Advertising that is perhaps a bit too interactive
Came across this story in Gizmodo: In Amsterdam a bus stop bench now interacts with a nearby fitness ad to publicly display how much you weigh… The ad indirectly shames you into joining a gym, but seems rather prejudiced.
All seriousness aside: Why use technology in such a limited way?
Let’s discriminate more broadly and democratically: Why not dynamically display different ads based on how much you weigh, for example “Hungry Jack” TV dinners for the underweight, school supplies for those under 40lbs, funeral services special offers for those over 275lbs etc.?
Or how about adding one of the new facial recognition enabled cameras to detect a person’s hair color and outfit and suggest makeovers, hair-styling products, shoes and the like, complete with photo-shopped before and after “mock up” for the entertainment of those “unlucky” enough not to get a seat at the bus stop?
This bus ad for Fitness First in Rotterdam, The Netherlands gives you the hard sell via shame. It uses a scale in the seat to display just how fat you are to everyone around.
I, for one, would be pretty pissed off if I didn’t know about this thing and sat down to wait for the bus, only to notice people laughing at my weight. It’s an attention grabbing ad, to be sure, but one that might just cross the line into ruining the bus stop rather than just advertising via it. But hey, if it’s getting people to work out at Fitness First, it’s effective. What say you? [DirectDaily via Animal New York]
Technorati Tags: advertising, interactive media
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