Wall Street Warns "Pervert Glasses" Backlash Threatens AI-Wearables Boom

Bernstein analysts are out with a note on how Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica's once-hot smart glasses business is running out of steam because of an emerging public backlash over privacy and surveillance, raising questions about whether the smart glasses industry as a whole is hitting a brick wall.

Luca Solca, Bernstein's senior equity analyst and global luxury-goods sector head, covers companies including EssilorLuxottica, LVMH, Hermès and Richemont. He said Ray-Ban Meta glasses were initially a "commercial success," but public opinion has since shifted against the glasses has drastically shifted, with folks online labeling them "pervert glasses" amid mounting privacy concerns.

EssilorLuxottica sold more than 7 million Meta AI glasses in 2025, compared with 2 million during 2023 and 2024 combined, Solca said. However, he warned that users are abandoning the glasses under social pressure. 

Unlike smartphones, the cameras are embedded inside ordinary-looking frames, and the blinking warning light can be covered with tape despite Meta's efforts to prevent tampering. That has not stopped influencers and bad actors from using the glasses in ways that have angered the public.

"The court of public opinion has dubbed the Ray-Ban Metas' pervert glasses,'" the analyst said, adding, "Public figures such as Jimmy Kimmel and singer Lorde have publicly spoken up against them over the past months, with distressing guerrilla ads by US and British advocacy groups being plastered over NYC and London to raise awareness and encourage boycotts."

Solca continued:

Paradoxically, the characteristic that made Meta's Ray-Bans so popular in the first place may be their downfall. 

The camera and technology blend seamlessly with the original design, making the Ray-Ban Metas a rather fashionable gadget.

However, this means that most people are unaware they are being filmed and unable to consent. 

Users can record hands-free, making it less obvious than when using a smartphone to do so. The blinking light that should alert them to this fact can be easily covered, despite Meta's product updates to prevent this. 

There are countless videos online instructing users precisely how to bypass this feature. German nonprofit group HateAid calls for ensuring 'safety by design,' pointing to the fact that Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are 'indistinguishable' from ordinary glasses. They are requesting that authorities make sure the glasses are 'clearly identifiable.'

Solca then makes the case that the mounting social backlash makes it more positive on EssilorLuxottica. Slower smart-glasses adoption reduces the risk that technology companies will cannibalize the traditional eyewear market, dilute industry margins and turn glasses into another low-margin consumer-electronics category

Solca explained: 

All of the above makes us, ironically, more positive on EssilorLuxottica. 

We wrote before about the impact of smart glasses on the group's LT economics (EssilorLuxottica: Gauging Optionality) and estimated the right valuation in the current context at ~24x PE (EssilorLuxottica: The "right" valuation).

The public outcry against smart glasses makes the bearish scenario of a cannibalistic, disruptive and margin dilutive impact on the category less likely. 

However, given the optics of the problem, we wonder how much reputational damage has been done to the Ray-Ban brand. Will the Wayfarers be remembered as the 'pervert glasses' in the same way the Aviators are associated with Tom Cruise in Top Gun?

Solca maintained a Market-Perform rating and a 200 euro 12-month price target. Shares are currently trading around 156 euros and have more than halved since peaking around 319 euros in late 2025.

Our reporting over the past year has documented the mounting public backlash against smart glasses (see here), including the emergence of an app designed to alert users when the devices are nearby.