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Animation or infantilisation?

Amazon One enables digital identification by waving the palm of your hand over payment devices to complete a transaction. 

Biometric handover
The e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence multinational explains that the system studies subcutaneous elements such as vein patterns as well as lines and ridges in the skin to establish a person's unique 'Amazon One ID'. This harvested data can then be used to connect the individual's Amazon-registered activities across bank accounts, smartphones, and emails.
Amazon has previously come under scrutiny for selling data from its 'Rekognition' facial recognition to law enforcement agencies. The palm signature has sparked fresh concerns, and more criticism when Amazon recently offered $10 to customers willing to literally hand over their biometric data. 
Viewer reaction samples:

"The cartoon style and colour palette of the ad are warm and human - a touch of Beryl Cook? I find the style of chirpy music annoying, likewise the young American female voice with the obligatory vocal fry.

"Of course the ad totally disregards the ethical concerns. I for one wouldn't trust Amazon with this sort of data."


"First it's a choice, then it's normalised, then it's required"

Adorable, right?
In terms of advertising such a product, how does the use of animation play out?

Appealing to many age groups, visual education, accessibility, no language barriers, etc.... And FUN to commission/work on.

Yes, obvs.

But... does this kind of 'cartoon' approach also carry an infantilisation message, an over-simplification?

And can that in turn damage the brand among increasingly sophisticated users of all demographics?

Over in a different area of the Amazon spectrum, environmental organisation Greenpeace ripped into Jeff Bezos in an 'exclusive Q&A' with the Amazon founder and newly launched space cowboy. 
The parody Q&A poses environmental and social questions which are then 'answered' using incongruous footage clipped from Bezos's promotional interviews around his much-criticised, much-admired trip to the edge of Space.

While some Earthlings loved the scope of the expedition, others derided and challenged Bezos for pursuing a 'childhood dream' of going to Space after building his fortune on sub-standard workers' conditions, environmental degradation, and a raging public thirst for 'convenience' at all costs.

Big things do indeed start small. Like egos and grassroots movements.
Keying into childhood can be a double-edged sword....


ENDS



Posted by Tree Elven on 27/08/2021

Keywords: Amazon One, biometric handover of data, personal biometric data scraping, palm signature, payment privacy, animation in ads, Greenpeace Bezos interview parody

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