As if we don’t have enough to worry about, now we
need to start thinking about being spied on while we do our grocery
shopping. Food giant Mondelez
International, parent company of Nabisco, Kraft and Cadbury, is said to be
planning on introducing “smart shelves” to grocery stores by the year 2015.
Working with Microsoft Kinect, Mondelez
International is said to be working on a system to identify shoppers walking
down the food aisle. Using facial
recognition, these “smart shelves” will be able to identify shoppers by age and
gender. Once identified, a coupon will
appear near a food or snack targeted to that particular shopper. For example:
If a woman in her early 30s walks by, there’s a good chance she may be
thinking about chocolate. As she
approaches the shelf for Cadbury chocolates, a coupon will pop up.
Along with facial recognition, the smart shelves
will also have weight sensors installed. This way, if a shopper over the age of 18
picks a box up from the shelf, a coupon could be sent to “persuade” the shopper
into buying that product. The coupon
will come by way of either a dispenser or a display screen. Tech writer Brian Fung of the Washington Post says of this
technology, “it’s not quite Minority Report levels of creepiness, but it’s getting
there.”, while Neal Ungerleider of Fastcompany.com said it’s “the ultimate in
creepy, yet inevitable marketing tech.”
Personally, I have to agree with Neal about it being the ultimate in
creepy.
According to Mondelez’s CIO Mark Dajani, no
videos or photos of specific shoppers will be saved. The information will only be used to collect
information about the types of shoppers looking at the products or walking down
the grocery store aisles. It could help
food companies with product placement so as to maximize sales.
