Samsung is actually doing it: The company is launching ads on its Family Hub smart refrigerators.
The fridges have a large display that typically shows stuff like time, the weather, camera streams, and family photos. They are being updated with a new design, smarter AI, and a new widget for the Cover screen that will show news, weather forecasts, and – fanfare – « curated advertisements. »
The idea is not entirely new; Samsung piloted this idea last month, but now the ads are going to show on more fridges.
Notably, these fridges start from $1,899 in the U.S. and can go up to $3,499, which is a sum you typically pay for a home appliance with the expectation of not having to suffer through advertisements.
Fortunately, owners can get rid of these ads in two ways. First, they can dismiss the ads on the Cover screen, but that will only get rid of specific ads that won’t appear again during the campaign period. They’ll also be able to go to Settings – Advertisements and turn off the Cover screen ads completely.
Mercifully, ads will not appear when the Cover screen displays art or album themes.
While the ability to turn ads off is great, this type of advertising often ends up being mandatory. At least the fridges aren’t (currently) tracking consumers or collecting their personal information.
