Simple, compelling triggered digital at a German bus shelter

June 26, 2009 by Dave Haynes

I’m really not sure this is the first ever (as is billed) but this is nonetheless very clever, and as noted by Gizmodo (image source), somewhat disturbing.

It is a digital transit shelter ad in Hamburg, Germany, for human rights group Amnesty International. I think of Amnesty more for things like the troubles in Darfur and Myanmar, but this campaign is about domestic abuse.

The set-up is very simple. Some basic face capture tecyhnology from an embedded camera shows an image of domestic bliss when someone at the shelter looks at the screen. When they look away, the man is beating his partner, with the explanation that “It happens when noboby is watching.”

Our industry still has tons of people all caught up in the latest whiz-bang gadgetry like 3D and augmented reality. This is dead-simple to pull off, and it works.