Jokester Sons Rent Giant Billboard to Prank Dad on His Birthday: ‘He Really Deserves It’

Nuisance, trivial and prank calls made up nearly a quarter of calls to Australia's Northern Territory’s emergency call centre in 2022. (Shutterstock)

It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Even if New Jersey father of two Chris Ferry doesn’t want it to! The unsuspecting dad is the victim of a longstanding joke between him and his two sons, and it seems that his sons have played the trump card with a humongous billboard just outside of Atlantic City.

CBS New York reported that Chris’s face and cell phone number are gratuitously plastered on a giant billboard along the Black Horse Pike, the road that leads towards the city’s casinos. “Wish My Dad Happy Birthday,” the bold sign shouts, “Love, Your Sons,” beside a huge picture of Chris’s face. You couldn’t miss it if you tried.

Michael and Christopher Ferry live in Florida while their dad resides in Linwood, New Jersey. In lieu of being nearby for their dear dad’s special day, the brothers decided to enlist a little help from the all-too-willing general public.

The public have heard the brothers’ collective cry for help, and boy, are they responding!

“Thursday morning, I got a text that said ‘Happy Birthday,’ and I said, ‘Who’s this?'” Chris regaled to WFLA. When the well-wisher said his name was Nick, Chris was perplexed. “How do you know it’s my birthday?” he asked. The response he received reignited the fun family feud of a lifetime: “I read it on a billboard!”

Chris has been inundated with texts, calls, and even online messages. Some of the messages have come from as far away as Germany and Africa, and most have been thoroughly cheerful: “Happy birthday, Chris, you raised some good kids,” read one. Chris has even been recognized in public.

Spotted by a waitress in a restaurant, Chris was made to feel like a celebrity: “Oh, you’re the billboard dad!” she cried. “So that’s my new handle, I’m the billboard dad,” Chris replied. “I love it, it’s really cool.”

Chris’s prankster sons explained the real motivation behind the billboard. Evidently, the joke is long-running, and goes all the way back to the boys’ early childhood. Chris would often take his sons to hockey tournaments and they would eat at Applebee’s after the game. “They would always tell the waiter, ‘Waitress it’s my birthday,’ even though it wasn’t,” Chris recalled. Sometimes, the boys would even tell staff that it was their dad’s birthday.

As for the billboard? It seems that Chris’s sons have taken the prank into orbit. Or, some might argue, to its logical conclusion!

“Our idea behind it was to get people that know him to call him,” son Michael revealed. “We didn’t really think it would be thousands and thousands of people … We are taken back by it, and we’re very excited to see my dad smile because he really deserves it.”

Birthday boy Chris, in characteristically good spirits, has been tickled by the prank and overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers. He thanked the well-wishers for taking time out of their day to message him. “It’s a cool story,” Chris said, “and I’m right in the middle of it, so I love it.”

Chris’s birthday is March 16, and your guess is as good as ours: what on Earth will his sons do next year?