In a store’s fitting room, shoppers hope that they’re in a private space to try on their potential purchases. However, many have raised fears that the mirrors intended to look at their new fits aren’t as private as they’d expect.
Two-way mirrors can look exactly like standard mirrors. But there’s an easy way to quell the concerns: the fingernail test. Simply place your fingernail against the mirror. If there’s a space between your fingernail and its reflection, you’re in the clear. That’s a standard mirror.
However, one Target shopper discovered a strange green glow when using the fingernail test in the fitting room.
Is this a two-way mirror in Target’s fitting room?
TikTok user @nobodyyk38 shared a video of her findings on May 2. In the clip, she places her hand on the mirror, which shows a green glow in its reflection. The smudge left behind also emanates a subtle glow.
“Using the changing room in Target and testing if it was a two-way mirror and then this happened,” she wrote in the text overlay.
Her video has garnered over 14.6 million views. @nobodyyk38 was desperate for answers.
“SOMEONE EXPLAIN!!!??” she added in the caption.
Based on the fingernail test the TikToker shows in her video, it’s not a two-way mirror. But what’s the deal with the green glow?
What is the green glow in Target’s fitting room mirror?
The green tinge is likely due to a combination of the mirror’s materials, how light interacts with it, and the LED lights bordering the mirror, visible in @nobodyyk38’s follow-up video.
Most mirrors are made of soda-lime silica glass substrate and a silver backing, per Mental Floss. Impurities like iron can result in a subtle green tinge to the glass.
A report from the BBC notes that it’s due to how those materials interact with light.
“That said, real mirrors aren’t perfect, and their surface atoms give any reflection a very slight green tinge, as the atoms in the glass reflect back green light more strongly than any other colour,” author Robert Matthews writes.
That’s why infinity mirrors appear so green, too. And it appears Target has its own kind of infinity mirrors in its fitting rooms.
Is this green glow common at Target?
@nobodyyk38 isn’t the first person to point out this phenomenon.
Several users on TikTok have also noticed the green hue in Target dressing rooms, dating back to at least 2021. Several other videos confirm that these fitting rooms have mirrors on opposite walls of the room.
This leads to that infinity mirror effect, which exacerbates the green tinge already inherent to the mirror glass.
In the comments section, many viewers argued about the cause of the green light.
Some suggested it could be a damaged smart mirror or two-way glass, though none of those are true.
“Led light rimmed mirror refracting the light and color on your fingertips! it happens on the ones at my job! not magic or a double mirror just pressure light and treated glass,” one commenter correctly pointed out.
Others supported the TikToker’s attempt to stay safe in the fitting room.
“It’s sad that WOMEN are hating on you for being safe. women are constantly sexualized and taken advantage of in this day n age. i would be skeptical, too! better to be safe than sorry,” one commenter said.
“I see nothing wrong with women being careful, as a matter of fact I’m 100% in support of it. get real, women are effed over in this country constantly. and the mirrors in my house don’t do that,” another said.
Do stores have two-way mirrors in fitting rooms?
Target’s dressing rooms do not have two-way mirrors. Not to mention, that would be illegal.
While privacy laws vary by state, most states have strict laws against two-way mirrors in private spaces like fitting rooms. California Penal Code 653n restricted them in private spaces in 1970, save for use by law enforcement.
However, two New York department stores reported using two-way mirrors in both men’s and women’s fitting rooms to curb shoplifting in 1974, as reported by the New York Times.
New York State restricted the use of two-way mirrors in private spaces in the 2006 New York Code.
@nobodyyk38 SOMEONE EXPLAIN!!!?? #target #helpme #greenmiddlefinger #green #helpme #erm #ohnaw ♬ original sound – ✨✨✨
The Daily Dot reached out to @nobodyyk38 via TikTok direct message and to Target via email.
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