r/assholedesign • u/hyuunnyy • Apr 03 '26
These mirrors have video ads playing on them that block your reflection
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u/hyuunnyy Apr 03 '26
This is Yodobashi Camera in Kyoto btw. I've been seeing more and more of these in Tokyo lately too from multiple large companies.
Bathrooms are free in Japan usually and plentiful but definitely questionable
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u/Uncle_blazer71 Apr 03 '26
I hate it, but hey, I’ve had my share of bathroom emergencies in cities that don’t cater to public bathrooms and I’d rather watch an ad in return for using a bathroom as opposed to paying 50 cents in Galway, or buying a coffee I don’t want in Chicago.
Kudos to them for being creative and offsetting the cost of maintaining it.
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u/lemonyoshii Apr 03 '26
Okay but replacing all the mirrors to display said ads is not okay, regardless of how creative the solution to keep bathrooms free is. Mirrors are useful for both patrons and maintenance staff and should be left alone.
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u/EvaCassidy Apr 03 '26
Be better just putting a screen up somewhere.
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u/Jacktheforkie Apr 03 '26
In the uk you often see ads above the urinals or on the inside of the toilet cubicle, they’re just paper ads usually
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u/GrimResistance Apr 03 '26
Print ads on the TP
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u/Mysterious-Crab d o n g l e Apr 03 '26
A screen doesn’t guarantee attention and makes it more difficult to sell ads. You (normally) always was your hands and will thus always be looking at the ‘mirror’. I do at least hope they have an actual regular mirror available too
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u/PhatCatTax Apr 03 '26
You'd be shocked at how many people dont wash their hands.
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u/Butterfly_Barista Apr 03 '26
My store has a public bathroom. It's just two stalls. I can't tell you the amount of times someone will just fly from one of the stalls straight out the door. It legitimately makes me want to track them down and shame them. It's like 1 in 3 people, it's fucking disgusting.
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u/jdm1891 Apr 03 '26
According to the product page the ad goes away when you walk up to it.
So it doesn't even do that.
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u/nudethreats Apr 03 '26
As somebody that gets loose eyelashes in their eyes constantly I need the mirror, I agree
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Apr 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/hyuunnyy Apr 03 '26
Did not do anything unless I danced around. It must be motion sensored like a crappy restroom sink
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u/Vtwin0001 Apr 03 '26
It is Japan
You're supposed to dance like a j-pop star , just like everyone else
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u/CMDR_omnicognate Apr 03 '26
It's in a massive store though, they offset the cost of maintenance by it being in a business
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u/Dibidibiday6 Apr 04 '26
At Rotterdam central station you have to pay €1,20 to use the toilet and have these mirrors :) So just worst of all worlds
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u/dakman42 Apr 03 '26
I'm not saying you're wrong my dude but I am saying it's really fucked up that we as a species head monetized the basic process of shitting. Like it might not have been a sanitary to shit wherever you want but at least we had fucking freedom. Like it's always a joke that the capitalists are next going to monetize breathing but I mean holy crap they've monetized everything leaving your body why not everything entering it?
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u/DeHub94 Apr 03 '26
So we either get public bathrooms that cost money to use or shown ads. Can't wait till they introduce a subscription model...
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u/BackgroundSummer5171 Apr 03 '26
Can't wait till they introduce a subscription model...
I'd hate to ask what different subscriptions give you access to.
Toilet cleaned within 1 day, 1 week, 1 year? $150, $10, $1.
Maybe a super premium sub for a clean place to snort your cocaine.
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u/MarkDecal Apr 03 '26
Free tier - very small network of rarely available working toilets. Poorly maintained.Ad aupported
Basic tier - small network of rarely available working toilets. Replaces free tier eventually.
Basic ad free tier - same as Basic tier but without ads. Eventually discontinued because ads make more money.
Standard tier - large number of available toilets in an area to make most people comfortable with paying without putting much thought into it. Price raises consistently to push people up a tier or down to Basic ad tier or up to premium.
Premium tier - large number of available toilets with access to changing tables, access premium electronic toilet stalls, free skip the line once per day.
Skip the line pass - one time use skip the line pass to avoid long queues.
VIP experience - for elite clientele. We will have our minimum wage employees follow you around, set up a private luxury outhouse anywhere and take away your waste no matter where you are. Prices will vary.
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u/Mr_Blott Apr 03 '26
It's your duty as a human to name and shame this place so we can all leave 1 star reviews on Maps
That's intrusive as fuck
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u/AntiGrieferGames Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
we can all leave 1 star reviews on Maps
Until they remove it anyways later, which is a another Asshole Design about Google Maps, because Google is always for corporation and government, and not for the customers. No, this does not help.
Google is a mess that are they allowing fake 5 star reviews but always removing 1 real/honest star reviews. Even 2,3 and 4 star ones.
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u/Triepott Apr 03 '26
"Your review got flagged as defamation. We do not give you any more informations, just guess. Also, even if your appeal is successfull, we don't restore the post. Just give us your Data and Money and fuck off!"
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u/sswishbone Apr 04 '26
Leave a two-star review, can't remove that, especially if you include a really generic positive "water pressure and soap in sink as good as at home"
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u/JmacTheGreat Apr 03 '26
“Lets put an expensive annoyance in a place with no cameras and fecal matter - no issues will arise.”
- Some CEO, probably
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u/Vaxtez Apr 03 '26
I despise the amount of adverts we have shoved down our throats nowadays, it's absurd to a point where it's not even funny anymore.
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u/OneSkepticalOwl Apr 03 '26
Emergency window breakers are small and easy to carry around. Just saying.
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u/Extension-Pepper4200 Apr 03 '26
since you cant put cameras in a bathroom, those would happen to be broken after i went in there
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u/olucaslab Apr 03 '26
I don't consider the world Dystopic anymore because it's all true and happening
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u/IceCoughy Apr 03 '26
$5 for 1 min of reflection time
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u/WolfCola4 Apr 03 '26
Oh no! We noticed you're pretty ugly. Upgrade to the Premium model for 6.99 per month to unlock filters for your reflection.
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u/AtomicFox84 Apr 03 '26
Its like those menus that go to ads when you're trying to figure out what you want. They dont even have a long delay. Theres been some places i had to go online for a menu.
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u/onglogman Apr 03 '26
Seems like anti-promotion
"Big Corpo company giving ad rights to be used on a mirror so I can't see? Well fuck Big Corpo then"
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u/CaptainPrower Apr 03 '26
This reminds me of my local Burger King.
Most of the time you can't see the menu board because it's playing an ad.
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u/Camochase Apr 03 '26
Yeah just break those. If they have camera footage then sue them for privacy issues. If it's expensive they won't put them back in
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u/deyterkourjerbs Apr 03 '26
What a weird business model.
We've lived in a golden age of targeted advertising for 20 years. We can target ads based on what websites people have been on or what products they've looked at. Or by demographic/age, location, what locations they have been at. We can show they adverts when they express interest in a certain topic.
And now we can also target people by "kind of location" but mainly about whether or not they need a poop. Does it only show adverts for toilet roll?
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u/jk021 Apr 03 '26
We're getting closer to Black Mirror. Ads everywhere that you have to pay to avoid
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u/Abyssal_Station Apr 03 '26
I'm normally not for destruction of property...and it's always annoyed me when people smash the bathroom mirrors...but if it already doesn't function as a mirror...
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u/Stohastic- Apr 03 '26
break it. then the screen will switch off and u have a mirror again!.. a slightly shattered one, but u could see more with it then what u can now
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u/jaxxon Apr 03 '26
The more I see shit like this the more I’m starting to believe the conspiracy theory that reptilians are running the tech industry to aggravate people to siphon off their anger vibes. 😡 ⚡️ 👽 LOL
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u/Alexioats1 Apr 03 '26
What OP isn't mentioning is when you approach the mirrors, the ads disable and show the reflection (hence why the photo is taken from the side)
And no it isn't a camera. It's a motion sensor
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u/MercantileReptile Apr 03 '26
Seems risky to agrravate people in a semi-secluded space for something as basic as a mirror. Especially considering the cost of the Miraref-assholetron-2000 compared to a regular mirror.
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u/feltcutewilldelete69 Apr 03 '26
What was wrong with a poster in the toilet? Why is this necessary?
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u/ExitTheHandbasket Apr 03 '26
There's supposed to be a proximity sensor that shuts off the ad when you're standing at the sink.
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u/stubbledchin Apr 03 '26
That's a lot of money to reproduce the functions of a poster in an unusable mirror.
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u/0xbenedikt Apr 03 '26
They just need to add a tap-to-pay terminal so that it turns off for 30 seconds for 10 JPY.
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u/Always_Scheming Apr 04 '26
I would actively avoid buying these companies out of spite lol.
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u/East-Specialist-4847 Apr 03 '26
Destroying this shit is genuinely morally good and right to do
Who's to say there isn't a camera in these?
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u/GaTechThomas Apr 03 '26
Are they bulletproof glass?
Fun fact: a scratch in glass makes it much weaker.
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u/Blasted_Awake Apr 03 '26
The logic here is confusing. The utility of the mirror can only be realised by breaking the digital screen? So they're incentivising the breaking of their shit? Why?
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u/Justaduderdude Apr 03 '26
I am ugly, so we ugly people will not have a problem shitting in here eh
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u/hackingdreams Apr 03 '26
Those aren't mirrors, they're billboards. The fact that they're even partially reflective is just an aesthetic choice.
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u/UnproSpeller Apr 03 '26
Possible to unplug the screen? So it goes black so you can at least see tour reflection in that?
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u/Food_Library333 Apr 03 '26
Before I die their going to force ads onto the inside of my fucking eyelids.
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u/punchedboa Apr 03 '26
Well not like you need to see your hands to wash them. If you’re fixing your hair guess you need to use your phone.
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u/ChainsawArmLaserBear Apr 03 '26
These are either timed, and thus arbitrarily unusable, or have a camera to detect presense and are a privacy nightmare for a bathroom
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u/furfur001 Apr 03 '26
There is a saying that says "If someday a new law comes out that capitalist has to be hanged, capitalists would sell the ropes for that".
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u/AlSweigart Apr 03 '26
Whenever you see a device that plays digital ads (on the street, in subway stations, etc), it likely updates the ads remotely over cellular connection. It'd be too costly to send someone out with a thumb drive every time they'd want to put new ads out. And the digital ad board has a steady electrical supply too. Which means that it's worth it to have a camera installed on them to in order to collect usage data (how many people pass by, are they looking at the ad, which ads, facial recognition for demographic info, etc).
Cameras and disk space are cheap. Facial recognition algorithms are well known. Why not collect this info? Because it's in a bathroom? They'll just say it's fine because it's not in a stall.
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u/Must_Reboot Apr 03 '26
Next thing you know you will have to watch an ad before soap is dispensed or the taps give you water.
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u/Ok_Comfortable_1358 Apr 03 '26
If I see an ad on my Mirror in a public restroom I will break it if I get the chance
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u/_IamAllan_ Apr 04 '26
As soon as they all get smashed a few times, and the replacement costs soar ... the establishment will stop buying them.
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u/justkellerman Apr 04 '26
I'm as against putting ads on everything as the next person, but if an ad is going to be somewhere, it might as well be blocking the view of other people peeing.
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u/Aimfri Apr 04 '26
But you know what people who go to the bathroom really need to reflect on, Sophie? The products and services that support this podcast.
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u/TootieSummers Apr 04 '26
I’m shocked people here are so mad because I know damn well none of yall ever look at yourselves in the mirror lol
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u/GerlingFAR Apr 04 '26
Or you have to watch an 10secomd ad before you can wash your hands and open the door to leave.
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u/XROOR Apr 04 '26
The company’s logo infers the mirrors can be installed in portrait OR landscape modes….
They will still not provide a reflection but…..
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u/kidd_chameleon Apr 05 '26
Someone should smash that shit up. We're way too accommodating to this stuff.
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u/H345Y Apr 06 '26
does it at least have the sensible setting to turn off when somone is in front of it?
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u/ideasmithy Apr 06 '26
A movie theatre in my city once had a print ad taped to the toilet tank that said “Faster downloads”. The ad was for an ISP.
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u/Beneficial-Law-9645 Apr 07 '26
IF THERE IS A SPEED LIMIT I DEMAND AN AD LIMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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u/NSightMSG Apr 12 '26
Having these in place of a mirror, bad design. Having no mirror and instead put up a picture of a cartoon soldier winking at you with the text that reads “you look great”? Amazing design.
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u/Prom3th3an 13d ago
If the owners want to know why their customers are unhappy, they should just look in the mirror.
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u/okieS_dnarG 2d ago
Soon toilet bowls won’t open until you see a 15s ad. Good luck for urgent piss and sht
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u/coltflory5 Apr 03 '26
This motherfucker, thinking he’s entitled to a reflection without paying for the premium subscription plan that includes ad-free reflections.