The screens, which were developed by the startup Cooler Screens, use a system of motion sensors and cameras to display what's inside the doors — as well as product information, prices, deals and, most appealing to brands, paid advertisements.

The stores thought, this is cool it will give us an additional revenue stream and will look really modern.

However, it ignored the fact that most customers who just want to peek into the freezer and grab their ice cream they don’t want to be bothered by adverts.

"Why would Walgreens do this?" one befuddled shopper who encountered the screens posted on TikTok. "Who on God's green earth thought this was a good idea?"

"The digital cooler screens at Walgreens made me watch an ad before it allowed me to know which door held the frozen pizzas," said someone on Twitter.

Walgreens began testing the screens in 2018 and has since expanded the pilot to a couple thousand locations nationwide. Several other major retailers are launching their own tests with Cooler Screens, including Kroger, CVS, GetGo convenience stores and Chevron petrol stations.

But there is an additional problem for the screens. Since America has a large population of religious conspiracy nut jobs, there are those who believe Walgreens refrigerators are scanning shoppers' hands and foreheads for 'the mark of the beast.'

This is rehash of the same daft conspiracy which came out in the 1980s when supermarkets started using bar codes which were supposed to contain the number of the beast.

In this case the freezers have front-facing sensors used to anonymously track shoppers interacting with the platform, while internally facing cameras track product inventory. But for most religious conspiracy nuts this electronic technology is close to magic and therefore must be inspired by the anti-christ.

For the rest of the sane population, we don’t like adverts bothering us. However, it looks like we will have to do what we are told. The Cooler Screens company has raised more than $100 million from backers including Microsoft and Verizon. So, it will be forced on everyone eventually.