Guerrilla London bus ads slam Kylie Jenner’s Meta Glasses campaign over surveillance fears

A high-profile campaign featuring reality TV and beauty mogul Kylie Jenner is becoming a PR headache for Meta. Following the launch of Jenner’s co-branded AI smart glasses line, a UK activist group called Everyone Hates Elon (EHE) took over bus stop ad space adjacent to Meta’s London HQ.

The guerrilla poster ads use lenticular technology, so that when viewed from one perspective, Jenner appears glamorous, and when viewed from the side, she’s transformed into a warning against public surveillance.

From Glamour to Dystopia: How the Ad Works

The protest billboard utilizes a lenticular printing technique—an optical method that displays two distinct images based on where the observer is standing:

From the front: The advertisement closely mirrors Meta’s official marketing material, showing Jenner wearing the $399 “Starfire” edition smart glasses.

From the side: As passersby walk past the bus shelter, the image flips to a black-and-white, X-ray-style rendering of Jenner as a skeletal figure. The branding text shifts from promoting Meta AI to the message: “Meta: We’re always watching.”

The visual style pays direct homage to John Carpenter’s classic 1988 sci-fi film They Live, in which special sunglasses reveal hidden subliminal messages and alien control behind consumer advertising.

The Core Issues: Privacy, Consent, and “Pervert Tech”

The protest group targeted Meta’s expanding hardware ecosystem over growing ethical and safety concerns surrounding wearable cameras:

Undisclosed Recording: Wearable smart glasses allow users to capture high-definition video and audio in public spaces without explicit consent from bystanders.

Safety and Harassment Concerns: In statements provided to media outlets, activists highlighted how discreet cameras have been misused in public spaces, restrooms, and fitness facilities—calling the proliferation of unannounced recording tools abusive toward women and young people.

Reported Continuous Recording Features: The stunt coincided with news reports indicating Meta has tested features allowing smart glasses to continuously record audio and capture snapshots every few seconds to build AI-driven summaries of a user’s day.

“Billionaires could fund cures for cancer — so why are they funding glasses for perverts instead?” — Everyone Hates Elon (EHE) activist statement.

Meta’s Response to Public Backlash

In response to ongoing privacy criticisms surrounding its Ray-Ban and Meta-branded wearables, Meta has previously emphasized built-in safeguards, such as an LED recording indicator light that signals when the camera is active. The tech giant also implemented software updates designed to disable the camera if the LED light is covered, tampered with, or obscured.

Despite these measures, consumer privacy advocates and grassroots protest groups argue that hardware lights are insufficient protection against non-consensual surveillance in everyday public spaces.