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Thursday, March 16, 2006

A Little Public Grooming With Your Popcorn

Posted by on March 16 at 10:36 AM

Evidently movie theaters don’t have enough of a problem attracting customers. According to this report from Movie City News scribbler Gary Dretzka, a new concession stand product was unveiled this week at the annual ShoWest industry convention in Las Vegas: dental floss.

The single most intriguing new concession item was StaiNo’s Floss ‘N’ Toss, which qualifies as one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-it ideas. The product is sold in the same vending machines that typically dispense plastic capsules filled with cheap trinkets and candy. The company simply has crammed its retail dental floss device into the bubbles, in hopes of attracting consumers who enjoy a good floss after their popcorn. Each 50-cent capsule contains four flossers, which, one hopes, will be disposed of in an empty popcorn box or napkins, instead of being thrown on the floor with the uneaten nachos.

Commercials, ringing cellphones, rude moviegoers jabbering—and now public flossing? Can disposable nail clippers be far behind? No wonder the DVD industry is booming.


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Public flossing is one of my biggest peeves. It is disgusting. Encouraging people to fling chewed-up food out from between their teeth onto unsuspecting moviegoers is a VERY BAD idea.

If movie theaters expect to sell dental floss from vending machines, the floss dispensers should be wall-mounted in the restrooms like a tampon or condom machine, not displayed alongside the concessions stand.

Sheesh. Why don't they just get it over with, and build toilets right into the seats?

Are you kidding me? I LOVE this idea! Though, I must agree that flossing in public is gross. The vending machines should be located in the bathrooms - flossing in the theater is too fucking disgusting for words.

Actually, listening to obese fuckwits stuffing their gaping maws with popcorn and chewing with their mouths open; hushing their underage kids who are talking; and ringing cell phones has turned me off theaters and popcorn anyway.

The only shining beacon is the theaters that have added beer to their menu and have made their establishments 21 and over. God! I miss Brewvies!

Andrew, given the length of some films [i.e. Histoire(s) du Cinema], theater seat toilets might not be a bad idea.

I actually had my own million-dollar moviegoing idea. A small, battery-powered microwave oven that you could hide under your coat and secretly make popcorn with.

Which is worse: a ringing cell, or an asswipe who ANSWERS IT and proceeds to talk: "not much; I'm at a movie. Talked to Julie? I can't believe Mark said that. I dunno. Burritos. Let's go out later. Eight-thirty."

yet another offense to add to my list of Reasons I Hate Going To The Cinema.

i swear to god, going to see a movie in a theatre is almost as bad as flying these days.

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