Who Would Want to Target a Billboard?

Coming Soon: Targeted billboards. A French company called Quividi had been putting cameras in billboards that will count the number of passersby and even record their gender (with 85% accuracy). If a woman approaches, it will show a different ad than it would show to a man. They're also working on the technology to identify relative age and pick out family groups so they can use even more specific targeting. And it doesn't stop there, these billboards are capable of projecting 3D images and sending audio messages as well.

As with many new technologies, this walks the fine line between science-fiction-cool and George-Orwell-scary.

There are already laws in place that will keep billboards from blaring audible messages or projecting 3D images at drivers without certain permissions, shop windows and pedestrian billboards are under no such restrictions (yet), and I think we can expect to see higher-tech ads on sidewalks of metropolitan areas very soon. To the folks at Quividi: here's some advice to pass on to your clients who want to avoid nasty lawsuits.

1. Let's avoid personal products. No one in public wants to be the target of an ad for acne medication or tampons. Possible exceptions: fragrances and body sprays.
2. Tighten up the gender-identification before relying too heavily on it.
3. Avoid 3D images that are likely to scare children (who might then run into, say, the street). I'm looking at you, Orken man!
   

We can't be more than ten years away from seeing these in major cities, which means we can't be more than fifteen years away from being able to ignore them completely. And I can't help but see the irony of my weekend trip, which I spent on a river, in a canoe, no less than 8 miles away from a single working cell phone.

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