Okay, Share Happy. See if you can guess how I'm feeling now.

Bill Barol 10:29 am Tue Jun 22, 2010

The practical applications aren't immediately clear, and this certainly falls under the rubric of Krazy Koncept Devices That May Never See Daylight. But at least we can say this much: There's now an ice cream machine that passes judgment on the sincerity of your smile, and either rewards or punishes you based on its decision. The "Share Happy" device is the spawn of SapientNitro, "the world's first customer experience company," and Unilever, which is the world's biggest manufacturer of ice cream (Ben & Jerry's, Good Humor, Wall's) as well as the corporate home of Axe body spray, Dove soap and Hellman's mayonnaise. The thing is being demoed this week at an international advertising show in France. According to Ian Maskell, Global Brand Development Director for Wall's at Unilever: "We're really excited about the possibility this new technology holds for Unilever. It offers a revolutionary new way for consumers to buy ice cream and, simultaneously, a revolutionary brand experience."*

It isn't the possibility that there may someday be Share Happy machines on every corner that worries me. What worries me is what's going to happen when they get together and decide to wipe the smiles off our faces.

*Gibberish quote possibly machine-translated from French.

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