subvert the advert
from issue two: by Vania Juchniewicz
Ever noticed the ads on the back of toilet doors? Of course you have, they’re impossible to miss. They’re usually at eye level when sitting (or squatting, depending on your level of paranoia). You’re a captive audience for the advertiser — you aren’t going to leave the cubicle for at least half a minute, and your attention can’t be drawn to much else. And what are they usually advertising? Tampons or sanitary pads, right? How clever — you’re possibly thinking about that very subject, and waddaya know? There’s a handy ad right there telling you which one product to buy. Did you ask to see an ad about sanitary wear? Do you have a choice? When you watch TV or listen to the radio, you can change the channel or switch off ads. But the advertising on the back of public toilet doors, like the advertising in shop windows, at bus stops or on billboards (thankfully absent in the ACT), is advertising which is in front of us whether we like it or not. I don’t know anyone who actually enjoys advertising. People don’t flip channels to watch commercials, or turn up the radio volume to hear them.
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