Camera-equipped digital billboards scan humans in Tokyo, serve up tailored ads

Marketing managers, you best take a seat. This right here is your future, like it or not. According to a new report from one Earth's most mesmerizing cities, digital advertising billboards are being trialled in Japan that are not only equipped with cameras, but with an ability to scan passers-by for gender and age group. Once that data is collected, the billboard then flashes an advertisement that best fits the type of human walking by. So, anyone care to guess which ad gets shown when the 6PM central station train lets out?

[BigDog Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:13AM]

Minority report?

[dswatson83 Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:17AM]

@BigDog
This is a great invention in theory...but practically, there are too many people walking by with too little time to be effective.

[DeFlanko Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:29AM]

@BigDog
Exactly what i was thinking.

[ryanbballer54 Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:30AM]

@BigDog Haha first thing I thought of as well

[rhododragon Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:11PM]

@BigDog If this comes to the US then finally middle class white people can be profiled by something.

[Ceyran Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:22PM]

@dswatson83
They could use a special screen that displays video's based upon your viewing angle to the screen. And this technology already exists in a GPS, the driver sees the GPS directions while his next seat passenger watches a movie on the same screen.

[kitface Posted Jul 15th 2010 6:16PM]

@BigDog that's what I thought of too, but this just gets your general details... I would hate for an advert to go "KIT LYNAM IT LOOKS LIKE YOU NEED A NEW LEXUS CAR" or a hologram in GAP to ask me if I liked my previous purchase. Just a little too knowledgeable for my liking.

[ebloomca Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:16AM]

So a cat walked by this thing and got scanned? Did it offer up some great deals on Fancy Feast?

[Nzad Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:59AM]

@ebloomca
haha either that or that guy is Japan's equivalent of a crazy cat lady :D

[Oflife Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:31AM]

This has a major flaw. How is one to discover new things if all one sees is what one is already interested in? We will exist in our own tailored world, with no idea what else is out there. A real life Google adsense?

[Sherifftruman Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:56AM]

@Oflife Well, I assume advertising people are smart enough to realize that if you like certain things, that other things that are not directly similar and you probably don't know about might appeal to you also. Kind of like TiVo suggestions. Mine introduced me to a few shows, some of which were pretty similar to things I already watched, but a couple that were totally different and I really enjoyed them.

[inspiron41 Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:34AM]

if it post sexually implied ads whenever iPhone user pass by it would be extremely hilarious.......

[Plazmic Flame Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:38AM]

If it scans a guy and offers up a lingerie ad.... you're screwed.

[Pantheraleo Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:39AM]

It will never fly in the United States due to privacy concerns.

[TheAmazingWJV Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:46AM]

It seems you're ignoring the fact that lobbyists have a huge influence on those privacy decisions.

[m66 Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:08PM]

@Pantheraleo
it's not invading your privacy; if you can see a billboard, you're almost certainly in public. plus, it's just guessing your age and gender (along with a few hundred other people), and going off demographic statistics from there. not that i like billboards, especially the blindingly bright electronic kind.

[Pantheraleo Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:21PM]

@m66
"it's just guessing your age and gender (along with a few hundred other people), and going off demographic statistics from there."

And what else is it doing with those pictures it takes of you? I can already see it. It's probably storing the pictures for analysis so that it can get better at analyzing them. Pretty soon the government wants access to them just like they want access to search records, etc. Then they take it a step further and claim they don't need a warrant to access them because of the patriot act, etc.

I don't think they will ever fly in this country. Too many privacy issues. I mean even back-scatter X-ray machines at airports are really controversial here. I can just imagine what picture taking billboards in public areas that try figure out demographic data about you would do.

[m66 Posted Jul 15th 2010 4:50PM]

@Pantheraleo
sorry to break the news, but you have no expectation of privacy when you're in public. this is, obviously, very different than a camera that can show stangers what you look like naked, and you're already being watched by CCTV everywhere you go.

[rbs Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:39AM]

If it cycled ads for Nintendo DS, things pink and Disney, and porn, it would appear like the cameras are actually working.

[LANjackal Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:42AM]

This could result in hilarity at malls. Nothing like having an alternative lifestyle dating site or weight loss program ad flashed at you in public.

[Console fanboy Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:47AM]

I can already see the future....it's gonna have racist ads
black guy walks by: popeyes chicken ad
white guy walks by: mountain dew ad
Asian guy walks by: me luv u long time massage service ad

[DTJ Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:48AM]

"hey there mr pedophile! Here's a product you might be interested in!"

[coleman567 Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:54AM]

Godzilla

[KAL326 Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:06AM]

Why do I see a whole lot of Hello Kitty ads playing in Japan?

[cashclientel Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:20AM]

Its a gimmick for sure - but if it get's more people to look at the advert and pay attention it's certainly paid for itself.

It doesn't even have to work properly to be effective - in face i'd guess if it was totally useless more people would pay attention to it and stand around trying to experiment with it.

[possomcrast Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:33AM]

beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elokito Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:40AM]

the problem of this was that when small people are scanned they are considered as children.

[miki4242 Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:17PM]

Billboard operator: "All your anthropometric data are belong to us!"
Commuter, walks up to camera: "Stick Duct tape!"
Bystander: "For great justice!"

[Sairuz Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:42PM]

Imagine if this could use some sort of face recognition technology and connect to Facebook and Google to retrieve your information to serve the ads. THAT would be creepy.

[SBMfromLA Posted Jul 15th 2010 12:59PM]

For some unknown reason, I'm foreseeing a time when a person's weight is also scanned and ads for diet ads and exercise equipment are displayed.

Now I'm wondering if skin tone scanning will become included as well... then a light-skinned person would get ads for sun blockers and a darker skinned person would get products for black people...

Hmmm.... I'm having mixed feelings about this... The one problem is see would be privacy concerns.. Of course all the scanned data will be kept and archived but I can also seeing images/photos being kept and used..

[HektikLyfe Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:31PM]

I can see it now.

"Hello [insert your name here], take a look at the following advertisements for local rhinoplasty surgeons.

Enjoy Toucan!"

[Awall Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:48PM]

Grape nuts?

[meepmeep Posted Jul 15th 2010 1:49PM]

"Shepard, you've recently been dead. Don't you deserve a fine silk burial robe?"

[Cvstos Posted Jul 15th 2010 6:45PM]

Shepard, could I have a moment of your time? I was just what a pity it is that you can't enjoy the advantage of a true 360-degree holoprojection display. If you were watching this on the new Mannovai "Avatar" wide-field surround-vid projector, you could see that there's a naked asari behind me. Mannovai: "Because Real Life is Surround-Vid!"

[jasonbot Posted Jul 18th 2010 2:55PM]

The system is flawed. All Asians look the same...