Talking Urinal Cakes

Over the last few decades, the message about the danger of drinking and driving has been sent far and wide.
But in some U.P. bars and restaurants, that message is now being sent in a unique way.
If you’ve been out at night in Delta County in the last two weeks, you’ve likely heard a woman’s voice coming from the men’s room.
The source of that speech puzzled customers at Cat-man-do’s in Escanaba.
Manager Lisa Larsen says they thought someone was looking in at them through a window, but no one was — the urinal cake was speaking.
The Michigan Licensed Beverage Association and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning are working with law enforcement to place a talking urinal cake in bars and restaurants in four Michigan counties.
Delta County is one of those four.
Larsen says that the Michigan State Police asked them at Cat-man-do’s if they’d be willing to have one of the talking urinal cakes, and they said ‘yes’.
The talking urinal cake was such a curiosity at the Northtown Crown in Escanaba that within three days, someone stole it.
Owner Mike Meyer says before it went missing, men were bringing their wives or girlfriends into the men’s room to listen to it.
The entertainment apparently didn’t end with the shock value.
Meyer says one of his customers pointed out that the talking cake also makes a glug-glug-glug sound after the urinal is flushed, making it sound somewhat like someone is drowning in the urinal.
But the humor will be a vehicle for a serious message that shouldn’t be flushed down the drain.
More than 80% of Michigan drunk drivers who get into fatal crashes are men.
The Office of Highway Safety Planning is using federal transportation money to try the urinal cakes as a novel way of reaching men before they might get behind the wheel.

Posted by: Mike Hoey