The document summarizes a study on empathic media, specifically regarding its use in advertising. It involved over 100 interviews with stakeholders and a survey of over 2,000 UK citizens. The study examined how advertising agencies are using facial coding and other techniques both in-house and for digital out-of-home ads to detect emotions and tailor ads accordingly. Most survey respondents were not comfortable with their emotional data being collected and linked to their personal information, though younger people were more open to emotion detection in ads if data remained anonymous. The document raises questions about how to regulate intimate yet non-personal data.

1. Empathic Media: The Case of Advertising
Tw @digi_ad
Andrew McStay, Bangor University
CPDP, Jan 2017
Paper http://tinyurl.com/jb49mac

2. Method:
100+ interviews with data regulators,
privacy-oriented NGOs, technologists,
and a wide range of industrial and
service sectors making use of
technologies that claim to interpret
emotions, intentions and first-person
perspectives.
UK national online survey of citizens’
attitudes towards media technologies
to understand citizen perspectives to
assist in meaningful policy
suggestions (n=2068).
Multi-stakeholder workshop to begin
work towards ethical codes of
conduct for employing empathic
media.
Thesis: Our media technologies are
progressively showing signs of
empathy
THE STUDY
(2014-ongoing)

3. OVERALL ARGUMENTS
o We increasingly ‘live with’ technologies that
‘feel into’ and are sensitive to human life in
ways hitherto not seen.
o Empathic media provide opportunity for new
aesthetic experiences that both draw upon
information about emotions, but also provide
new means of feeling into aesthetic creations.

4. INTEREST IN EMOTIONS
o AI
o HCI
o Gaming/media ind’
o Health agencies
o Police
o Insurance
o Education
o Social media
o Sex tech
o Smart cities
o UX testers
o Market researchers
o VR developers
o Hardware developers
o “Wearables” sector
o And more…

6. IN ADVERTISING: TWO APPROACHES
o In-house techniques:
facial coding and
biofeedback
o Out-of-home
techniques: facial
coding, but voice and
biofeedback though
wearables also
explored

9. IN ADDITION TO INTERVIEWS,
I ASKED PEOPLE IN THE UK (N=2000+)
Advertising agencies have developed outdoor
ads equipped with cameras that scan onlookers’
faces to work out our emotions towards the ad.
If our reactions are not positive the ad changes
itself to be more appealing. Which of the
following best represents your feelings about
this?

10. They said…
1. I am not OK with my data about me being collected in this
way. (50%)
1. I am OK with data collection about my emotions in this way
as long as the information is anonymised and cannot be
associated with me, my email address, phone number or any
other possible means of personally identifying me. (33%)
1. I am OK with data collection about my emotional state in this
way and OK for this data to be linked with personal
information held about me. (8%)
1. Don't know. (9%)

11. 56% of 16-24s were OK with some form of emotion detection in DOOH
advertising.
However, this should be tempered with the fact that only 13% are OK
with having data emotions linked with personal data.

12. QU.
What are the privacy and policy implications of the
proposition that data may be sensitive and intimate, yet not
personal?