Smile and the Whole World Smiles with You Says JWT

Louis Armstrong sang about the power behind a smile in his popular hit When You're Smiling.

Smiling is a universal human expression that is understood across cultures and languages and allows people to share a connection based on how they react to a particular moment.

Now, JWT London has teamed up with Listerine to use this idea as the basis for its Smile Detector app that lets blind people know when somebody smiles at them.

Launched in partnership with Listerine Advanced White Mouthwash, the app detects smiles from five metres away using facial recognition software. The blind or partially-sighted user will be notified when their companion smiles by making the phone beep or vibrate.

Yesterday, the app launched in the UK, South Africa and Europe with the release of a short promo spot Feel Every Smile (above).

Oscar-nominated director Lucy Walker helmed the project and was particularly keen to participate, having worked on a blind-focussed documentary before and experienced partial blindness herself.

The 180-second long spot features four blind people who speak openly about how they feel when someone smiles.

Recognising that in some situations blind people cannot read a person’s emotions, the documentary-esq promo is touching and sentimental as the participants can use the app to finally interpret facial expressions regardless of whether their companion is talking.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has endorsed the project and recognised the transformative power that the software can have. The Smile Detector app – available on iOS and Androids phones – hopes to further include and support blind people.

“Scientific research links smiling with better mood, health, relationships and much more,” says CD John Cherry. “When creating this app, we wanted to make something that could help those that might miss some smiles, to once again be able to feel the power of every smile.”

Look out for an interview with director Lucy Walker, out later this week.