In an effort to prove any available space is good advertising space, a specialty advertising company called Wizmark had developed what are essentially talking urinals. The actual urinal fixture may not "talk" exactly, but a customized insert called a Wizmark Urinal Communicator does provide the ultimate in opportunistic advertising.
The theory behind talking urinals is that males who visit these stand-up toilet fixtures are generally conditioned not to look to the left or the right. The only socially acceptable head positions are straight up or straight down into the bowl area. Wizmark's talking urinals take advantage of this phenomenon to place advertising directly in the bowl area of the urinal.
The captive male audience is supposed to look directly at the centralized round badge fitted with a waterproof lenticular magnifying lens. The advertising copy itself may be a simple graphic or a few lines of text or both. In general, most talking urinals advertise alcoholic beverages available on the premises or public service announcements promoting responsible drinking.
There are several different levels of advertising available for promotion in talking urinals. The most basic form of in-urinal advertising involves a static image placed inside a waterproof circular badge. This badge is placed on a special straining grid which is suspended over the bottom of the bowl. The "customer" is free to conduct his routine business while hopefully observing the advertising in passing.
A more advanced Wizmark Urinal Communicator uses a series of flashing LED lights to attract more attention to the advertisements. These lights may be triggered by the actual presence of a user, or they may remain on automatically until the batteries finally fail.
The most advanced form of Wizmark advertising really does fit the description of talking urinals. Not only does the urinal insert present users with a graphic and slogan, but using the urinal triggers a pre-recorded electronic message. Talking urinals definitely qualify as niche marketing for advertisers, but they do take advantage of the few minutes of downtime many men experience as they avoid direct eye contact with other patrons.
