OK, so here's the imaginary mental conversation I'm having with the developer of the Mirrorcase for iPhone. Please read it in the style of Clarke and Dawe's brilliant "The Front Fell Off" sketch:
Me: So describe the product.
Him (and for some reason I'm almost certain it's a him): In essence, it's a protective case for your phone, but it has an extension with an angled mirror that lets you shoot photos without aiming the back of the phone at people.
Me: Does it fit in your pocket?
Him: Sure, if you have big pockets and the right sized hole in your leg. It comes with its own software too, so you can put another photo from your camera roll on the screen and shoot photo or video in stealth mode!
Me: So it's for perverts.
Him: No! It's for regular family types. Look at this! (Holds phone in front of face) See? My phone is coming between me and my life! Now look at this! (Holds phone like a flashlight) Now I'm free to enjoy the moment AND capture it forever!
Me: So how do you know you're getting the right shot?
Him: Well you look down at the screen here.
Me: And how is this different from holding your phone up and looking at the back of it, again?
Him: Well, you look like you're doing something else. Especially when you put another image on it as a "Privacy Screen."
Me: And why would you want to do that?
Him: Well, some people don't like having photos taken of them.
Me: Like hot girls in front of you in the McDonalds queue?
Him: No!
Me: Or hot girls going up the stairs in front of you?
Him: No, not like that at all! It's for the Instagram generation! People who want to document their life in photos!
Me: Crappy mobile phone photos of things they don't want people to know they're taking photos of.
Him: Exactly! Have you heard of the Observer Effect in physics? It says you can't observe a situation without changing it. Anyone with a camera knows what that's like! As soon as you hold the camera up, people behave differently!
Me: Like how?
Him: Well, sometimes they slap you.
Me: Thanks for talking with us.
If the MirrorCase sounds like your kind of thing, then don your yellow plastic raincoat and head over to the RHP Multimedia website, where it's available for US$49.95. Better buy quick if you want it in time for Christmas!
Perhaps I'm just a damaged individual – but I can't think why else you'd want one of these. And we all know it's not cool – even the famously permissive Reddit community banned the r/creepshots subreddit that encouraged perverts to take covert snaps of girls at the gym, in the street or at the beach.
If you believe this is anything but a creepshots machine, feel free to try to convince me in the comments section below.
