The Chicago Tribune reports that Clear Channel Communications will be introducing electronic advertisements on the bathroom mirrors at O’Hare Airport in the next three months. The technology will display an ad across the mirrors when no one is standing in front of them. It will then diminish into a corner when someone approaches to wash his or her hands.
There is a part of me that absolutely admires the individuals who thought of the concept and have the smarts to create the technology. There is another part of me that laments the loss of one more opportunity for reflection, no pun intended.
Having spent endless hours in the noise and chaos that is O’Hare Airport, this introduction just adds an additional element to a traveler’s tension and confusion. One might argue that this is one more way that our opportunity to think is being eroded.
Of course, there are those who will applaud this genius and wonder why it took so long to develop. Only time will tell whether the public will have the tolerance for it. After all, look what happened to advertising on the tray tables and overhead compartments inside of aircraft.