Say what you like about Tesco, but they know how to create a fuss.
A couple of days ago, the digital, broadcast and print media fell on a story about the retail giant and its latest advertising wheeze. As a plethora of reports rushed to tell us, advertising screens in Tesco petrol stations - and soon, stores - will now be scanning the faces of customers to calculate their age, gender and preferences in order to expose them to the appropriate marketing messages.
As you might expect, all this has been accompanied by a storm of protest. Groups such as 'Privacy International' and 'Big Brother Watch' built up a right head of steam, accusing the supermarket of any number of intrusions, conspiracies and machinations. What right has a retailer to examine, interpret and use our visual identities for their nefarious gain? It's a fair question, but does it stem from a considered assessment of the facts, or something else?
Of course, I wholly accept that Tesco has its own spin on this - and it is likely to be every bit as partisan as the opinions of the objectors. However, the firm is at pains to explain the screens only detect the presence of a visitor within their vicinity, at which point the machinery will attempt to ascertain the person's sex and how much time they spend on their transaction. Nothing is recorded, nothing is stored. And to be honest, I think that's quite close to the truth.
Technical innovators are awful braggers. The companies engineering our futures are very fond of describing what they 'foresee' - what may come to pass. They revel in describing the astonishing functions their kit will carry in the next iteration. There's a good reason for this. They want us to stay hungry and in a state of subconscious anticipation, ready for the next release, the next model. If a manufacturer had created an advertising display screen which could spot anything more than the vaguest details, we'd have had it thrown at us for months before its release. Tech businesses have no interest in conspiracy, it's too secretive. If their box does something no other box can do, they'll be more than happy to tell us. Repeatedly.
That's not to say that Tesco, or any number of other multi-nationals, wouldn't leap to embrace this sort of 'Blade Runner' marketing opportunity - to a certain extent they have. But I'm sure it's nothing like as sinister and sophisticated as their opponents believe. What's more, when and if media technology reaches this feared disruptive level, it will fall under the same regulation as CCTV.
So where does this leave us? Well, if Tesco is investing a bundle into screens that change when I approach them - then serve me an ad they think I'll like - I look forward to seeing them. Thanks to ad tracking systems on the web, a host of advertisers already throw their banners at me, based on my searches and visits. Rarely with any success. It will be intriguing to see whether in-store screens can do better.
In the meantime, I'd respectfully suggest that interested commentators take their cues from cool-headed research, rather than slightly hysterical editorials.
Finally, if these devices still have you feeling uneasy, you may be reassured to know they're made by Amstrad - the people who brought you the enormously effective e-mailer phone.
Magnus Shaw is a copywriter, blogger and consultant
