May 03, 2004

Wizmark is based on one unwritten rule: When using a urinal, never stare at the person next to you. Every male knows that when he is using a urinal, he can look any way he wants -- except left or right. Realizing this unwritten code, the appeal of the concept is that it assures your ad will effectively reach the elusive male audience. Wizmark is undoubtedly the perfect advertising medium for men of all ages.
posted by SideDish 20 years ago
  • finally, a way to express feelings about advertising directly.
  • Any reputable establishment will have the sports pages displayed in front of the urinals.
  • Too...many...snide...comments...brain...overload.
  • (Though I agree w/Rocket88 about the sports pages).
  • I love those urinals that have the ones that say "just say no!" in them. I'm sure that many a potential drug user has seen those while peeing and changed his life for the better.
  • i was going to post something snide but I am glad to see others have beat me to it. instead i will say that i once urinated next to kurt russel. i was going to ask him why his was so much bigger than mine, but I wasn't sure he would remember his lines from Tango & Cash.
  • I hate urinal advertisments. They're terrifying. They're sneaky. They hang round in toilets, waiting, then... they strike. Right at your weakest moment. Hey, you, they say. I see you. You there. With your penis in your hand. Urinating. Like an animal. You sicken me! There's only one hope for you now. Buy! Buy my products! Tears rolling down your face, urine rolling down your leg, you drop to your knees. Yes! I'm weak! you cry. Let me suckle at the fat teat of commercialism! I am no better than a common beast!
  • Blaise, stop urinating at JcPenney's women apparel after leaving the Pub.
  • I'd like to urinate on Wizmark itself. I'm only 5'10" - is this possible?
  • All the bars i go to now have ads above the urinal at eye level. I won't know where to look if i have a urinal luring my eyes with blinking lights. You can read some good lit in the urinal though. My favorite was in a bar in Indiana. There was a complete four step set of instruction on how to flush the toilet.
  • An interesting intro to some webshow with this concept fully rendered (realplayer). And I know I have that urinal videogame (a screen you play games using your stream) developed by the MIT somewhere... but even on the net it seems to be gone.
  • Several years ago at the University of Toronto, Zoom Media, Inc. installed ads in the washrooms and above the urinals. Some enterprising students started replacing the ads with photocopied MC Escher prints. So Zoom replaced the display cases with ones you couldn't open without a special screwdriver and the practice dropped off. I imagine these devices could be subject to similar tempering, by someone with rubber gloves and no sense of smell.
  • monkeyfilter: people with rubber gloves and no sense of smell.
  • I don't have any sense of smell. I think I've found my calling in life now...
  • Blaise, your experience might be somewhat . . . unique.
  • You don't see them trying to market to women with this crap. Truly we are the superior sex. :P
  • I was reading a thread on B3ta concerning graffiti a while ago. Someone mentioned very small writing at the bottom of a bathroom stall door. Upon closer inspection, it read "You are now shitting at a 45 degree angle."
  • I prefer the "Cracker Jack" formula of attracting repeat business. A special prize with each purchase. Hence I am announcing the birth of "Melty Cakes"..urinal cakes which melt away with use to reveal a glamorous gift. (Special discount for all mofi members)
  • When using a urinal, never stare at the person next to you. But then how can you be sure he's looking for a blowjob?
  • urinal cakes which will melt away with use to reveal a glamorous gift Like those soaps with the little plastic animals inside! It's brilliant.
  • ..."Melty Cakes"... Ew.
  • I've always seen the ones with the screens at roughly eye level, which seems a far better design. Whatever happened to putting the Times crossword beneath a sheet of glass in the toilet? Much much better.
  • You know it's love when they turn around to look you in the eye and piss all over your boot.
  • During the college basketball playoffs a few months ago (which are a big deal in Kansas City) I went to the bathroom only to find a group of five guys standing around, drinks in their hands. The restaurant had installed small plasma screen TV's over each of the two urinals! There was no room at the bar, and a long wait for tables, so they were watching the game in the bathroom, while guys cheerfully used the urinal with their head tilted to the side so as not to block the game. The waitress said that there weren't any mounted in the women's room. http://diningreviews.com/reviews/amhoustons.html A quick google found only one other restaurant that mentioned having TV screens in the bathroom, and that was in Lawrence, Kansas, about 45 miles west. I can't tell if they are in both genders' bathrooms, or where they are mounted. I might have to make a road trip. http://calendars.lawrence.com/places/454/ It's hard to believe a trend could actually start in the midwest, and make its way from here to the coasts - is this so common elsewhere that no one thinks to mention it? Or are we actually on this smarmy cutting edge? I'm so glad that my first comment post was in the toilet - I can only go up from here! And I got to use "smarmy!"
  • Call me unadventurous, but I don't want anything I pee on to talk back.
  • I don't want anything I pee on to talk back. Then there's a job for you in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. Sorry.
  • yeah, that's just what I need. stumble in the bathroom after a few pints and... hey, is the urinal talking to me?
  • this is absolutely the most enlightening, entertaining, 'inside' conversation. i've led a sheltered life and had no idea what went on inside the mens' advertising? really? good heavens! i've never spied such a thing in the ladies'. then again, i suspect that no one wants to induce women into staying longer than they already do in the can. and the games guys must play for their ego's is hilarious, i think. i'm glad we get the little cubicles even if we do have to wait. much better than having to expose one's genitals to strangers and all the ramifications. i've never figured out, though, just what it is that women are doing for so long in those cubicles. i'm in and do my thing and out. but i notice most women disappear in there for very long periods of time. and that's before they get to the mirror to do their thing there. public washroom behaviour is a very strange thing. a good dissertation topic though, maybe.