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Samsung System Tailors Ads To Its Audience
angry tapir writes "Samsung has developed an outdoor digital advertising system that tailors ads based on its audience. There are three main components of the system: an LCD display panel, a dual lens camera and a processing computer, which runs the company's proprietary facial recognition software. If the technology identifies several female members in a group, then it can target advertisements at them, for example. Even if the group is mixed, the technology can identify whether onlookers are children or adults. If they're adults then maybe a wine ad could run whereas an advertisement for toys might play for kids."
Long-time Samsung fanboy speaking here, but I do NOT want advertisements to see my face. Reading my e-mails is where I draw the line. At least Gmail can't tell whether or not I'm wearing pants.
I'd rather you rationally disagree than irrationally agree.
How long until someone comes by and paints over the camera lenses disabling the tailored ads?
I can see this being a big waste of money that will hardly ever work correctly, and just being an annoying method of delivering ads when it is working.
You'd think advertisers would have learned by now how to avoid embarassing themselves. Clearly, they have not. Every year there are advertisements that fail to account for cultural values, context, or placement, and wind up sending an unintended message. Sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes its tragic. You've all seen the jars of Gerber baby food, right? The one with the big baby face on the front? Turns out when they first tried to sell it in rural segments of Africa, it wouldn't sell -- like at all. Turns out that the majority of the population in those markets is illiterate and so the products contained pictures of what was inside the jars and boxes. Well, the locals thought Gerber was selling, achem... baby. Needless to say, the packaging was updated shortly thereafter.
Here's the problem with advertisements where people are aware they are being targetted: What if the machine makes a mistake? What if it identifies the 18 year old male who's captain of the football team with a couple of his female friends and the machine decides that there are three females in the party instead of two, and spits out an advertisement for tampons or makeup. Perhaps even doing an impromptu photoshop with their faces and a "before and after" shot, with directions to the nearest makeup counter? Well, he might need some coverup then... To hide his suddenly very flushed appearance.
The problem with mechanical identification of any physical trait in a human being is that it won't ever be 100%, because the meanings associated with those traits are context-dependent. That is to say, the correlations are the problem, and it's true whether it's a matter of sex, race, or age... And when people are aware they are being targeted by those factors, and especially when its misread, and very especially when others are aware of this -- it can have significant social reprecussions. In marketing, context and placement means a lot -- and the only thing saving people from taking it personally is the very fact that they know it's targeted impersonally. When that changes, marketers are going to be in for a real surprise.
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Of course, that depends on who the user of the technology (such as, advertisement agencies), not the technology itself. The technology simply detects who is looking at the billboard, and how old the person is. It's entirely up to the ad agency to show adult dating sites or whatsoever on the billboard.
Thus, I think the ad agencies will end up putting ads that aren't so offensive to any demographic, anyway. Unlike popups from the web, it's intended to be placed on public space.
http://www.tetrapak.com/us/packaging/food_categories/wine/pages/default.aspx
http://www.slashfood.com/2008/05/17/would-you-drink-wine-from-a-juice-box/
I'll wait here while you hide your kids.
There is something very cool about having tailored advertisements. Google's found a way to make it work, and in the AFK world there is evidence of commercial tailoring for sporting events like the SuperBowl. People who watch the SB for the ads (like reading Playboy for the nudes, I suppose) typically enjoy funny and unique commercials. So while it may be many times more expensive to produce and show a commercial during the SB, it is also much more profitable since the viewers are already suggestionable.
Truth is, a little harmless digital stereotyping never hurt anybody. I look forward to living in a future where the advertisements on the street are video screens and they adapt their message to who they think is walking by. That's the kind of world people wrote about in science fiction decades ago, or put into movies like Blade Runner. This kind of thing has been dreamed about for decades, and thanks to the hard work of thousands of people, is finally possible.
Sure, it's not really that "useful" a technological improvement...kind of evil almost...but it sure is cool.
One problem that i see, is that it can be very easy to game the system.
Let's say that the advertisers pay a fixed monthly payment. If I were an advertiser and my advertisement were run every time that three women are in front of the screen... well, I'd hire three actresses so that they stay in from of the screen: my ad would be shown lots of times, and adds of my competitors would never be shown.
If, on the contrary, the advertisers have to pay for each time his ad is shown, and my competitor's ad is shown when the system detects three men... well, in this case, I'd hire three actors to stay there, to force my rival to pay, pay and pay.
Like the fraudulent clicks in AdSense, but in real life.
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What a colossal waste of engineering talent and technology. So many things that could be done to better the lot of humanity, and where does the effort go? Into more and more elaborate systems that try to tap into and divine out our innermost desires in a neverending effort to convince us to buy yet more useless junk that we don't need. Everywhere I turn, there's advertising, locked-down technology, restrictions, eroding usage rights, and the wholesale measuring and selling of our eyeballs - all stuff that does nothing but make things more annoying and less convenient for the legitimate buyer.
A significant fraction of our creative talent is being wasted effectively making mazes for the rest of humanity to run through all the while measuring the responses and tweaking the rewards to further encourage maze-running. I fear for our society's future.
So how are the kids going to buy the products? What toys will the parents buy to surprise their kids?
Kids don't buy products, and advertisers know that. What they do know is that kids are very easily influenced compared to adults, but parents are manipulated by kids. Ads target kids, who then nag and emotional blackmail parents into buying things that the kid wants. Not what the kid needs, like good education, books, good quality food, extra curricular activities.....
And as for toys to surprise the kids, just go to a toy shop and browse. If you know a kid you'll know what they like, and they will probably have asked or mentioned stuff friends have that they like. And if you don't follow TV ads you'll probably end up buying toys that aren't just the latest fad.
You need to watch the documentary by Adam Curtis called The Century of the Self and realise just how insidious modern advertising is.