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Welcome to the Seedy Side of Digital Signage

All of us in the digital signage market have been preaching the call — and future potential — of interactive signage. Interactivity makes signage more engaging, can be used to “gamify” the information and, in some cases, makes signage more multi-purpose — think about the case where the sign can magically transform into a huddle-room display, too.

But, interactivity has a seedy side, too.

And, it’s all your fault.

Just yesterday, I was enjoying my morning coffee and catching up on my week’s worth of reading, when I came across this article, from Men’s Health Magazine entitled, “You’ll Never Guess What They Found On McDonald’s Touchscreens.” Now, before you click over and read it, finish your snack or lunch because it is truly GROSS. The article cites an undercover study from UK-based METRO — where they hired a microbiologist to go into 10 McDonald’s around the UK and swab the touch-screen ordering systems. Dr. Paul Matewele then took the swabs back to his lab at the London Metropolitan University and tested them.

The result? Well, 100 percent of them had a plethora of bacteria — the most common, of which, was Enterococcus faecalis (uhm, you look it up).

This brings me to my point. I’m still a fan of interactive signage, but, there’s no question I’ll be thinking twice about what I do with my fingers right after interacting with it. I mean, certainly washing them.

How are you or your clients addressing this?

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