This is actually a sign at Juneau International Airport Alaska, it just goes to show how devious these Coyotes can be. Mostly it’s a bit of harmless fun, but in reality the humorous message detracts from the real message about Coyotes being wild animals and possible a danger to people who interact with them.
Nearly everyone likes a bit of fun in the day to day hurly burley, but it should be just a bit of humour and it shouldn’t negatively impact the underlying message. Something that I’m sure everyone has been exposed to over the years, whether well meant or otherwise – people of a certain age are going to see the message as less forceful due to the cartoon association.
So now that I’ve got your attention, I’d like to point out that life wasn’t always like that. From what I can remember ten years ago your average person had the intellectual capacity to disassociate the two parts of the message, that is the real message at the top of the sign and the added humour at the bottom of the sign. Now it would seem that there are people who would actually spend time looking for a Coyote in a balloon with an anvil, or complain that Coyotes are being stereotyped.
Does any of that sound familiar, when I was younger everybody took a bit of a ribbing – it was a rite of passage. Were there bullies, of course there were and the bullying was wrong – but as far as that went there always seemed to be a get your own back day. But now things seem to have gone a bit the other way, it would seem that even in the British Army drill instructors have been asked not to swear at the recruits lest they hurt their feelings – that would possibly mean that there are now drill instructors with nothing to say! But it will more likely mean that these will be squaddies that don’t survive their first combat, all because they weren’t asked to get down politely.