Smart handbag humiliates shopaholics by SHOUTING 'do you need this?' when the owner takes out their credit card 'to stop them overspending'

• Design students in Dundee created the bag which uses a sensor 
• The brown leather handmade messenger bag is unisex
• A Cockney voice shouts louder when the credit card is removed

By Phoebe Jackson-edwards For Mailonline

Published: 06:13 EST, 23 November 2015 | Updated: 06:47 EST, 23 November 2015

Shopaholics could be discouraged from splurging their cash by a smart handbag that humiliates them in public by shouting when they take out their credit card.

The unisex item was created by students Leanne Fischler, Kirsty Sneddon and Rebecca Smith, on their design course at Jordanstone College, Dundee.

The brown leather messenger bag asks 'Do you really need this?' in a male Cockney accent that becomes louder and more insistent when the credit card is removed from the bag.

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The unisex bag was created by students Leanne Fischler, Kirsty Sneddon and Rebecca Smith, on their design course at Jordanstone College, Dundee

The brown leather messenger bag asks 'Do you really need this?' in a male Cockney accent that becomes louder and more insistent when the credit card is removed from the bag 

Vocal messages - including 'You're already in your overdraft' - get louder the longer the credit card stays out.

The hand-made bag has a sensor that detects when the wearer takes out their card.

Leanne, 21, a product design student said: 'We are interested in design activism - making a point through design.

'I do sustainable product design, which aims to reduce the amount of waste people produce.

'We live in a consumerist society where we always want to buy more and more.

An embarrassed-looking man tries out the bag in a coffee shop. Leanne, 21, a product design student said: 'The project aims to make people consider what they already own and whether they need to buy more'

The bag has a sensor that detects when the wearer takes out their credit card 

'The project aims to make people consider what they already own and whether they need to buy more.

'Consumerism is all about presenting yourself favourably and the bag does the opposite by embarrassing you in public.

'This is a one-off bag designed to create meaningful conversation - it's not for selling.'

The voice for the discouraging messages belongs to Mike Press, Professor for Design Policy at DJCAD. 

Kirsty, 21, said: 'We all pitched into this project equally.

'I worked on the tone of voice for the bag - it's supposed to be an annoying but friendly character.

'We are constantly spending money we don't need to.

'It's a coincidence that we're talking about this project near to Christmas, but excessive spending is certainly a part of it nowadays.'

The students made the bag by hand and coded the sound system themselves, which took several weeks and created the tone of the character

Rebecca, who was involved in the prototype stage and hand-stitching the bag, added that the product has received positive attention.

She said: 'I think our message has come across well and people have been able to see that design can be used in the context of social improvement.

'The voice quietly reminds you that you don't necessarily need to buy something, at first.

'The longer you have your credit card out, the louder it gets. It's supposed to be quite playful.'

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