NY woman sees Facebook ad featuring woman with same outfit

A woman was left stunned when an advert showing a woman dressed in an identical outfit to her popped up on her phone.

Jen Lewis, from Brooklyn, spotted the bra ad from Third Love featuring a model wearing a pair of pale blue skinny jeans and short-sleeved pink blouse.

The writer and designer recreated the model’s pose and posted the near-identical pictures side-by-side on Twitter, where they have since gone viral with more than 20,000 likes.

Jen wrote: ‘Uh, Facebook just served me a bra ad where a woman is wearing the outfit that I’m currently wearing.’

Her tweet attracted hundreds of comments from horrified social media users, with conspiracy theories abounding – and many suggested the ad could have been targeted using image recognition via Jen’s laptop or iPhone camera.

MailOnline has contacted Facebook and Third Love for comment.

Facebook is increasingly using sophisticated technology to bring users personalised or ‘targeted’ adverts; just last month it were forced to deny that the network ‘listens’ to users through their devices’ microphones.

And earlier this year a patent suggesting that the firm wants to ‘spy’ on its users through their phone or computer cameras was discovered.  

Just a coincidence? Facebook is increasingly using sophisticated technology to bring users personalised or ‘targeted’ adverts

Bizarre: The writer and designer recreated the model’s pose and shared the near-identical pictures side-by-side on Twitter , where they have since gone viral with more than 20,000 likes

While some Twitter users claimed Jen’s experience was nothing more than a coincidence, others convinced that something sinister was at play with one person writing: ‘Get a cover for your camera. I’m not kidding.’

Another replied: ‘There is [artificial intelligence] to match clothes photos with [stock keeping units] and it works extremely well. So there’s actually a chance this is targeted.’

While Martin Smith quipped: ‘Are you sure you’re not in a bra ad right now?’

But some social media users insisted that Jen’s case was nothing more than a strange coincidence.

‘Get a cover for your camera’: Twitter users warn against ‘targeted marketing’ 

Jen’s tweet attracted hundreds of comments from horrified social media users, with conspiracy theories abounding – and many suggesting the ad could have been targeted

‘This is a coincidence’: Others weren’t so sure 

Not everyone was convinced, however, with one Twitter user known only as Matt S. insisting: ‘This is a coincidence. You can’t target [adverts] based on anything like that’