So, on one of my semi-annual trips to WalMart yesterday, I needed to stop and (horrors) use the restroom on my way out because I wasn’t heading directly home. It was early in the day so the restroom wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting so I was pleasantly surprised.
The horror came on exiting the stall to go wash and dry my hands. There was a voiceover intercom/muzak-like sound system playing an advertorial of some sort. In it, there was an interviewer and customer (female) script. I was surprised to hear the interviewer use the woman’s name, which happened to be my own. I heard my name twice as I washed and dried my hands.
Here’s the scary thing. My name isn’t particularly common or popular so of course I was surprised to hear it. It’s not the kind of name that gets used in ads. But what was scary is that it felt like they had ID’d my face and were deliberately using my name to get me to pay attention to the ad. In a way, it worked. I couldn’t speak to what they were talking about but I stopped long enough to pay attention to how the script was playing and it felt like they were deliberately inserting the name of a woman who had just stopped into the restroom, just so they could get her attention.
Way back when, I used to write scripts for TV and radio ads so I have some idea of how might play out in today’s world of A.I. Anybody else ever notice something similar? I wonder if I can talk a local friend into trying it out to see if she has the same experience.
Or it could be pure coincidence. What if there were five women there at the same time? Which name would it pick? Please test it out and report back if the person’s name changes…
The use of the OP’s name could very well be a coincidence; however, yeah, it’s not a stretch at all to imagine with our current technology, that the OP’s phone could be tracked, and a voiceover created and played that uses the OP’s name, all in real time. Again, I’m not saying that’s what happened, just that the tech to do so certainly already exists.
I’m sure that it will become common in the very near future, just like in the movie Minority Report (in the movie retinal scanning was used, but that’s not even necessary with cellphone tracking): you walk into a store, and a hologram will say “Welcome back, carnut! That [product] that you like so much just went on sale!”
It won’t work if it is me. It will have to be somebody else so the name will change. Unfortunately, my friend is working on a project in New Jersey this weekend. But maybe next weekend, we can experiment. She, too, has a less than common name. Ooh, I love a good plan.
My mojo has been working hard on other things but maybe my friend’s mojo will be up and running. I’m fresh out of electro-ghost-finder thingys, but there is a magic shop down the street that is a couple of steps up from Spirit Halloween.
It’s certainly possible. Might be illegal, though, depending on how local privacy laws are written. Mostly, though, it seems to be a lot of work to go through for really questionable benefit. If they had this tech, you’d think they’d use it at the front of the store, as a greeter, and not have it creeping on people in the bathroom.
That was probably “Walmart Radio”. Walmart doesn’t do muzak, or whatever it’s called these days. They have radio with programming and call in segments from walmart employees and what all. I don’t know if it’s live or AI generated, but it seems live.
Sorry, got distracted and forgot to finish my post.
It was probably coincidence that you heard your name. Walmart has a lot of employees and they do call them by name when they do the call in segments or sometimes they will call out someone for this or that accomplishment.
I’m sure the tech exists - but I doubt that’s what happened here, for a couple of reasons. First, there’s the issue of multiple people in the waiting room. Second, there’s got to be reason for tracking the phone and creating the voiceover with the person’s name. I’m not sure what the reason is - but it will be nullified when someone walks into the restroom and the voiceover uses not their name, but the one associated with the cellphone account, which may be different.
Yes, it did appear to be WalMart specific programming. I just called it Muzak to mark the history of such in-store music. And, if you think it was a WalMart worker being interviewed, I agree that the same name is certainly possible. It was just the emphasis on the name that really caught my ear.
Hopefully, my friend will be game to help me check it out this weekend now that she is back in town. I want you all to know that I don’t really take this seriously, but it has been fun to consider and think about and I do still want to follow up with my friend. Even if this WalMart doesn’t appear to carry one of the very few Items that was relying on them to have.
1= [three of us in every classroom] and
. . .
10= [I’ve never met anyone else with my name]
How unusual is your name?
If this is what you are postulating it could be quite dangerous, especially for minors. Giving con artists any “in” to pretend they know you is a bad, bad thing.