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'Minority Report' Castrol Ads On Britain's Digital Billboards
Castrol used Britain's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to sell motor oil to millions of motorists in a Minority Report-style ad campaign this week.
Roadside cameras outside London recorded license plates right next to five giant digital billboards. The billboard then flashed the driver's registration number right on the ad next to the sales pitch:
Castrol Magnatec
5W-30 A1!
(Minority Report-style ads for Castrol)
Castrol used another firm to obtain the data, which is believed to have contained most of the 34million-strong driver details held by the DVLA.This identified the make, year, engine size and model of vehicle, enabling Castrol to specify the lubricant suitable for each car.
Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker said: ‘This completely inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour by the DVLA shows how cavalier it is with motorists’ information.
‘They don’t even check what the end use is. It seems all you have to do is ask and the DVLA will give, no matter who you are and for what purpose. It’s outrageous this was allowed to happen.’
Science fiction movie-goers were treated to an advance look at this future in the movie version of Minority Report, screened in 2002. In the film, an iris-scanning device identified individual consumers passing advertising screens; each customer was given a personalized pitch.
(John Anderton bombarded by personalized ads in Minority Report)
From Drivers' details sold by DVLA are used in bizarre roadside adverts for Castrol via our friends at Frolix_8.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/29/2009)
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