A Mexican Newspaper Is Now Printing Breaking News On Bathroom Paper Towels

This is an, um, creative way to drive site traffic.

A highly circulated Mexican newspaper — Mas Por Mas — has begun printing real-time breaking news on bathroom paper towels.

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PSFK reports,

The newspaper wanted to get more people to visit their website and worked with agency FCB Mexico to create a paper towel dispenser that printed out real-time news on the paper towels every time someone took a sheet to wipe their hands with.

A printer was installed inside the paper towel dispensers. Then they were hooked up to the paper’s daily newsfeed via WiFi.

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Sensors in the machine can detect the presence of hands, and then it prints the latest news. PSFK also says "the printer uses a special kind of powdered ink that could be used in paper towels since it does not leave any stains on the hands."

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Each news towel has a QR code that directs to the website of the Mexican newspaper. According to the video below, "the unique visitors to the paper’s website increased by 37% in the first two weeks."