Refrigerator doors in supermarkets are being replaced with LCD* screens that scan a shopper’s face to show personalized pop-up adverts.

Chicago-based Cooler Screens sells its products to stores which show the food or drink available inside. However, they are also used to display specific adverts based on the physical characteristics of shoppers. The cameras in the screens are not designed to prevent theft but instead are intended to give a personalized shopping experience through specific adverts.

Supermarket chain Walgreens is believed to be testing the screens in half a dozen of its stores around the United States.

The technology scans a person’s face to determine their sex and age and then displays relevant animated adverts that marketing experts believe will be of interest.

It is claimed the firm does not partake in ethnic or racial profiling and also does not store the data of an individual.

The concept works in a similar way to the targeted ads that come from Facebook and Google, but those sites require consent* and permission to be given to share such data with advertisers.

In the instance of the Cooler Screens product, this consent is never given, it simply scans and profiles whoever is in front of it at any moment.

(SD-Agencies)