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The ‘Creepy’ Spying Mannequins: Shops Use Dummies Fitted With Airport Security To Profile Customers

Tuesday, November 20, 2012 18:42

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Mannequins have cameras instead of eyes to monitor people as they shop
Campaigners denounce ‘creepy’ move and claim it is profit over privacy
EyeSee dummies, made in Italy, and are in use in Europe and the U.S.
Makers want to update technology to EAVESDROP on what customers say

By Damien Gayle

PUBLISHED:12:41 EST, 20 November 2012| UPDATED:14:54 EST, 20 November 2012

Mannequins in fashion boutiques are now being fitted with secret cameras to ‘spy’ on shoppers’ buying habits.

Benetton is among the High Street fashion chains to have deployed the dummies equipped with technology adapted from security systems used to identify criminals at airports.

From the outside, the $3,200 (£2,009) EyeSee dummy looks like any other mannequin, but behind its blank gaze it hides a camera feeding images into facial recognition software that logs the age, gender and race of shoppers.

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'Creepy': The EyeSee mannequin, which has a camera hidden behind its eye to track customers' behaviour as they browse fashion boutiques

‘Creepy’: The EyeSee mannequin, which has a camera hidden behind its eye to track shoppers’ behaviour as they browse fashion boutiques to allow retailers to collect information on their customers

This information is fed into a computer and is ‘aggregated’ to offer retailers using the system statistical and contextual information they can use to develop their marketing strategies.

Its makers boast: ‘From now on you can know how many people enter the store, record what time there is a greater influx of customers (and which type) and see if some areas risk to be overcrowded.

However, privacy campaigners have denounced the system as ‘creepy’ and said that such surveillance is an instance of profit trumping privacy.

The device is marketed by Italian mannequin maker Almax and has already spurred shops into adjusting window displays, floor layours and promotions, Bloombergreported.

With growth slowing in the luxury goods industry, the technology taps into retailers’ desperation to personalise their offers to reach increasingly picky customers

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