NEW YORK—Ricky Syers, a 43-year-old artist from New Jersey, exhibited his Johnny-On-The-Spot “costume” on 38th Street at 7th Avenue this week. He amazed everyone on the streets with his extraordinary design.
Syers has been out on the streets 14 times with his new gear since last October. He designed and constructed the restroom stall as part of his Innovative Mobile Advertisement Campaign. Over the 14 different days he has displayed his costume, more than 1 million photos were taken of him.
“It turns out now whenever anybody takes a picture of me, they get my information,” said Syers. “So now I am selling advertisement spaces on top [of his stall]. When people take a picture of me, they are like getting my business card.”
Syers’ design is quite deceiving at first sight: a janitor with a toilet brush is carrying a man sitting in a portable restroom stall. However, once viewed more closely, Syers’ legs are part of the “janitor”, and his upper body is a part of the guy on the toilet seat.
“I thought that was the real person in the back and there wasn’t anybody inside [the restroom stall],” said Jim Adams, a pedestrian. “It makes everybody stop and see. It’s fun.”
“My goal is to make a TV show out of this, and ultimately sell ad space on the unit,” said Syers. “I am an artist and the main thing is that I just go out and make people laugh right now.”
On 7th Avenue, crowds of people passing by noticed the man and gazed in curiosity. Some took pictures of him “sitting” on the toilet with an artificial cigar while casually reading a newspaper. Inside the stall there is toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and even air freshener.
According to Syers, his TV show will be called “On Time With Johnny-On”. He has uploaded some video on Youtube, but once he obtains more of an audience, he would like to gets sponsorship so he can travel, and he looks forward to seeing the world’s reactions.
“I think it’s really funny,” said James Pamphile from Manhattan. “I think he will be highly recommended, and he should definitely go for it [the TV show]. I would want him to go on, it will be very funny.”
