Story highlights
"To my cheating husband Paul. You deserve each other," read the large billboard sign in Sheffield, England
"When you get home I won't be there. Enjoy your drive to work! Lisa," she concluded
Partner cheating on you? Well, you could talk it through. Or send him packing. Or how about dumping him with a giant billboard sign that he – and everyone else – just can’t miss on his usual commute?
A woman called “Lisa” did just that.
The sign – strategically positioned alongside a busy highway in Sheffield, a city in northern England – read: “To my cheating husband Paul. You deserve each other. When you get home I won’t be there. Enjoy your drive to work! Lisa.”
Mark Catterall of Kong Outdoor, the advertising company that sold Lisa the space for the sign, said she ordered it two weeks ago and “it was obviously planned in advance, she obviously had a date in mind,” he told CNN.
The sign measures a significant 18.4 feet (5.6 meters) wide and 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) high, and was up during rush hour between 6 - 9am Wednesday morning, Catterall confirmed.
“It’s the busiest road in the city of Sheffield, with most of the traffic traveling to the city center,” said Catterall. “It’s one of the most prominent billboard locations in the city.” Lisa also opted for a digital screen “so she could deliver the message at the right time”, he said.
“She paid three figures for it,” Catterall confirmed; a sign for a week would normally cost £400 ($611). He also had suggestions for how the advertising method could continue to be used by members of the public.
“It’s something that’s unfortunate for one of the parties involved but it has been used as marriage proposals. Might be a bit nicer in the future.” Catterall asserts that Lisa was a private consumer who had not paid for advertisements in the past.
Twitter users waded in with their thoughts on the matter. “Breaking up… Sheffield style with just a ‘small’ sign on the Parkway!” tweeted Peter Spencer.
Some expressed concern. “Oh dear, anyone in the Sheffield area passed this sign today? #Sheffieldissuper,” wrote Northgate Careers.
Others gave Lisa a virtual pat on the back. “Saw the sign on the #sheffieldparkway on my way to work! Good for you Lisa!”