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Advertising Screen Tailors Ads to Audience
An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist are running an article about a system which tailors the ads displayed on a screen according to what BlueTooth gadgets people are carrying. A bit like the billboards in Minority Report ." Awkward situations created by devices like this will be scenes in the sit-coms of tomorrow.
How many times do you need to hear/see an advert for it to sink in?
This system is geared for that once only viewing:
As each passing device has a unique Bluetooth signal, this enables the screen to identify different individuals passing by. It builds a record of the adverts those people have been previously been shown to make sure messages are not repeated.
Surely advertisers want you to be paying enough attention to get the product information but to not drill it in 500 times a day.
Seems like a good idea, but the privacy advocates will go bananas (and demand it dismantled when all thats needed is to take out your bluteeth)
liqbase
The problem with advertisements now is that the vast majority of them don't appeal to me. I am a white male age 18-35. That doesn't mean that I fall into any particular demographic, it just means that I may be vaguely interested in some things that others are perhaps also interested. Bzzt. I am an individual!
So what this purports to do is give me information that I am interested in. Not information that "my generation" needs. Information underload is done away with and I now have interesting data customized for me. This is great because I no longer have to endure GLH infomercials and can get back to enjoying Lean Mean Fat-grilling Machine infomercials.
Imagine a video camera on the advertisement that spots you're bald and loads an ad for Rogaine or one that determines you're fat and loads an ad for NutriSystem, or that you have no fashion sense and loads clothing ads!
All you need to do is take out your blueteeth, eh? What if that means getting rid of everything?
Sorry to "go bananas" on you but it's a possibility that's highly probable and I don't like. What, are you now going to tell me I'm a schizo for complaining about the NSA wiretapping? Does that make me a 'privacy advocate'? Because in my eyes, I'm just an American citizen who's sick of technology raping my goddamn privacy.
FTFA: "It can uniquely identify devices but keeps the person anonymous."
Sorry, but with all the identity theft, credit card skimming, government intrusion into privacy, etc. I find it hard to believe that such a system will provide "assured" anonymity for very long.
I wonder if there will be an increase in muggings/robberies because of this. All a thief has to do is stand near a sign, look for a laptop-related, phone-related or ipod-related advert to appear as someone walks past and then they have their target for the day.
Warhammer forums
An older NewScientist story describes another system that beams ads directly to phones, also via Bluetooth.