Tesco has decided to start using in all their petrol stations face scanners that can tell age and gender. Despite how it sounds this is actually to help them decide what adverts to use. The retailer will introduce the OptimEyes screen, developed by Lord Sugar's Amscreen, to all 450 of its UK petrol stations, in a five-year deal, according to The Grocer magazine. The screen scans the eyes of customers and then runs tailored advertisements.The technology also changes adverts depending on the time and date, as well as monitoring customer purchases, The Grocer said. The screens are predicted to reach a weekly audience of more than five million adults.
Simon Sugar, chief executive of Amscreen, told the industry magazine: "Yes it's like something out of Minority Report, but this could change the face of British retail and our plans are to expand the screens into as many supermarkets as possible."
The main issue, pointed out by Nick Pickles from Big Brother Watch, is customers are not being asked for their consent. The stores are assuming that customers are happy for their faces to be scanned whilst they are waiting to pay. It has been suggested as well that if the public are told that they are being scanned when they go into certain shops or buildings it will have a huge impact on the companies people decide to use.
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