New Scientist describes a terrifying new threat to the UK’s mobile phone owners: bluetooth-beaming billboards.

Ignoring adverts is about to get a lot tougher with the development of billboards and advertising posters that use Bluetooth to beam video ads direct to passing cellphones.

As people walk past the posters they receive a message on their phone asking them if they wish to accept the advert. If they do, they can receive movies, animations, music or still images further promoting the advertised product.

Describing the system, chief creative officer of Filter UK – the “brains” behind this wonderful wheeze – explains:

“It’s all about delivering high quality content, tailored for mobile usage.”

Translation:

“Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam egg chips and spam.”

It’s yet another reason to make sure that if your phone uses Bluetooth, it isn’t set up as “discoverable”.