What’s The Deal With These ‘Creepy’ Eye Billboards In Minnesota?

If you've seen one of these billboards, it is quite possible you've found them a bit unnerving.

A few variations of "eye billboards" have popped up in a few places around the country, including in Duluth, making people wonder what the heck they're all about. Conversations have popped up on social media around the subject, and I've even received a couple of emails from listeners around the Twin Ports area asking if I knew what they mean.

A couple of places they've been seen include on the west side of I-35 in West Duluth across the highway from the paper mill and at the intersection of West Michigan Street and West Superior Street in Lincoln Park.

It turns out the Duluth area isn't the only place these billboards have popped up. They've been seen other places, including in Michigan, sparking similar questions.

Some of the people providing guesses on the origin of these eye billboards have suggested a wide variety of things like "an announcement for a new eye doctor" to "a weird Christian thing", or an online privacy/security ad.

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Seeing a giant, up-close eye without any context can understandably be a little unsettling. When just seeing a giant eye looking back at you while driving down the road without any clear message, it can really make people wonder.

Taking a closer look, however, makes it pretty clear what these ads are all about. It's just hard to see from the road while driving by.

In the center of the eye on each of these billboards is a logo for a company named Lamar. If you look at the bottom of the billboard, you'll notice the same name on the frame of the billboard.

If you haven't connected the dots yet, Lamar is the company that owns these billboards, and they appear to be putting up "eye-catching" visuals on some of their unsold billboards to do a little self-promotion. What better way to prove your billboards work than to get people's attention with a weird visual, I guess?

You can't see their branding very well from the highway, but maybe that's not the point.

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Lamar operates billboards around Minnesota, Wisconsin, and all over the United States. The website BillboardInsider ranks them as the largest billboard/poster company in the country, with a sizable margin of signage over their other top competitors like OutFront Media and ClearChannel Outdoor.