Billboard Ad “Recognizes” Women’s Faces, Only Displays For Them

It’s clear that some ads were meant for the hetero-male’s eyes only. And, yep, we’ve seen plenty those. But what about an advertisement meant only for women? Or, taking it one step further, what about an advertisement that only women are able to see, thanks to facial recognition technology?

That’s exactly what one non-profit has created.

Meet Plan UK’s facial recognition billboard ad, which claims to have a 90-percent accuracy rate when determining whether a viewer is male or female. True, this experiment has some wildly problematic undertones. (A machine deciding someone’s sex or gender? Ah, what?) Still, it’s blazing a trail for what could become an increasing trend in advertising: hyper-targeted ads that follow you wherever you go. Yes, I got freaked out just writing that.

One of the ads has already gone up on London’s West End, according to PSFK. It features a 40-second video ad for Plan UK’s “Because I’m A Girl” campaign. Men do not see this ad because, as a spokesperson told PSFK, they wanted men to have “a glimpse of what it’s like to have basic choices taken away.” Sick burn.

Then again, not having to look at yet another billboard ad doesn’t exactly seem like a hardship.

[via Mashable]

TAGS: billboard ad only displays for women | billboard recognizes women | plan uk billboard ad

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