Day 140: Fun Fact Fridays.... Advertisements In the Mirror?

Advertisers have always appealed to our vanity to sell products.  And they're only getting better at it!  See for yourself:

Yes, those are advertisements mirrors of a public restroom, specifically in O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.  As explained by CNN Contributer, Bob Greene in this article, 

"We have chosen to be in bathrooms," said Brian Reid, the founder and president of Mirrus, the Huntersville, North Carolina, company that manufactures and markets the mirrors. "Bathrooms are often the last places people stop before they board an airplane, and the first places they visit when they get off an airplane." 

Those travelers just about always stop to look at themselves in the mirrors above the sinks, Reid said. So why not turn those mirrors into advertisements?  And how do people react when they see an advertisement as they look at their own faces?

"Well, it is an unexpected sight," Reid said. "And some people do think, 'Gosh, is there no sacred place?' But we hope people realize that we have purposely chosen not to be around the toilet. We're over by the sink."

Yes, you read that correctly.  This marketing middle-man wants us to be thankful that his company hasn't put their promotional mirrors inside of bathroom stalls.  Well... that decision certainly makes my life easier, but even if I wasn't trying to avoid mirrors I'd find the concept fairly ridiculous - not to mention invasive. (I'm envisioning penile enlargement ads in the men's rooms, and a lot of tampon promos in the ladies'...  Just the type of thing that might inspire me to graffiti the stalls with the message: "Call this number for obnoxious advertising!")


For your viewing pleasure, here are a few more creative ways that marketers have merged mirrors with ads. (FYI, I found all of these ad examples on this design blog - thanks crookedbrains.net!) So... it this capitalism at it's best or at it's worst?  Your call!  What do you think?


A postage stamp with YOUR face on it:

Movie promos on your side mirrors?  (That looks dangerous to me!)

Your dream car, with YOU in it:

Finally, and ad I can really get behind!  Look emaciated in the "skinny mirror"?  Go eat something!! 

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