Sign spinning/holding

So I was having a conversation with my girlfriend the other day, and we began discussing people who are paid to hold signs or spin them (sometimes) like in the video below. She pointed out that it's simply been a job created so that people can earn money and isn't really necessary seeing as how a pole or, in some cases, a machine could easily do the same job. My question was whether or not she was correct and whether or not this was even a job pre-recession. Personally I can't remember this being thing before the recession hit, but perhaps it was a thing that just hadn't been in my town. So do you guys remember this always being a thing? Or is it something new created to give people something to do while the economy improves?

The took our jerbs. ^

That's not how these things work. If they don't provide a benefit (or at least a perceived benefit), then no one will pay people to do it.

The sign spinners are typically paid because they do a better job of getting attention than a static sign given that the world is saturated with static signs. It's hard for one sign to stand out from amongst the crowd and draw in customers - or even let customers know that the business exists.

When I see a sign holder, I at least catch the motion out of the corner of my eye and think to myself, "That poor dude... Oh, there's a sale at burger barn!"

Yeah what mattbbpl said. Having a person hold or spin a sign typically draws more attention. I'm sure this has also been done throughout the past.

Because what we need in this day and age are more commercial signs?...

If a company is desperate enough to have flashy advertising (whether a person or machine), they definitely can't afford to be "making jobs" for the sake of it.

Sign spinners stand out in a sea of static signs that everyone ignores.

What's the point of spinning a sign? I stopped the video before he stopped spinning the thing because I got bored of waiting for him to stop so I could even read what he was trying to advertise...If I was crossing the road and saw him I would definitely not stand there half a minute waiting for him to let me read the bloody thing...

I don't think I'd like a job like that, staying busy helps time fly and without anything to do those are going to be the longest days ever. I wonder if sign twirling is even part of the job description or if these people do it just so they don't go crazy.

But yeah, I agree, this seems to mostly be a job created back within the last decade or so since the economy went to shit.