Look Familiar? Garwood Councilman Models for Investors Bank Ads

Imagine my surprise when just days after seeing him at a Garwood council meeting, I found Councilman Keith Sluka saluting me outside my car window while stopped at a red light on Central Avenue in Clark.

Thankfully, it wasn't Sluka himself in the middle of the busy intersection, but rather his picture plastered on the outside of an NJ Transit bus in an ad for Investors Bank. I did a double-take and then reached for my camera to snap this shot before the light turned green.

Sluka is a senior loan officer at Investors and was chosen to pose in ads for their latest campaign.

"My division of was rebranded as Investors Home Mortgage, and as part of the rebranding, they decided they were going to use employees and customers as models for the entire advertising campaign," Sluka explains. 

Sluka says employees and customers were nominated, and then a few were chosen to be photographed.

And it's not just NJ Transit buses that Sluka's shot has graced, but also several huge billboards, including one near Newark Liberty Airport on Route 1 & 9.

"I'm saluting in the picture because the advertising agency would ask you about your background, and they posed us related to that," says Sluka. "I was in the Army stationed in Germany from 1983 to 1987."

Sluka says he's gotten plenty of response from friends who've noticed the photos in the past few months as the campaign hit the ground, but the newfound fame hasn't gone to his head.

"Lots of friends and neighbors and local people have been emailing me about it and laughing and busting my chops," says Sluka.

Sluka, who is a twin, says he has the perfect solution for when the limelight becomes too embarrassing.

"If I don't want people to know it's me, I just say it's my brother," he laughs.

Does Councilman Sluka make a good model? Tell us in the comments!