Friday, January 24, 2014

Potty politics

Rounding up the Week of Signs, here’s one that’s perhaps not quite so professional in execution, but it does deliver on the impact:


I confess to being particularly partial to public toilet graffiti. Used to be that you could get through Philosophy 101 of an evening at the club, what with repeated trips to the loo. These days—not so much, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps Twitter and Facebook have taken the place of restroom/cubicle walls?

Anyhow, if you look closely, I’m thinking that the particular gasbag being referenced (in this case, the current Prime Minister of the UK) is in temporary media. Meaning: someone’s taped his name onto the hand dryer—perhaps over another gasbag (Blair? Brown?).

And I’m thinking that that’s the beauty of the whole concept. Commercial hand dryers should come preprinted with “Press button for a short speech from”, and then either have a whiteboard-type surface or a supply of white tape, and a marking pen affixed by a chain to the device. You could perhaps work it out so you have to drop a quarter/20p/whatever the local unit of currency is to use the pen. On account of in every place where you have a public toilet, there are gasbag politicians at the national, regional or local level who’ve grievously pissed off their constituency.

It would be a total money-spinner for the establishment.




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