“Banana Girl” – it’s the title of the person picked last in kickball mixed with a super vixen, and the simplest Halloween costume for a teenage to young adult male—all together, not flattering.
Day one of my adventure of dancing outside of Smoothie King on Kennedy dressed in a banana outfit was the most enlightening. And yes, it is possible for this type of experience to shed some new light on society and life in general. Please note, if considering this as a (hopefully) temporary job, get the iPod set up with a great playlist.
“I think it’s a waste of a job because I feel like it’s aimed towards kids. If companies want more customers they should advertise more, not hire someone in a costume to stand outside,” said Becky Petoello, 19, education major.
About a half an hour into my “shift” as Banana Girl, a casual yet sketchy pedestrian tilted the Solo cup he was carrying towards me, enough to see that there was a clear liquor in there, and offered me a shot. The angel on my right shoulder convinced me that it was not only a bad idea, but a horrible one.
Altogether, I spent about five hours on the street, split between four days. Taking part in this provided me with the time I needed, no matter what mood I was in, to reflect on things that I had going on in life. Staring down the horizon watching clouds forming the shape of frogs, hippos and eye-balls, I never once wished that the cars would stop driving past. I felt the similar anticipation of a rush of customers coming towards me as if I was in a restaurant, except the line would never end—and it wasn’t a bad thing. It was just one opportunity after another to see what type of connections I could make with drivers.
Knowing that I had about four to five more days of standing on the corner of Kennedy and S. Lauber was a balance between shame and sheer carelessness. No one knew who I was out there and it’s freeing because I could jam to my music and dance on.
My generally non-creative hand gestures got old after a while; the thumbs up, awkward make-shift arrow with fingers and the princess wave. Next up, spirit-fingers; (see: Bring It On.) And I won’t forget the always corny, holding up the smoothie cup as if it’s the gold medal at the Olympics.
Since I had no coaching or lessons on how to be the most efficient walking billboard, I was left with my own creativity.
The honks and waves of drivers down Kennedy kept my spirits and dance moves at an all-time high. The honks mostly came from cars containing males, yet the waves came from a lot of middle-aged females. It’s the unstoppable cheering at a baseball game as the underdogs have their tying run rounding third base, and he slides into home winning the game. When I see someone’s car blinker coming my way, I fist-pump like I belong on Jersey Shore.
So is this a part-time job that should be looked down upon?
It may not be the most ideal job, but say for someone who has no other option- it’s not a horrible gig. The most unattractive part of the job would be the potential amount of sweat produced out in the sun while attempting to put on a show, and maybe even breakdance.
After being rejected from another business on Kennedy that often has a man in a gorilla costume outside reeling in customers, with the help of a friend, I decided to approach Smoothie King and see if they would be OK with getting involved this type of advertisement for less than a week. Though it’s not typical for Smoothie King to have someone dressed up on the side of the road, they could benefit from this type of advertising. “More people would see the store and realize that we’re here. We would get more customers,” said Scott Brown, 24, manager for Smoothie King. “A banana would be the ultimate costume; maybe an orange or an apple or something. I know a lot of people need jobs out there. If you’re good at doing it and you like being outside, you might as well get paid to do it.”
Smoothie King shares, yet, battles for land with The Floridian, which, according to their signs, has an awesome Cuban sandwich. They are quite hard to see tucked behind the restaurant, so my banana days were sure to bring in at least an extra handful of customers.
On the busiest street of my home town, I can recall moments where I’m driving down the road and I see the Statue of Liberty come to life in full force always dancing and having a good time. Probably every time I passed I would hold down my horn and peer at my rearview mirror waiting for them to jump in the air as if their day was made by one single horn.
As that person, I can now say that it really does inspire you to grab everyone’s attention while you’re out there. A honk or a simple wave back in recognition really made me smile. Whether they were acknowledging me because I was dressed as a banana or not, it was clear that they took the time to appreciate the humor behind the job.
“I don’t think there’s anything negative [about the job]. I think it’s, if someone’s personality fits it,” said Courtney Watson, 20, sales associate at Smoothie King. “Like an outgoing, energetic personality, can boost sales or boost other people’s moods. Because if [drivers] see you in a good mood then they’re kind of like, that psychological thing with the whole, ‘she’s in a good mood doing that; I can be in a good mood too’.”
The bottom line behind this job is to attract customers. But will the attraction always result positively or might some see the walking billboard as an act of desperation?
Some may be more critical of the job as a whole, like Petoello, who considered the job, more or less, an act of desperation for the company. But what Watson brought to my attention was something I hadn’t thought about at all while on the street, the idea that this job is perfect for those individuals who happen to be in a good mood all the time.
To the optimists- this is a great job for you. Forget the job requirements, there really are none. Being able to stand on the side of street acting as the road’s cheerleader is the only necessary foundation behind success.
Staring out at the open road, the side walk is brick clashing yet complementing the black road. On a partly sunny afternoon, I used my four-foot Smoothie King sign, shaped like the classic white Styrofoam cup they use, that they provided me with to block the sun as sweat starts dripping down my face.
Throughout the experience, I felt I made connections with certain drivers. I looked deep into their windows to hopefully find a smiling face that would wave back at me.
Sure, it may seem terribly embarrassing and even more so in my case because this banana costume did not have an alternative face to cover up my own. In order to avoid that embarrassment that I was initially feeling, I threw on my biggest sunglasses and paired them with red lipstick. The first five minutes or so consisted of me standing on the side walk looking like a Popsicle stick. I would awkwardly throw my hand in the air and wave to the birds. Once I loosened up and enjoyed my music, (on the final day, it was Lady Gaga’s Born This Way album,) I began to kick my feet around attempting to two-step and pumped my fists around connecting with the beat pumping through my headphones. Suddenly, I didn’t care.
However, the “walking billboard” can be considered one of the most embarrassing jobs. “When a business cannot afford a real billboard, they hire a person to hold a sign,” according to AskMen.com. What I chose to do ranked at number four out of 10, squashed in between a Meter Maid at number five and Telemarketer at number three.
I’d like to see one of the writers from their website get out on the street and do what I did. Yes, it’s awkward and it’s assumed that you should feel at least a small amount of shame when taking part in this type of job.
The mission of the costumed character or fruit on the side of the road is specifically to draw driver’s attention to a certain business or company. Whether that is good or bad attention in any one’s opinion, it gets the job done. And the job basically does itself as long as the person behind the costume can bring some life to the streets.
Once I got out there, though, I began looking forward to huge busses flying past me about five feet away providing me with a gentle breeze to dry my forehead.
Jennifer Bedell can be reached at 1jennifer.bedell@gmail.com.