Public Notices Gone Off Script (8 Photos)

The Notice Is Part of the Joke

A field warns you not to feed its sharks. An empty stool advertises an invisible performer. These eight public notices borrow familiar formats—warnings, missing posters and announcements—then use them for something nobody asked about.

More: Funny Signs (8 Photos)

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🦈 “Great Wheat Sharks” — By Anne Melady near Dublin, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

Three fins cut through the wheat behind a polite feeding warning. Anne Melady told Farmtario how she made the display: she drew four fins on plywood, and neighbors helped cut them out and fit brackets so they could turn in the wind.

💡 Field Fact: When the wheat was harvested, Melady moved the fins into a tributary of the Bayfield River behind her home. The sharks finally reached water.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsGreat Wheat SharksAnne Melady · 2021 · Dublin, OntarioPlywood painted blackInspired by fins in ErinFour fins (Farmtario)1Melady got the idea from a field near Erin, where two fins had made her smile every time she went past.Farmtario2According to Farmtario, at wheat harvest she moved the sharks to a tributary of the Bayfield River behind her home.Farmtario20219 JulDriver’s photo tweet, via blogTO202114 JulFCC Ontario photo, via blogTO202116 JulPhoto tweet, blogTO lead photo202119 JulblogTO report202121 JulFarmtario: moved after harvestRead the full file →

More: Please Do Not Feed the Great Wheat Sharks

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🐕 “Dog Library”

The collection is stacked at the foot of a roadside tree: a loose pile of twigs and branches under a hand-lettered plywood board. The sign offers a familiar borrowing arrangement, adapted for readers who would rather carry the contents home in their mouths.

💡 Dog Fact: We could not trace who made this board, but the same borrow-and-return idea has made the news. In December 2019, Andrew Taylor stocked a crate at the dog park in Kaiapoi, New Zealand, with branches trimmed from his own trees. He sanded each stick, and dogs borrow one and return it for the next dog.

More: 11 Public Book Spots We Love

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🩴 “Invisible Naked Man With Flip-Flops”

The sandals, stool and coin tray are all there. The performer is the missing part. A cardboard sign turns that empty space into an act, while the seated people behind it carry on with their day.

More: Funny Signs

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🍺 “Drink. Don’t Drive.”

A yellow figure raises a fuel-price joke over its head. The last line gives the practical instruction: leave the car behind. The smile makes it look less like a warning and more like advice from someone enjoying the evening.

💡 Slogan Fact: The joke is older than this sign. Barry Popik’s phrase archive quotes a T-shirt designer who recalled printing “Beer, now cheaper than gas” in 1998, when American gas still cost under $2 a gallon. He added “Drink, don’t drive” in 2005.

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🧽 “Show Biz Ruined Me” — By Pao in Rome, Italy 🇮🇹

SpongeBob has traded his usual grin for a worried stare and a cardboard explanation. Pao uses the box’s corner to give the character a side as well as a face. I Love Graffiti documented the work in Rome in 2012.

💡 Artist Fact: Before street art, the Milan-born Pao trained as a stage technician in Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s theater company and worked in the Teatro alla Scala workshops. He moved to the street around 2000 and became known for turning Milan’s concrete road blockers, the “panettoni,” into penguins.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsShow Biz Ruined MePao · 2012 · RomePainted electric cabinetOnline by 3 April 20121Pao’s own archive titles it “Show biz ruined me” and says SpongeBob was painted on an electric cabinet in Rome.paopao.it2Neatorama described an out-of-work SpongeBob “complete with beggar’s sign and collection hat”.Neatorama201214 AprJazJaz post201216 AprNeatorama post201217 AprComplex report201217 OctI Love Graffiti postRead the full file →

More: Pao’s Street Art in Rome

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🩺 “A Wise Doctor Once Wrote”

Five neatly spaced words promise a quotation worth remembering. The handwriting then collapses into two rows of loops and dashes. The flowers and stone wall make it look like an ordinary sidewalk chalkboard until you try to finish reading.

💡 Science Fact: The stereotype has been tested. In a 1996 BMJ study of 209 health care workers, doctors’ handwriting was no less legible than that of the non-doctors. Below-average scores were linked instead to being male and being an executive.

More: Funny Signs (20 Photos)

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🧠 “Lost My Brain”

The large heading and anatomical diagram seem to ask for help finding something important. The small print withdraws the request: “Please don’t contact me, I’m happy.” Even the tear-off tabs have nothing useful to offer.

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🐘 “Do Not Feed the Elephant” — By OakOak

The OakOak sign supplies the animal; the wall already supplies its trunk. A bent ventilation pipe becomes an elephant reaching out of the plaster. There is no painted body to help you along.

💡 Artist Fact: OakOak was born in Saint-Étienne, France, and has used the city outdoors as his playground since 2006, often drawing on geek culture for his sidewalk jokes.

More: OakOak’s Street Surprises (72 Photos)

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