For whatever reason, ads are everywhere you look in the digital world, and brands are getting increasingly creative with their placements. The time has now come for your home appliances to be invaded by adverts (if they weren’t already).
As a Reddit user pointed out, Samsung rolled out an update to its Family Hub range of refrigerators a couple of days ago, with the changelog revealing the inclusion of advertisements on the Cover Screen (the display on the refrigerator). Samsung has now confirmed to Android Authority that this is intended behavior. Here’s the company’s statement in full:
Samsung is committed to innovation and enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen that value, we are conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the U.S. market.
As a part of this pilot program, Family Hub refrigerators in the U.S. will receive an over-the-network (OTN) software update with Terms of Service (T&C) and Privacy Notice (PN). Advertising will appear on certain Family Hub refrigerator Cover Screens. The Cover Screen appears when a Family Hub screen is idle. Ad design format may change depending on Family Hub personalization options for the Cover Screen, and advertising will not appear when Cover Screen displays Art Mode or picture albums.
Advertisements can be dismissed on the Cover Screens where ads are shown, meaning that specific ads will not appear again during the campaign period.
There’s a lot to unpack from the company’s statement, but what stands out is the fact that these “curated advertisements” are part of a pilot program limited to US customers of “certain” Family Hub refrigerators. Moreover, ads will only appear on the Cover Screen, and only when it is idle. Also worth noting is that these ads can be dismissed by the user, with such ads no longer appearing on the Cover Screen “during the campaign period.”
There are a ton of Family Hub refrigerators on the market
A quick look at Samsung USA’s website reveals several Family Hub refrigerators, ranging from $1800 to $3500, meaning this move could potentially impact a lot of users. To be clear, Samsung hasn’t specified which versions of its Family Hub refrigerators will be included in this pilot program.
Meanwhile, the company didn’t say if users can disable ads on Family Hub refrigerators. While disabling internet access is one way to get rid of ads permanently, taking that step will undoubtedly restrict some of the refrigerator’s functionality, as Android Authority rightly points out.
Samsung says ads won’t appear if the Cover Screen is displaying image albums or while using the built-in Art Mode, adding that the format of these adverts could differ based on the user’s personalization settings for the screen.
We don’t yet know what an ad will actually look like on a Family Hub refrigerator. But since some of these refrigerators come with a screen as large as 32 inches, there’s a lot of real estate for the company to work with.
What do you make of Samsung’s decision?
