Ah, toilet paper. It has so many uses. The one it’s made for, of course, blowing your nose, wiping off make-up, cleaning the sink, stopping up the blood from those nasty shaving cuts, and many more. Now, business students at the University of Minnesota have found another one, and I can’t believe Charmin hasn’t thought of it already.

 Advertising. After all, toilet paper is one of the last remaining white spaces. And what better to advertise in such a space than a health clinic? Boynton Health Service, the clinic that serves university students and staff, is the first to take advantage of the last remaining white space.

“Everything working out okay?” the ad reads as it unrolls. “If not, Boynton is your clinic!”  Eager to use every opportunity for a public health message, Boynton also uses the space to deliver the appropriate one for this circumstance: “If you’re reading this, you need to wash your hands when you’re done.”

The idea came from White Space Media, a group of entrepreneurial business students who want to sell more such ads on toilet paper, according to a story in the Minnesota Daily, including one for anti-drunk driving that will be distributed at music venues this summer.

Dave Golden, head of communications and marketing at Boynton, said the idea was irresistable and would be a hit with students. He’s ordered 1,000 rolls. For now, they can be found near toilets at off-campus apartment buildings. But who knows? Maybe this is the future of advertising.

The mind boggles, of course, at the possibilities. Can you think of any creative ads for such a venue (ones that are suitable for a family web site such as this one)?  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 8:15 am and is filed under advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.