11 | Glance At No Evil

Marketers/advertisers have a new tool in their arsenal to reach the consumers they want. It's a research technology called facial monitoring, and it's not far from entering your home. Cameras and computers have long been able to recognize where a subject's eye contact is and discern fleeting facial expressions. It's widely used by advertising research groups to gauge reaction to ads. The Economist reports that this technology is now ready to jump to your personal computer and webcam.

Your glances, emotional responses, and even heart and breathing rates may soon be reported back to marketers in real time. In practice, this could allow businesses to gauge whether a particular ad is welcome and appealing to an individual and then continue to send similar ads to that person, regardless if the individual clicked on the primary trigger. Conversely, if a consumer shows frustration or dissatisfaction with their face over an ad they are seeing, an apologetic message could appear, and no more similar advertisements would be shown.

It seems great at first, but consider the ethical dilemma this poses.  Capitol Hill is already considering legislation severely restricting corporations' ability to track IP addresses for privacy reasons. People are upset by marketers' scientific tools of persuasion online as is (think Amazon.com using cookies to suggest ever more insightful product suggestions). If facial monitoring goes mainstream, marketers could (and many undoubtedly would) manipulate their audiences in more compelling affective ways. On the other side of the picture, facial tracking could further reduce the amount of non-pertinent clutter we witness day in and out; a higher percentage would be tailored to our emotional desires.

If this technology can be successfully implemented, it will be. There are too many business leaders out there focused on their financial bottom line to ignore such an effective (well, we'll see) opportunity. But what then? What if media takes such a step forward as to hack into our psyches and is able to introduce near perfectly relevant ads online? It still comes down to what's actually being delivered. This tool of computer facial recognition is not the answer to persuasion or the larger problems at bay. No matter how you get there, a bad ad is still a bad ad. The burden still falls on businesses and agencies to create meaningful user experiences and value propositions (not just USPs) for its audiences. A useful trick for communication transmission is not an excuse to make sub par and/or generic work. Messages still needs to be crafted with care. Clients and agencies still need to think creatively, with courage, and armed with compelling insight.

It's important to stay on top of the trends; especially if they will affect you. The battle over do-not-track lists and online facial monitoring will undoubtedly be decided before I have a chance to influence the course of the marketing field. But if I find myself in a situation where technologies like these will be used (I will), I vow to approach them considering the moral effects they may have, and promise to guide my clients/companies as not only an agent, but as a responsible corporate citizen. Anything less would be irresponsible representation to my principals and their stakeholders. It's easy to get lost in marketing buzz and forget what the real issue is. The journey ahead is not one of advertising, but of creative problem solving. A computer cannot do that... At least not today...