HSBC has dropped plans to use Bluetooth to send ads to the mobile phones of people passing the branches, which it started trialling earlier this year in London. It uses the standard Bluetooth advertising technique, which is to send people a message asking if they want to receive a promotional message from the bank—a practice often refered to as Bluespamming. It doesn’t seem to have worked though, with a spokesperson for HSBC telling silicon.com: “We did look at the results and it is not being taken forward. It didn’t prove commercially viable.” Since the cost involves a small box and some electricity to run it, I can only assume it didn’t get much interest from passing punters. HSBC claimed that “the reaction from people who received the promotional messages had generally been positive”, which isn’t surprising—anyone who had chosen to receive the message would be highly likely to have a positive response to the concept. A better view would be getting the reaction from everyone who got pinged with the “do you want to receive an ad” message… As Carlo notes at MobHappy: “One of the main points in the debate is that even if the medium is useful from a marketing perspective, is it really a way companies want to present themselves and their brands?” I think there’s a lot of scope for Bluetooth marketing and promise in the technology, but not if it sends out messages to everyone who walks past with their Bluetooth turned on.