2oceans Vibe

An intelligent billboard set up in London has facial recognition tech built in that lets it scan passersby for gender – if a woman stops to take a look, it plays a 40-second video clip. Dudes only get a link to the advertiser’s website. It’s like they’re trying to send a message or something.

Granted, the billboard isn’t trying to peddle shoes or rolling pins or gender stereotypes; it’s for Plan UK, a non-profit organization trying to raise money toward the education of girls in third-world countries. And they say that dudes don’t get to see the advert (above) to give them “a glimpse of what it’s like to have basic choices taken away.”

I mean I don’t know that it’d be effective, at all – but the implications of smart billboards (with 90% success rate at picking out gender – sorry, androgynous dudes and ladies) actively responding to their audience are pretty creepy and interesting.

Although in this case, the ad is working to exclude people, which maybe makes a statement but probably won’t raise a ton of cash for Plan UK.

Still. Future.

[Source: TC]