Do you remember in last week’s leader I was saying how the lines between the KBB industry and cleaning are starting to blur?

Well one of the developments we learned about at the Amsterdam show is one that I can perhaps see taking off in our homes at some time in the future.

Do you, or does a member of your family, take a book or newspaper into the bathroom to read while using the loo? When you consider it (and think about potential hygiene issues) it’s not very nice, is it? Particularly if it’s a book or newspaper that someone else in the family is going to read afterwards!

Years ago, when the British Toilet Association first formed and I was on the committee, a colleague mentioned that local authorities could help pay for the upkeep of our public washrooms by selling advertising space for the cubicle door.  I was clearly not the only one sitting there open mouthed, as he then commented: “You have a captive audience.” You could almost hear the penny drop…

Over the years, we’ve become used to seeing advertising on cubicle doors, but recently, one of our contacts realised that when men use the loo standing up, they’re not going to see the advertisement.

As our picture shows, this image is actually a fixed screen and it’s really rather clever… If the user is standing up, the image is facing him. If the sensor on the toilet seat detects that he’s sitting down, it causes the image to reverse and be reflected onto a mirror placed at head height opposite the toilet seat – making the message readable.

How long is it going to be, I wonder, before we all have one of these in our bathrooms so we can have a hygienic, ‘hands-free’ read while using the loo – however quick the ‘visit’ might be?

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs