Cheap signs scattered on lawns and along the corners of busy intersections are hard to miss. To city officials, the signs are costly litter that requires city workers to pick them up.

Putting them up is deemed a crime as well, albeit a relatively minor offense that carries a fine of up to $250 in Hollywood, Fla.

While stopping for a red light a few months ago, Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober studied the ghastly signs and came to a realization that would help him stop them from spreading: The criminals had left their calling cards in the form of business phone numbers.

"These people want us to call them, so let's call them so often util it makes their heads spin," said Bober, who bought a $300 software program in March that robocalls the businesses. The number of the calls has gone up as high as 20 calls per program, made to 90 businesses per day.

In 2009, Bober held a citywide contest, offering $500 in non-public funds to whoever collected the most signs. The signs disappeared overnight, with the winning resident collecting nearly 500 of them. Yet over time, the city was again plagued by signs cluttering the sights.

"For two whole years, I was asking myself what to do," the mayor said. The robocalls, which leave pre-recorded messages, have been so successful that city officials say certain areas have seen a 90 percent reduction in signs .

(China.org.cn May 14, 2012)

那些散落在草地上和繁忙路口的廉價小廣告讓人很難錯過。對于城市官員來說，這些小廣告都是“價值不菲”的垃圾，因為需要清潔工去把它們撿起來。

在美國佛羅里達州的好萊塢市，貼小廣告是犯法的，雖然罪行較輕，但罰款可達250美元。

幾個月前，該市的市長彼得·鮑勃在一次等紅燈時，看到這些難看的小廣告，突然想出一招防止它們擴散的方法，因為他看到罪犯們把電話號碼留在小廣告上。

鮑勃說：“這些人想讓我們給他們打電話，那我們就使勁打，打到他們頭昏眼花?！彼衲?月花了300美元買了一套軟件，給這些人自動撥打電話。這套軟件可以每天給90多個發帖者每人撥打20次電話。

在2009年，鮑勃舉行了一次全市范圍的競賽，收撿小廣告最多者獎勵500美元。一夜之間，街上的小廣告全不見了，獲獎的市民收撿了大約500副小廣告。但不久之后，小廣告又遍布全城。

“過去兩年我一直在考慮到底該怎么做，”鮑勃說。這些播放預錄信息的機器撥號非常成功，一些地方小廣告減少率達90%。