These designs by Kunihiko Morinaga block cell phone signals while your phone is in your pocket, so you’ll reach for it less frequently. Odd origins in gum marketing, on FastCo:
The project was actually commissioned by the gum manufacturer Trident, which was worried that gum was starting to disappear along with human contact. “Gum no longer seems to fit in daily rituals the way it did before mobile technology and social media took over,” says Masashi Kawamura, a creative director at PARTY, the agency that dreamed up the project. “We wanted gum to gain relevancy and start a conversation with emerging adults who are too distracted to even notice.”
The dresses, jackets, and shirts that Morinaga created use fabric that blocks electromagnetic waves, so once you slide your phone into a pocket, it’s effectively off. If someone tries to call, the phone won’t ring.
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And make your phone waste battery charge while it searches for a signal.