Facial Recognition Billboard Targets Only Women in UK

Talk about niche marketing! A billboard installed in London bus stop has this special feature: it only displays its content to women. The advertisement comes with a camera that scans passersby and if a one stops to look, its facial recognition software determines their sex and shows them the video if they are female. Men who happen to check out the ad only get a link to the advertiser’s website.

The technology has 90% accuracy, which means 1 out of 10 females might be mistaken as male. In contrast, the billboard might mistake 1 out of 10 males as female.

The advertiser is Plan UK, a non-profit organization aiming to raise money for education of girls in third-world countries. The campaign deliberately blocked its content to men as Plan UK’s way of giving them “a glimpse of what it’s like to have basic choices taken away.” It may leave several prospective male donors to provide their charity somewhere else, but it is too early to tell.

The video of what what 90% of female–and 10% male–passersby will see in the billboard can be seen here.

Source: PSFK, via TechCrunch

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