Viral ‘Billboard Dad' Receives 250K Birthday Wishes, Rents Giant NJ Sign to Say ‘Thank You'

The New Jersey dad whose sons rented a billboard in Atlantic City asking people to wish him a happy birthday, has a message for all those who sent him well-wishes -- and it was only logical he use a billboard to get his own message out.

According to NJ.com, Linwood resident Christoper Ferry Sr. rented out a billboard and replaced the birthday message his sons originally had with an enormous “Thank You.”

It all started with a birthday “prank” by two sons in Florida.

His two sons couldn’t decide what to get him for his 62nd birthday, according to NBC-affiliate WXII.

“I called my brother and I asked him, ‘Why don’t we put a billboard right outside of Atlantic City saying, ‘Wish my dad a Happy Birthday.’ And he loved it. He started dying laughing,” Chris Ferry Jr. said. “So that’s what we did.”

The billboard simply read “WISH MY DAD HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Love, Your Sons” and also included their dad’s phone number.

“We just wanted him to have a special birthday. That’s it,” Chris Jr. said.

In the end, the huge message soliciting birthday wishes worked. According to NJ.com, an estimated 250,000 phone calls or texts were received from strangers worldwide in the weeks since the initial billboard went up.

Ferry Sr.’s replaced billboard now reads: “Thank you for the birthday wishes. Over 250K calls worldwide. Love, #BillboardDad.”

Staying true to the initial billboard rented by his sons Chris Jr. and Mike, Ferry Sr.'s face is also pictured on his "thank you" sign.

“What I’m really trying to do is take the minute, that I have of fame here, to call attention that there’s really much more good in the world than there is bad,” Ferry Sr. said.