"Billboard Bachelor".

Just this week, a bachelor lawyer in our office remarked that he was thinking of buying billboard space to advertise for a wife.

Thinking he was joking, I laughed.

Then, a couple of days later, I was driving south on Newport Boulevard, just before Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach, and saw a billboard employing that very strategy: "Wife Wanted". Seriously.

The "Billboard Bachelor" then directed interested parties to a website, Billboard Bachelor.

A few observations:

1. The site carefully avoids providing "Dean's" last name. Hey pal, your picture is about 20 feet tall for all to see (along with pictures on your internet site); privacy is not preeminent.

2. The selling points on the sign: "Single, Successful, Ready." The motto on the site: "Looking for Mr. Right... is Looking Up." Fill in your own punchlines.

3. There is a protocol for submitting your application. "All applications must include at least one (1) recent photograph of you before the system will accept the application." Query: how will the "system" know if it is "recent"?

4. Applicants must direct general questions to a certain email--not the one for the application itself. "Someone" will contact you. This guy has "people" evidently working on the project.

5. This fellow claims to be an "investment banker". Maybe this is part of a global business plan, the first fruits of a franchise operation. Spend $20,000 advertising for a spouse. How will you make money? Volume.

Any comments? Behave.