Introduction
Over the years, consumers have been plagued with targeted advertisements as companies have tracked their data to pinpoint their interests and wants. This plateaued and has leveled off as regulators have begun to limit what software companies can keep track of, or at least require those companies to ask for permission before tracking. We have seen this recently when we download new apps and are asked for permission to track data across apps. However, a new area of marketing has begun to emerge, specifically in facial and eye tracking. This allows marketers to target consumers and understand future purchases based on habits and physical actions. It opens an entirely new world of possibilities for those marketers.
How it works and progress in the field
Facial and eye technology is impressive. Eye tracking functions by cameras and sensors measuring the movements of the eye, eye positions, and the direction of the gaze of a consumer. It keeps track of visual attention and the technology can identify where, at what, and for how long someone is looking at a specific object. Facial recognition technology can be paired with eye tracking to create profiles of specific customers. Thus, allows companies to understand where these specific customers tend to shop, the brands they are interested in, and how they can design a store that matches their needs. There has been an immense amount of progress in the accuracy of these fields, most specifically eye tracking. It has become much more accurate as cameras improve and AI becomes an integral part of the technology. AI allows the software to learn and better analyze where gazes are directed. Overall, this technology is continuing to develop quickly.
The power of the technology
The most impressive part of this technology is its application. One of those applications is in the field of marketing. It allows marketers to learn and adapt stores to market specific items to consumers that are specifically drawn toward those goods.
It is a unique and innovative take on marketing. It allows these researchers to understand exactly how their brand is viewed by the public and to place those products in places that are optimal for its success. While this blog post is specifically on how this technology impacts the marketing field, there are many other amazing applications. Just to name a few, there have been advances in automobiles, allowing cars to ensure that the driver’s eyes are focused on the road and not distracted, introducing negative reinforcement similar to a seat belt chime to ensure they maintain focus. Others have applied it to different computers so people can control them with eye and facial movements and expressions. There are some amazing places this technology can be applied.
Privacy issues
It feels like with each of these posts, I have always had to mention their risks, I guess that is a part of the unknown and probably the technology industry as a whole. With that being said, there is a risk that is introduced with eye tracking and that falls into the privacy issue. Similar to the concern of whether companies should be able to track your data for marketing across apps, should marketers be able to watch you and analyze your movements and behaviors for their benefit? That idea doesn’t quite bother me, however, I know plenty of people that would be incredibly uncomfortable with that idea. This is a question that I am sure we will see answered in the coming years as regulators continue to set limits on what is and is not off limits.
Combining technologies to open a world of possibility
I wanted to close this blog post by pointing out something that I noticed when I was thinking about this topic. I noticed many technologies we are seeing today are compilations of multiple types of technology. For example, eye-tracking technology uses cameras combined with AI to create a product that is incredibly useful. Both have existed, but someone thought of combining their usefulness to create something that adds even more value. I think this is where many of the next generations of entrepreneurs will find immense success. They will take technology that has been developed and combine them to create products that further their value at very little cost to the entrepreneur. I will be curious to watch this over the next few years. Thanks for reading!
William – great article, I especially liked your final wrap up/opinion inclusion. I do not believe this is necessarily an issue because it is all disclosed if own is to delve into the legalities. Unfortunately, the problem lays in the situations where people are not aware of this reality. I am curious if this problem can be solved on a greater scale in the elementary classroom and if it will be “dumbed” down to become a keystone curriculum inclusion.
I liked how you structured your paper. You had a clear objective to your post and also addressed the risks. I think it will be interesting for how Marketing departments at Universities adapt their curriculum to address the technology evolution occurring within their field. I have so many Marketing major friends who say that internships are desiring a candidate who’s a marketing student who knows SQL (which is not currently taught in their major). Data Analytics and AI are soon going to run this field.
Hi William, this was a great post! I like how you explained facial and eye tracking and how it works before diving into its implementation. I really found it interesting how companies are able to make customer profiles and find product preferences through eye/activity tracking. I am glad you brought up privacy concerns as this is one of the only reasons I don’t fully support facial/eye tracking use in marketing. I always see Twitter and Instagram posts about how people are very uncomfortable with eye tracking for marketing, and I think it is important for us to draw the line for regulation before technology improves any further.
Hi William, great topic. I remember trying out some sort of eye tracking technology that attaches to a laptop or monitor, which tracks your eyes in order to allow control of the device. It was cool to try out but not enough to become something simply through that. It will be cool to see what implications these things evolve into.
Interesting post! This made me think a lot more about the ethics behind AI and eye tracking. I instantly thought about how brands use certain color combinations to play to the emotions of their consumers- leaning into the psychology behind colors, shapes, and objects included in logos and advertisements. The knowledge of psychology made companies able to target consumers based on brain functions and reactions which leads me to believe that the knowledge of eye movements is also ethical. Every year new technology will come out and allow advertisers to learn more about their consumers. These companies can then use this information to create products that cater directly to their target audience. I will be curious if a newer invention comes out that is more controversial than eye tracking, but that seems to be largely adopted by companies and consumers with minimal pushback.
Hey William, I really enjoyed this post! I was actually just reading Chase’s post, and I had similar concerns about privacy with his. This technology seems so cool and helpful at first glance, and I’m sure it can bring so many benefits to our lives in the long run. However, it is kind of scary knowing that people/companies can pretty much know every little thing about us. What we want to eat, buy, look at, etc. Personally, it doesn’t bother me too much since there are billions of people in the world, why would MY information be anything interesting to dangerous people with all that info. However, as you mentioned, I do know a lot of people who don’t feel that same way and do worry about their info.
We’ll just have to see where all of this goes! We’ve got a lot of world-changing technology coming out soon, and we can only wait and see how everything unfolds.
Same privacy concerns we have with anything that could reduce our privacy online. Facial recognition and stuff like this are all cool concepts but it is scary knowing that cooperations could see all this stuff.
Great post William. When reading this I had two thoughts. First, it made me think of what Bill Vancuren mentioned that NCR has had retinal recognition software for over 40 years, but that it is just now being implemented. Timing is everything. To bounce off of Mary’s comment, I wonder what new inventions (or ones already developed) will be similar to this. Secondly, the psychology behind understanding what people are thinking and doing based on eye movement is so powerful. I question as well if this is truly beneficial for humanity in the long run or rather a way for powerful tech companies to hack a person’s psychology for their bottom line.
At BC, I worked with several people who developed and did research with eye-tracking software. It’s actually a pretty cool tech. The original application in our department was helping severely disabled children communicate through eye movements. Pretty amazing.
Fantastic post all around William! I agree on all points. I have no issue with marketers being able to analyze my movement. They’ll notice that I’m often just looking for the cheapest, reliable product on the shelves. I agree on the fact that there will always be people opposed to this. This is definitely an area that will grow quickly and extensively over time
Hey William! Great post! I have to agree with your concern about the privacy issues that may arise with facial and eye tracking technology. While the applications for marketing and other fields are impressive, it is important to consider the potential consequences for consumer privacy. It is interesting to see how these technologies are being combined to create even more advanced products, and I am also curious to see what other innovations will come from the combination of existing technologies.
Hey William, great post! I get how eye tracking technology can be very beneficial for brands and marketing teams, but I feel like it is so creepy, especially because people don’t even know that they are being tracked this way. When it comes to personal data and technology like this, I feel like ignorance is bliss, because when people don’t know about it, they don’t care. But once you are aware, it is creepy to know you are being watched and tracked when shopping.