'Creepy as hell' UK billboards draw fierce backlash

Don't you just love it when a billboard ad tracks your face? Me neither, and nor do the inhabitants of over 20 cities in the UK, where new electronic advertising screens have popped up in residential buildings.

Condemned as "creepy as hell" by campaigners, the screens are allegedly capable of recording viewers' faces order to track metrics, such as average "dwelling time". (Spoiler alert: none of the examples in our roundup of the best billboard ads feature face-tracking cameras.)

As reported by the Guardian, the screens, supplied by 30Seconds Group, the cameras can be used "to track “occupant engagement” from residents who are a “captive audience” as they wait for lifts to their apartments."

"With an average dwell time of 30 seconds, our screens provide ample time for viewers to absorb your message," reads a description of the screens on the company's website. "This extended interaction allows for deeper engagement, making it an ideal platform for delivering impactful and memorable advertising content.”

In an interview with Business Cloud, 30Seconds Group CEO Jesse Liu claims that the cameras aren't currently in use – but shares ideas about what they could be used for in future. "We are also considering what benefits we can bring to the industry in the future, and having a camera integrated into our displays is one aspect of this. Whilst they are currently inactive, we can utilise this technology further down the line to offer clients features such as additional security, footfall tracking, or even video and AI concierge capabilities.”

“We should all be able to move around the buildings we live in without being scanned against our will to monitor our personal characteristics or if we paid attention to an advert, and it is even more galling that residents of some buildings have to pay to be watched," said Jake Hurfurt from campaign group Big Brother Watch, adding that the screens are "creepy as hell".