Neon "Open" sign on at all hours

I don't know why this is a new epidemic. The neon Open signs have been around forever. I live in a small town and no businesses had one 10-20 years ago. They had a hanging sign, or that black plastic you slide up and down or whatever. But now all the local businesses have the neon or light up one and almost all of them leave them on all the time past closing hours. It's truly ridiculous, I drive around at night and 10 of the 12 business will be all blacked out except the glowing Open sign. What is this about? Is everyone lazy? Do they think they are discouraging break ins? I really think about going around methodically and writing it all down for a solid week and bringing it to the city council. They need to be warned and then fined after repeat offenses. It is trashy and it's false advertising.