Board of Hi Five

Living in NYC means being bombarded with advertisements pretty much everywhere we go. Orgy billboards (Gothamist), Atheism ads on sides of buses (NY Times), and tops of cabs. Well, it is time for me to make my top 5 list of best subway ads. If you are a NY native, you know all of these. If you come to town to visit, make sure you look for them.

1. Dr. Zizmor

Rainbow ads for the most famous dermatologist in the greater NY area. My favorite part of this ad is that it looks like it was designed in the late ’80s/early ’90s and hasn’t changed since. I have seen pictures of a recent Dr. Z, and he has aged quite a bit from this mug shot.

2. 1-888-MARGARITA

What in the hell do margaritas have to do with lawyers? Why on earth would that be your choice for a phone number? Did the national phone naming registry really run out of possible 1-888 combinations and you had to pull a ‘ClownPenis.fart‘ because it was all you had left? I want answers.

3. Manhattan Mini Storage

This company has balls, and I applaud them. If I needed storage, I would choose them over Public Storage any day because of these ads. They have a bunch more ads, just as funny, or tasteless, depending on your point of view. Also, I should note that the first ad was banned after about a week.

4. Be Kanye

I’m pretty sure everyone wondered what the hell this ad was about. I know I did. It ended up being a campaign for Absolut vodka, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at this ad.

5. Jerry Orbach Eye Donor

Good cause, but scary. I wonder if the person who got his eyes knows all the gruesome shit they saw on Law and Order.

-Steve R.