Today in TechFacial recognition billboard only shows ads to women
Facial recognition technology is gaining steam on Facebook as a tool to help you tag your photos. Police in Massachusetts are using facial recognition to take a bite out of crime. But does a new billboard in London, capable of determining your gender before deciding what ad to serve you, go a step too far?
The $50,000 billboard uses facial recognition technology to decide whether the viewer is a male or a female. If the viewer is female, they're given the option to view a 40-second ad for Plan UK, a global children's charity. Males are instead directed to the Plan UK website.
If the concept is a bit unsettling, that's the point. The billboard is meant to promote Plan UK's "Because I am a Girl" campaign, which aims to fight gender inequality. By discriminating against males, Plan UK hopes that men will get a taste "of what it's like to have basic choices taken away."
"Millions of girls across the globe are being denied the right and choice to have an education," explains Plan UK CEO Marie Staunton. "This ad is a deliberate attempt to raise public debate on this issue."
[Image source: Plan UK]
This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca
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