UK Charity Using Face Pattern Detection To Serve Digital OOH Ads By Gender

February 21, 2012 by Dave Haynes

Here’s an interesting twist on the whole gender/facial pattern detection thing for digital OOH advertising.

The BBC has a news piece up about a digital OOH street furniture campaign that started today for the charity Plan UK.

In a trial, a transit shelter located on London’s busy Oxford Street a sensor is scanning for female face patterns looking at a digital screen and triggering media based on the gender.

Reports the BBC:

A camera will measure facial features of the person standing at the screen to decide whether it is a man or a woman. It guesses right 90% of the time.

If it is a male, the screen will direct him to the charity’s campaign website.

The advertisement highlights the issue of women and girls in developing countries, who face poverty and discrimination, not getting the choice to decide how they want to lead their lives.

Males will not get to see the advertisement in order to make them aware about gender discrimination, the charity said.

Facial recognition technology

The full advertisement will show three 13-year-old girls – from the UK, Mali and Thailand – talking about their lives.

Photo: BBC