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There's a scene in 'Minority Report' in which Tom Cruise's character enters a mall and the ads personalize themselves to him as he walks by. What was then only science fiction is now closer to reality, says a recent AP story, as a growing number of display screens are being equipped with small cameras and face recognition technology (the same kind used increasingly in handheld digicams), providing demographic data about who looked at the ad and for how long. The technology can already recognize gender and age and, while it's currently being used for audience research, it isn't impossible to make the leap to custom, targeted ads.
The unsettling facial recognition raises a privacy debate since the public isn't told they are being "recognized," but the companies providing the service (currently at malls in Winston-Salem, NC, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh), assert that the information is not recorded or stored and that individuals can't be recognized (just gender and age). Still, this seems a lot like the Big Brother of '1984' and prompted us to think a little more about disturbing and creepy ads and practices, which is why we've collected a bunch of other ads that are unsettling in the broadest sense of the term, which you'll find in the following pages (click on "Next" below to get started) .
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Comments
53
Subscribe to commentsRuthieFeb 6th 2009 11:43AM
Mall owners...
If I go to a mall store with the intent to purchase a negligee to wear for my new fellow and you hit me with a Metamucil ad (based on my age) I am taking my purchase power elsewhere!
JohnsonFeb 7th 2009 7:27AM
Can it tell when you flip it the bird?
NoraFeb 7th 2009 9:14AM
yes, i'm sure they'd tell you the truth about whether they store the information, or not; and the government probably has no interest in accessing that information. liars always tell you when they're lying, right? i don't like this trend, and i feel we are moving one more step into biblical revelations, with this sort of technology. i want to be a private and anonymous citizen, and that is becoming next to impossible, in these times. god help us, if they want to put a chip in our heads, so they can scan us.
JDFeb 7th 2009 10:21AM
Yet another reason to stay away from the mall.
wendy scottFeb 7th 2009 11:20AM
Yeah well what do you think is up with the digital converter boxes that everyone is now requiered to have to get TV stations? I am pretty sure you all will soon be monitored right in your own living room. Come on, you can't tell me you all have not concidered this.
BoFeb 7th 2009 11:24AM
Of course they are watching. And if they are not, they will be after February 17th when everyone with a television will be required to have a "converter box". There were rumors about the government keeping an eye on people right from their cable television. Well, sounds to me like they finally figured out a way to do it.
I think my family and I will be doing more things now other than watching t.v. because I don't appreciate the government spying on us through our cable. Bye bye cable.
JoyFeb 7th 2009 12:15PM
It'll just get worse and worse, because most people don't really care. The big mass of sheeple just let marketers/governments do whatever they like. We few who have working minds have to get dragged into all this BS, being ridiculed for rocking the boat... The only hope for us is that there will occasionally be a charismatic leader who has the good of all in mind, but the flip side of that is that those sheeple will follow-the-leader whether that leader is good or evil. And they won't even know the difference until it's too late.
The QFeb 7th 2009 5:34PM
Seems most posts on here declare a level of naivety if they do not already believe they are constantly under some level of survelience. The only difference with this technology and all the other stealth cameras around us all is that you know about this one. along that line, Please, no more reference to "Big Brother". It's not "big brother" watching you its your neighbors and all commercial buildings both private and public.
nepalsitesFeb 8th 2009 1:08AM
wow. that is creepy. its like that computer trade shows where u are being watched by the webcam as you move..
Phyllis GiroudFeb 8th 2009 10:58AM
You're all missing the really bad stuff. What about the ads that use women to see anything and everything from cars to candy ? How about the Girardelli chocolate ? There a woman who looks likes she having an orgasm because she's eating a piece of chocolate. Then she closes her eyes and puts her finger on her mouth. Ohh, ohhh, give me a break. Then there's one that is driving a car and she looks at the camera as sexy as she can and says, " the question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor ?" What does that mean ? Does it mean that she is going to screw the car ? I could go on and on but what's the use. They're all a bunch of pigs and women are so stupid that they let it go on and on.
RuthieFeb 8th 2009 1:33PM
Even the M&Ms commercial throws sex at cha!
I suppose some poor souls must fall for commercials...how many people bought the blanket with sleeves (snuggie)?
And you don't even remember the name of the car with that silly woman.
Yeah, my 16 year old truck turns me on...it rattles so much that if the cost of gas ever fell below that of AA batteries I would throw bob away!
john connerFeb 21st 2009 4:51PM
FACT: 99.9% of cattle in the mall are using CREDIT to 'buy' their nonsensities. This is just ONE of the reasons why I am of course ALL FOR this facial recognition database. Again, HOW could the sheep be made to accept Big-Brother style face recognition cameras in a shopping mall? It is simply their subconscious understanding that BIG BROTHER gave them the MONEY they are shopping with. Indeed they accept that if big brother gives you shopping money, big brother also gets to keep an eye on you. THAT'S why the sheeple do not protest. That's why there will be no revolution. And that's why I support the NWO.
chuckycheez48Aug 15th 2009 10:27PM
Post 21 Crys...."1984" was published in 1949. It's stunning how accurate Orwell was, considering the technology that was available at the time.
But cameras are everywhere. I worked at a bank for a while, when you pull up to an ATM, you have at least 4 cameras on you, maybe more. It's not by chance that two seperate plane crashes have been caught over the Hudson River on camera recently.