Lidl launches kiss-scanning iPhone app in corny Valentine's play

Lidl's corny Valentines kissing app is worse than mistletoe at Christmas.

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching, which can mean only one thing: all manner of companies launching corny assaults on susceptible people. The latest is Lidl, which thinks that the way to customers’ hearts is a “love X-ray”.

The app and site – available for Android, iPhone, Facebook and the Lidl website – uses your camera to capture smooches and pits users the challenge of kissing someone else on camera for the chance to win £50 in Lidl vouchers.

Whether you kiss a significant other or some random person on the street, the app “verifies” your kiss with a “hyper-advanced kiss sensor technology” before the app enters you into the voucher competition. Neither Lidl nor the app developer provided any further information on quite how the hyper-advanced kiss sensor technology works (though we weren't able to fool the website by kissing our hand, a coffee cup, or a coffee cup wearing a hat: "we didn't detect any evidence of kissing taking place" it said sternly.)

“We are connecting romanticism with tech and retail. The app we are launching today will detect love in 24 European countries. I must say that this app was the best tested and most documented one. Actually, we're still testing it…” said Nir Refuah, general manager and chief creative officer at MRM Romania, which developed the app for Lidl, talking to AdHugger.

Obviously nothing quite says “I love you” than a staged kiss on camera to try and win one of eight £50 vouchers for a budget supermarket chain. In retrospect, it's remarkable that no one has thought of this before.

• A new iPhone app lets you rap like Tinie Tempah, which might be slightly more impressive to your prospective Valentine than a forced kiss on camera

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