Mobile bank N26 has launched a new AR effect that highlights the low representation of women on banknotes.
According to a recent Quartz report, only 12% of banknotes that have people on them actually depict women. To celebrate International Women’s Day and shed light on this gender parity, German online bank N26 used this knowledge to launch a new Augmented Reality effect for Instagram and Facebook.
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The idea is pretty simple. When pointing at US dollar or euro banknotes, the effect switches the man to a prominent woman instead – i.e. Rosa Parks, Grace Hopper, and Sojourner Truth on the dollar bill, or Emilia Pardo Bazan and Emmy Noether on the euro bill.
“Despite Queen Elizabeth II’s presence on many Commonwealth banknotes, that’s still only 12% of the world’s paper currency that feature women on them, which highlights the inherent gender disparity present in banking,” explained Adrienne Gormley, Chief Operating Officer of N26.
“We want to do our part in combating inequality wherever we find it, and the AR effect is a great way to call attention to it.”
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N26 worked with Facebook and developer Ommy Akhe to create the AR effect with Facebook’s Spark AR platform, and users can scan 1, 5, and 10 dollar bills, as well as 5 and
10 euro banknotes. If a banknote is recognized the faces of the five influential women will be superimposed. If it can’t be found, users will still be able to look through digital images to find a substitute.
The AR images and videos can then be shared to their Story or feed, encouraging others to #balancethebanknotes.