(Credit: Novo Ad Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
I refuse to bow to the inevitable.
Indeed, I look the inevitable in the eye, grab it by its lapels, slap it a little and say: “Hey, inevitable. How do you like that, then?”
And yet it seems that I may now have to face the inevitable somewhere that I hoped I wouldn’t have to.
Yes, the public restroom.
I have become used to ads above the urinal. They remind me to drink beer and work out. However, now, I may have to watch video ads while I wash my hands and stare at my uneven eyebrows.
For the Los Angeles Times informs me that a company called Novo Ad has created the technological means to turn mirrors into electronic displays for ads.
The mirrors are, in fact, LED screens that enjoy a hard disk and some nifty software.
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Their psychology, though, is irresistible. For as you approach the mirror, an ad begins to wrap its insidious tentacles around your insecurities.
It is surely no coincidence that the test video I have embedded features a woman, a mirror, and cosmetics.
But imagine if a man was in the bathroom at Whole Foods and an ad appeared about the digestive benefits of organic beets.
Or perhaps you are in McDonald’s, using the bathroom rather than eating the food. As you wash your hands, a video materializes describing the appalling treatment of farm animals. It is only when a porn star appears at the end that you realize it’s from PETA.
And, yes, it’s all in HD.
Nova Ad says it is currently looking for American partners and imagines that its ads will appear in public restrooms in malls, hotels, railway stations and movie theaters.
I feel sure this is the next great advertising phenomenon. So many people now update their Facebook status while in stall number 3. So, by the time they emerge, perhaps the mirror will offer a video to fulfill what immediate need that status update might reveal.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest one of all?” you might be thinking, as you wash your hands and straighten your scarf.
“You’re not,” the mirror will reply. “So how about L’Oreal’s new blackhead-hiding, nose-altering, cheek-creating new face cream, Visageoplast?”
How could you possible resist?
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