NORTH COUNTY -- Chances are that if you have driven through North County, you have seen them -- those human arrows directing drivers to some new shop, restaurant or housing development with the wave or flip of a sign.

The sign flippers, officially known as human directionals, are part of an active advertising trend in California, Florida, Louisiana and several other regions of the United States. They are primarily used to advertise apartment complexes, new homes and cell-phone companies, as well as businesses that wish to promote a sale or grand opening.

"For anyone who needs to bring more traffic into their business, it's ideal," said Alvin Morrison, co-owner of Eventz Extraordinaire, an Irvine-based promotions company that is credited with conceptualizing the directionals.

One local business that has recently adopted directional advertising is Marvin's Egg Market and Pizza Place on busy South Santa Fe Avenue in Vista.

Manager Marvin Jabro said he hadn't considered using the human signs until a local man approached him about it three months ago.

Since then, the human sign, whose sign generally advertises taco deals, has helped bring in an additional $10,000 a month for the shop and restaurant, Jabro said.

"A lot more people are coming in. It really grabs their attention," said Jabro, who has hired additional workers to man the sign.

Much like the sandwich boards that men would wear during the Great Depression, the signs are a cheaper form of advertising than most newspaper or TV advertisements. More importantly, it attracts people as they drive past the signs, said Elisabeth Armijo, manager of human directional services at Eventz Extraordinaire.

"Not everybody is going to be reading the paper, but people who drive around will be able to see the human arrows," Armijo said. "It's going to catch their attention more because there is someone actually flipping a sign and dancing around."

However, the signs are most effective when coupled with print ads, Morrison said. Most people who are in the market for a new home will first look for housing in a newspaper or real estate magazine before viewing a model home or development. Once a potential customer is on the road, the directionals will grab their attention and show them where to go, Morrison said.

"You can't do it without newspaper -- we are sort of an enhancement and reinforcement," he said.

The concept of human directionals came about in the early 1980s, Morrison said, while he owned another advertising business in Orange County that handled the advertising for a development company.

Along with his advertising team, Morrison decided to place an ad in local newspapers that depicted a large red arrow pointing to Villa Pointe, a site of some new homes near Pacific Coast Highway.

He then decided to make a similar arrow sign that could be pointed by a person at the actual location. He brought the idea up to Phil Ramsden, owner of Eventz Extraordinaire who helped design the sign, Morrison said. The signs were so successful that many developers started to follow suit, Morrison said.

For human arrow Steve Anderson, the job presents an easy way to make extra money in his off-time. Nearly every weekend, Anderson stands on an Escondido street corner waving, spinning and flipping his 2-foot by 5-foot sign, hoping to catch the eye of motorists as they drive by.

Employed by Eventz Extraordinaire, Anderson is hired out to various businesses in North County to serve as a living advertisement to potential customers.

Anderson took the job nearly a year ago to supplement his income from his full-time position at a biotech company.

"I've had other jobs that were less pay and more work," Anderson said. "When someone told me they would pay me 10 bucks an hour to stand on a corner waving a sign, I thought they were joking."

The work appeals to many different types of people, from high school students starting their first job, to professionals who want to make some extra cash on the weekend, Armijo said.

"We typically look for outgoing people; they definitely have to have a lot of energy because they are standing out there all day," Armijo said.

Through Eventz Extraordinaire, Anderson and his 14-year old son, Jose Pallares, have advertised for Paradise Homes in Escondido for about five months. Since they began working to help sell the nine-home community in north Escondido five months ago, all but two houses have sold, Anderson said.

The homes took so long to sell because the owner placed only two small ads for the development in local papers. Also, there was only a small sign near the development to indicate where it is. So the homes got very little traffic until the directionals began working. Also, many of the homes were not completely built when Anderson and his son arrived, he said.

Starting at $10 an hour, human directionals at Eventz Extraordinaire make almost 50 percent more than a minimum wage job. Some can even earn up to $16 depending on their performance and tenure, Armijo said.

"If someone is giving a 110 percent, they are definitely going to move up the pay scale," Armijo said.

Not every person who takes on the job likes it, said Tudi Sanchez, 18, a human directional who works for developer Michael Crews. He said one of his co-workers quit after a month because she was so bored. Sanchez said that is the nature of the job, so he often listens to music or plays games with himself.

"Today, I got so bored I counted birds in the sky. Or sometimes, I'll count how many cars pass by," Sanchez said.

Still, Anderson said he prefers flipping signs for five or six hours a day to some of the other jobs he has done in the past.

"As long as these guys keep me working and keep me happy, I'll be there," Anderson said.

Jessica Musicar is a frequent contributor to the North County Times. Contact her at gwyllion@aol.com.