Tweeting Vending Machine Shames Your Snack Habits
Photo credit: Flickr/tkraska
Would you be more or less likely to trade a few quarters for a candy bar if everyone knew about it?
We’re not fans of food shaming—which, c’mon, is exactly what that could easily amount to—so we’re not sure how to feel about a United Kingdom company’s rejiggering of a vending machine to tweet every purchase. That’s one way to limit consumption of sugary sweets, we suppose.
According to Fast Company, the Nottingham-based Nottinghack, which provides workspaces to technology industry creatives exploring the legal side of hacking, recently hacked its own vending machine and majorly pissed people off in the process.
"It would tweet something like ‘Daniel has bought a confectionary from the vending machine for 50p’ or ‘Daniel has bought crisps from the vending machine,’" Nottinghack trustee James Hayward told the publication. Although it only tweeted the messages to a select group of people and not the entire Twitterverse, "people got angry—playfully—with the Twitter account that sends the messages … They’d say things like ‘I thought this was our secret, why are you telling everyone I bought snacks?’"
Eventually too many people got ticked off and the vending machine was taken off Twitter. It’s probably for the best. On one hand: brilliant example of how technology and everyday life can intersect! After all, people do love their vending machines (and especially novelty ones). But a person should be allowed to indulge in a Kit Kat bar without being scrutinized for it, and by a heartless machine no less. What does it know of afternoon cravings?
All things in moderation, we say! Including tweeting vending machines.
[via Fast Company]
