Is your wife hot … or not?
A billboard battle along South Florida’s busiest roads revolves around that very question.
Now it’s the crux of a federal lawsuit.
Air Around the Clock, a Coral Springs-based air-conditioning and heating company, filed the suit last week, accusing a competitor of trademark infringement and misappropriating its “Your wife is hot” ad campaign.
All Year Cooling, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, has put up its own billboards using the phrase “Your wife is not hot” and started advertising the Internet address which connects to the company’s website.
Air Around the Clock is demanding a judge order All Year Cooling to stop using the “Your wife is not hot” slogan, and to pay it an unspecified amount in monetary damages.
Michael Lang, operations manager for Air Around the Clock, said his company began putting up 23 billboards in January that said, “Your wife is hot. Better get your A/C fixed.” The signs now dot roadways from northern Miami-Dade County to southern Palm Beach County, he said.
People have called just to say they enjoyed the ad, Lang said.
But this summer, other billboards began appearing that said, “Your wife is not hot because you called All Year Cooling,” according to the lawsuit. Lang said that slogan, plus the similar design of the ads, confuses prospective customers.
“I heard their guys went out on service calls and [customers] didn’t realize until they paid that the bill wasn’t from us,” Lang said.
State records show that Air Around the Clock trademarked the phrase “Your wife is hot” for air conditioning repair and service with Florida’s Department of State in August.
Meredith Mendez, an attorney for All Year Cooling, said there’s nothing confusing about the dueling billboards and that the “Your wife is not hot” ads clearly have All Year Cooling’s name on them.
Jon Burstein can be reached at or 954-356-4491.
