Internet mourns the retirement of noted subway advertiser Dr. Zizmor

Ads on the New York City subway are about to become less colorful now that Dr. Jonathan Zizmor has announced he’s finished.

The Daily News reports that he’s quietly closed his Midtown clinic and is done administering acid peels and botox treatments. The 70-year-old dermatologist is retiring. Zizmor became a micro-celebrity in New York due to his campy, cheesy and colorful subway ads that promised “beautiful clear skin” and other modern miracles.

Zizmor’s face has been glaring at passengers since the early 1980s, when he was one of the first doctors to advertise there. “I got a lot of heat when I started,” Zizmor said in 2009, adding “No one was on the subway … no one was even advertising.”

Soon after the news broke, Zizmor’s name started trending on Twitter as people mourned the end of an era:

Now we’ll have to just endure years of Casper and CitiBank ads.

https://digiday.com/?p=153857

More in Marketing

Why marketers shouldn’t follow Unilever’s plans to work with ’20 times’ more influencers just yet

The creator economy isn’t just another media channel but an ecosystem all its own with potential hazards along the way.

Despite the uncertainty, some advertisers like Coca-Cola and Comcast have increased their TikTok spend this year

Seven large advertisers have increased their U.S. social media spend on the platform during Q1 2025.

WFA sees 54% of multinational brands boosting influencer spending — with more relying on agencies to find creators

With influencer marketing budgets steadily rising, more multinational brands are increasingly partnering with influencer agencies to identify creators as the industry becomes more complex.