Does this really work?

One of the more bizarre things here in Fort Collins is the people who hold signs on street corners. Lunch specials, tax services, furniture sales--they're waving their signs, dancing to whatever music they're listening to, dressing in costumes... Businesses would occasionally hire someone to hold a sign like that in Michigan--the one that jumps to mind is Little Ceasar's when they started their $5 pizzas--but nothing like this, a constant stream of them, both in the quaint shopping district of Old Town and even out along the busy intersections away from there.

I'm just not convinced that this kind of advertising really works. It certainly never inspires me to go to the restaurant in question (which seems the most likely to work on impulse buying) and certainly not the furniture store. Is this some effort to keep otherwise idle people employed? It is sort of fun, though, to watch when someone really gets into it, moving as if to some inner music that no one but them knows anything about.