neon, or lawns signs at election time emphasizing one bad choice over another.

How do you respond to the words? Do you try the new service, or buy what they are selling? Do you stop and take a further look? The truth always telling.

It is nothing new; I can’t remember when it was. It’s the same ol’, same ol’. Brand names may rotate, or the colour or style shifts in another direction, but with all the changes, it is still the same.

It could be handwritten or professionally crafted, and size does not matter, it speaks in our language. We all use words to communicate. We cannot survive without words. We read words whether we like to are not. They are always there.

Perhaps now it has become even more obvious as it has spread further into our virtual reality. We are constantly bombarded with messages each time you click or swipe on the mobile device to get to the information you want and need, our chosen apps held hostage or interrupted with pop ups.

It is a newer format, yes, but it follows the same old premise. The ads, the signs, telling us what we may or may not want, appealing to your hunger(s), or vices, insecurities, or greed.

We respond.

It works the same way a poster for Kool-Aid will distract you on a hot summer’s day. If you’ve got the thirst, you will likely buy. Sometimes you might be looking to repair something, or the best price on something you don’t really need.

Words: they temp you, they taunt you, they upset you and haunt you. The words catch your eye and, as consumers at heart, we look and we buy.

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”
                                                      -Les Emerson