New Public Toilets Make You Watch Ads to Get Toilet Paper

Scanning a QR code to unlock toilet paper might sound like science fiction, but it's reality in China, where a woman recently had to choose between paying a few cents or watching an advertisement to access bathroom tissue from a digital dispenser.

The seamless but surreal system highlights China's contradictory embrace of hyper-capitalism within its Communist framework. The mechanism takes just seconds to operate, offering users either a small payment or ad-viewing option before dispensing paper.

While the video's exact location remains unclear, toilet paper theft has plagued China for years. Park managers in tourist areas have long struggled with rapidly depleting supplies, though the culprits weren't visitors.

"The people who steal toilet paper are greedy," service worker He Zhiqiang explained to the New York Times in 2017. "Toilet paper is a public resource. We need to prevent waste."

China's decades of poverty left some citizens overly eager to capitalize on free public goods. The situation is complicated by the fact that most Chinese public restrooms operate on a bring-your-own-toilet-paper system, making well-stocked facilities particularly attractive targets.

As China slowly changes this policy in tourist areas, advertising technology appears to be bridging the gap until sharing etiquette improves.