Somebody is putting hilarious fake flyers all over Toronto
You might have seen them around town lately: flyers offering to comb your hair, for example, or an ad for a "no bullshit meditation course" that'll teach you how to "stop whining like a little ninny."
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on what you're looking for) these ludicrous posters are not real ads.
They're the invention of an account called Physical Memes, the mastermind behind the many hilarious fake flyers popping up around the city.
Bringing meme-inspired, off-brand Internet humour to the IRL world, Physical Memes has actually been printing out flyers and putting them up around Toronto and Vancouver for the last two years.
The account has been getting more attention as of late with a string of particularly perfect gems that sum up the strangeness of the human psyche, like this child-to-horse conversion ad. On point.
Vote Dick was a goodie that went up at Eglinton station—I'm voting Paynus Party in the next election.
And the ad on Queen Street that allegedly proves Tom Hanks is a ghost, courtesy of the highly trustworthy and non-existent ghost specialist Dr. Shappie Jackson, is an instant classic.
The human behind Physical Memes is Tony Fletcher, who says he started the project to counter his boredom while working in a retail store.
"I would make bizarre, comedic posters and post them outside of the store and watch people's reaction," he says.
"Most people, myself included, often walk around in a bit of a stressed, non-mindful haze, and I think the posters are a cool break from that."
Fletcher has been collaborating with other artists to bring more ironically sincere flyers to the city, and posts them up (legally, he notes) in random parts of town with a staple gun and tape.
So far he's done more than 50 original creations (including one involving actual Wonderbread), with plans for projects with more stock photos, awkward fonts, and displaced italics in the works.
"I love that they make people smile and also enjoy the small minority that get angry and confused when they see them," he says.
Physical Memes
