Someone’s ‘eyes’ are watching us

OUR OPINION
Published: July 2, 2008

We know that it is important for companies to track the behavior of consumers. We know that with this information, they are better able to target customers and “meet their needs.” But when video cameras get involved, we think marketing research has gone too far.

Nielsen — the company best known for tracking television ratings - is moving into grocery and retail stores.
The company is going to use cameras in stores throughout the nation to see how product placement and retail displays influence people’s buying decisions.

Now, before we jump too firmly on the “Big Brother” bandwagon, let us say that people will be anonymous on these videos. It is not as if a camera will catch Stafford County Sun Executive Editor Susan Svihlik buying Count Chocula cereal from Giant Food and file the information away for a rainy day. Nobody will be identified. The cameras will simply see if, for example, free samples encourage people to buy a product or if in-store coupons encourage purchases ... that sort of thing.

Nevertheless, we think cameras monitoring people’s behavior for research has a little too much of a laboratory experiment feel to it. The shopper is the lab rat.

We understand that companies need to evaluate the efficacy of their advertisements, product placements and other selling strategies. But where does it all stop? How about putting sensors on products to determine how quickly consumers use them up once they actually get home? How about microphones that pick up customers’ comments about a product? Surely, that would give companies some much needed input.

While it seems that Nielsen is doing its best to take care of any privacy concerns ahead of time, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

The bottom line is the bottom line for most companies, and the further they push customer research, the further they are going to want to push.

Eventually, it must be accepted that there is only so much that can reasonably be learned about customer behavior. Eventually, companies must say that they are doing the best they can and leave it at that.

Since George Orwell wrote his influential book “1984” many have feared that the government would one day take over our lives and become an ever-present pair of eyes looking over our shoulders. But what if Orwell was wrong? What if it is big business that will ultimately put the stranglehold on our freedoms?

There must be a point beyond which we are not willing to go, no matter how economically appetizing it may be.