Web surfers decode GM’s mystery advertisement

A billboard in Arlington, Texas, for example, says ‘‘you.’’ One in New York City shows a period. The billboards also promote the Website http://www.findthemessage.com, on which GM explains that it created the campaign to spread ‘‘a message so important we need the whole country to tell it.’’

But some web visitors quickly found that most of the ‘‘secret’’ message is included in the site’s source code.

A web surfer using the name ‘‘J1mmy’’ wrote that the message was: ‘‘This is the last time you will ever have to feel alone on our nation’s roadways.’’ The meaning, J1mmy speculated, was that all new GM vehicles would soon be equipped with OnStar, the factory-installed safety and communications system that is already available in many models. ‘‘They did crack the code,’’ said Rob Peterson, a communications manager at GM. ‘‘We expected it to be solved, we just didn’t expect it to be solved in this manner.’’

Although J1mmy and other sleuths did not crack a second, shorter sentence that is part of the message, they took glee in beating the system. — NYT