Get ready for your Samsung Family Hub fridge to show ads

Samsung's Bespoke AI Family Hub fridges have a big 32-inch display powered by its Tizen platform to bring apps and smart features to the kitchen. From controlling your SmartThings ecosystem to watching recipes right on the fridges, the display acts as a smart companion in the kitchen.

The more eyeballs a screen gets, the more enticing it becomes for advertisers, and it appears that Samsung might begin letting them advertise to you directly through the screen on your Family Hub refrigerator.

During the NewsFronts presentation in New York City earlier this week, Samsung revealed that it's working on a pilot program with a few advertising partners to run “personal ads” on Family Hub fridge screens.

“We envision a world where Samsung Ads brings your brand message to every screen in the connected home and beyond,” said Travis Scott Howe, the global head of new product solutions at Samsung Ads.

He later clarified to Adexchanger that this program is currently in very early stages. It will go through multiple testing stages to get feedback from advertisers and customers to figure out what ad platforms work best.

This came as a bit of a surprise, considering that Samsung's R&D head Jeong Seung Moon had previously said that the company had “no plans regarding the inclusion of advertisements on AI Home screens.”

Samsung executives at NewsFronts maintained that the company's ultimate goal is to provide value to their customers and do right by them, so perhaps it may reconsider this idea if there's clear feedback from customers that they don't want to see ads on their fridge screens.

It's hard to imagine customers liking it, the Bespoke AI Family Hub refrigerators cost several thousand dollars, people paying that much for a fridge won't be too happy when it shows them ads. It also begs the question, where does this stop then, because Samsung's equipping other appliances like washing machines with screens as well.

So what's next, ads about detergent while you're loading up this week's washing?