Terrible Little Flyers

And the people who hang them up

When you walk through the streets of New York City you see flyers everywhere. They’re taped to mailboxes, stapled to bulletin boards, and attached to every traffic light in the city. Some of them are great; they’re visually appealing and clearly convey information.

But others are just awful. I decided to take a closer look at these terrible little flyers and the people who hang them up.

This terrible little flyer was printed by some type of film student who was on the hunt for rich people to fund their thesis film. I’ll admit that this picture is old (you may have noticed the snow on the ground) and the QR code is sadly no longer active.

The flyer doesn’t reveal much about the film or the student, but I’m sure plenty of wealthy benefactors lined up to bankroll what was probably a terrible little film.

This terrible little flyer, taped to the exterior of Punjabi Deli, is advertising a 2018 Toyota Sienna (pictured below) for rent for the low price of 450!

I’m sure the rental looks just like this photo

I went undercover to learn more:

Unfortunately it was no longer available. I’d like to imagine that it’s currently being rented by a happy family and hauling kids to soccer practice.

Our final flyer, rather than advertising a film or a minivan, is advertising a local single.

It looks like Dan, a local artist, is looking for the perfect woman to become his new girlfriend and is taking a unique approach. He has decided to forgo dating apps but doesn’t want to leave anything to chance. His solution: a terrible little flyer hastily fixed to a streetlight with masking tape.

This approach fuses elements of old-school dating (email) with features of Bumble (where women have to message first) for a dating experience that is inconvenient yet still impersonal.

Dating apps are so shallow, our friend Dan must be thinking, I want the type of woman who will email a stranger after seeing a black and white mugshot that looks like it was printed at the local library.

The website is essentially identical to the flyer, but includes an ominous “1963 - ???” perhaps to remind women who are afraid of commitment that he won’t be around forever.

Hurry ladies, prove that YOU are the perfect woman by sending Dan an email before he expires.