TV in Bathroom Mirror

My son and I went to a McDonald’s on Sunday (we had to get a Shrek Happy Meal you understand). I don’t get to McDonald’s very often on account of I am more of a Burger King guy myself. I was surprised when we walked in and saw this McDonald’s had 3 TVs in the restaurant. And these were really nice flat panel HD models - definitely not the 12” black and white you used to see behind the bar at the local tavern. They also had a nice sitting area with a couch and a couple of chairs in one corner of the restaurant.  Each TV seemed to have “theme” around which channel they were tuned to. In one corner that seemed to be more family oriented they were showing kids shows, one had a news program on and the one near the sitting area with the couch had the National Geographic channel.

The real shocker was when Hunter and I went to the bathroom to wash our hands. They had a TV built into the bathroom mirror. The picture here does not quite capture what a cool effect it is. It looks like it is being “beamed” onto the mirror like a hologram, but in reality where the TV is built in it is a glass pane and not a true mirror. In keeping with the notion of the “theme” for each TV it was predictably enough tuned to ESPN’s SportsCenter. I wonder what the one in the ladies room was tuned to.

Media (of all types) seem to be finding us in more and more places and of course with all types of media comes advertisements. How effective are these new forms of “media everywhere” advertising? I am sure that it is hard to measure and only time will tell, but I can guess this is a trend that will not reverse itself any time soon. I can tell you that I stood in the bathroom for at least 30 seconds longer than I would have otherwise to see who won the White Sox @ Cubs game.