#HTE

Hell in a Handbasket: Video Ads Running on Bathroom Faucet Screens

I’ve long marveled that advertisers haven’t started plastering their pitches on the insides of bathroom stalls yet. Perhaps companies don’t want to be associated with the act of elimination. But bathroom advertising is on the way, just not at the crapper, but at the sinks.

That’ll be thanks to these VODXS (Visual On Demand Experience System) sinks, which sport a 7-inch LCD screen that starts playing when you wash your mitts. Rights holder Faucet Impressions Global is targeting “sports stadiums, casinos, airports, theaters, museums, bowling alleys, theme parks, universities, nightclubs and restaurants” as places that can “turn washrooms into revenue streams.”

Here’s the company’s pitch:

Advertising on each faucet can be targeted to promote a wide variety of products, services and offerings to the patrons using the venue’s washrooms in very demographic specific areas. Faucet Impressions proprietary software management solution allows ads to be controlled remotely and, unlike most other forms of advertising, can provide an accurate accounting of how many consumers see the ads.

I’ve not seen one of these in the wild yet, but apparently they’ve been installed at the MGM Grand in Vegas as well as at certain Sheratons, Flanagans, Hooters and Buffalo Wild Wings branches.

So, here’s what you’ll see when you go to wash your hands:

I want to hack into the video feed and swap in the entire length of Lord of the Rings. I want to see how long people will stand there and watch it.