Loading…

The diner in Boise put a giant cardboard QR code on their window and I watched 30 people try to scan it from across the street | Behind the Viral - SMM Buzz

murphy.linda•12d ago

The diner in Boise put a giant cardboard QR code on their window and I watched 30 people try to scan it from across the street

I was killing time outside a diner in Boise waiting on a friend when I noticed this huge QR code taped to the window, like 4 feet wide, and it was meant to open their menu. Here is the funny part. People kept trying to scan it from the sidewalk across the street, and the code was facing the wrong way, so the camera just saw the paper backing. I watched at least 30 folks do the same thing in maybe 20 minutes, hold up their phone, squint, then walk away confused. One guy even backed up into a parking sign trying to get the angle right. Turns out the owner had printed the file flipped, so it worked fine for the staff inside but nobody on the street could ever scan it. I finally went in and told the cashier, and she just laughed and said nobody had bothered to actually test it from outside. What is the worst designed viral gimmick you have seen a small business try, and did it actually work on anybody?

2 comments

2 Comments

fox.derek11d ago

Had a buddy in college who ran a food truck and put up a big banner with his Venmo handle on it, except he wrote it with a zero instead of an O, so every tip people tried to send went to some stranger. Took him almost two weeks to figure out why his tips dried up, and the guy on the other end actually sent the money back with a note saying good luck dude. @hollyc92's story about the Ohio guy flying out is wild because that is the same energy, a whole business running on pure hope that the sign works. Small spots get so hyped on the idea that they never stand on the sidewalk and test it like a real customer would. That diner in Boise is lucky somebody finally walked in and told them.

hollyc9211d ago

This is like the time a taco place near me painted a giant mural of their Instagram handle on the side of the building but got the @ symbol wrong, so it linked to some random guy in Ohio. People kept tagging the wrong account for weeks and the guy in Ohio was so confused he actually flew out to see the place. The owner thought it was hilarious until the dude showed up asking why he was getting tagged in 200 taco pics a day. What gets me is nobody at the shop ever tried scanning their own sign from outside either. Kind of a theme with these small spots, they get so excited about the idea they skip the five second test that would've caught it. At least your diner lady laughed it off instead of getting mad at you for pointing it out.