October 15, 2004

Talking Ice Cream, Sarcastic Cereal Boxes at Supermarkets

Implanted Computer Chip Will Rule Shoppers' Behavior

As Monica pushes her grocery cart through the store, it constantly chatters at her. There's a special on mops, fresh salmon just arrived, and new loaves of hot, fresh sourdough bread are just now out of the oven.

She wheels into the frozen desert section and lingers over the display. "Try me, Monica darling," the Extra Chunky Monkey Chocolate Chip Delight ice cream whispers in a provocative tone.

"No, no," chirps the carton of frozen yogurt. "Too much fat, too many calories. Still dieting? You need me."

Over in the cereal aisle, the generic corn flakes box has a sarcastic standup comedy routine denigrating Fruit Loops.

No, this is not science fiction. Shoppers will soon be able to go to their favorite supermarket and have shopping carts, food displays and even individual ice cream cartons call to them by name and deliver a personal sales pitch as they pass down the aisle.

The program, named ChipShop, is made possible by a new computer chip implanted under the skin of the customer's ear lobe. The tiny computer will communicate via wireless Internet technology with the supermarket's central computer, which will have an extensive database on the shopper's purchase and consumption patterns and a detailed knowledge of the shopper's home situation.

Shopping carts, aisle shelving and thousands of items will have their own speech synthesis chips to deliver custom spoken messages as shoppers pass.

"This will revolutionize shopping. Going to the supermarket will never be the same again. All you'll have to do is stroll the aisles and let the computer talk to you and shop for you," said Florence Ingram, a spokesman for ChipShop, which has been created by a consortium of the nation's largest supermarket chains.

The group plans to roll out the program by the end of the year in the nation's five largest cities. More than 100 cities will be added next year.

To jump start consumer acceptance, each customer who agrees to have the free chip implanted at no cost in an in-store clinic will receive $100 of free food during their first ChipShop shopping experience. Customers will be enrolled in a sweepstakes that will pay $1 million to a ChipShop customer.

ChipShop plans to steadily assemble a database on each customer and the customer's family, Ingram said. Food likes and dislikes, for example, or how much milk, toilet paper and shampoo a consumer purchases will be tracked. After a few weeks, the computer will begin to talk to a shopper prowling the aisles, warning that the family is running low on toilet paper or suggesting that there is probably space available in the garage at home to store extra paper towels, which happen to be on sale that day.

"Customers will have the option of having their medical history entered into the database, which means ChipShop will be able to caution someone not to buy high fat ice cream and substitute frozen yogurt instead," Ingram said. "If they want, they can instruct the computer to deny them the ability to buy the ice cream and force them to choose the frozen yogurt instead."

The supermarket industry's goal is to position the local supermarket as a central player in a customer's personal life and health concerns.

Though ChipShop says it will guard its customers' privacy, Government scientists involved in the battle against overweight and obesity among Americans hailed ChipSoft's possibilities. One doctor, who asked not to be identified, said that the ability to program the ChipSoft computers to deny a supermarket customer access to certain foods and deliver a lecture to the consumer could be the breakthrough public health officials have been waiting for.

"The possibilities are immense," he said. "I don't see why people would object. It would be in their best interests."

Copyright 2003-2004 William Stockton & Smithtown Creek Productions
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