You’re browsing online for baby clothes (ok, have you
realized by now that almost all my examples are mommy related? It’s what I
do). A few hours later you’re perusing
your Facebook page checking out pictures of family members and friends and
laughing about the latest Geico hump day camel meme (Hey Mike…) and there it is…
the exact outfit you were looking at earlier. It’s displayed right in the side
bar drawing you back in. Some might consider it a sign from some divine force
that you really should go ahead and buy the outfit (after all, what baby doesn’t
look cute in a dinosaur romper?). Some might just find it interesting. But most
will recognize that they have been the target of the newest craze in
advertising: targeted advertising.
Advertising is not just a hit or miss thing anymore. Gone
are the days where a newspaper ad for a product is only seen by a few people
who find it relevant to them. Digital advertising has evolved and is smarter
than ever before. Digital advertising is now targeted specifically to desired
crowds based on browsing history, interests, and even geographical location.
That baby clothing ad wasn’t coincidental, it was specifically targeted to you
(ahem… me) because based on my browsing history the formulas that are used by
advertising agencies knew it was likely something relevant to me. Companies that aren’t using online targeted
advertising are seriously missing out on the revenue that it could be bringing
in for them. Business is booming. Despite the overwhelming success of online
targeted advertising, there are some pretty pronounced critics.
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| Well look at that! While researching ways to opt out of online targeted advertising the website just happens to know that I was shopping for a Diono Radian carseat at Kohl's a few days ago. It also conveniently suggests a post about using iCloud (which is something I use daily to find my iPhone when I inevitably misplace it). |
Is online targeted advertising innovative or invasive? There
are arguments on both sides of the matter. Many find the kind of information
obtained and stored by these companies to be an invasion of privacy, and
sometimes they might be right. Should information from my personal Facebook
page (that has strict privacy settings that only allow friends, and in some
cases only very close family to see my posts) be transmitted to agencies for
the sake of an advertisement? After all, I and many others have gone to great
lengths to ensure the privacy of our information and yet there it is, sent off
to the vast land of internet information. The scariest part to me is that each
of these strategic advertisements isn’t unique. They aren’t drawn on a case by
case basis based only on my most recent history, but rather my browsing history
over time is kept and filed away. Over time someone could probably know a lot
about me. In the last year I’ve searched so many things and visited so many
websites. A file of mine could reveal that my husband is deployed and exactly
where he is located. Depending how detailed the encryption it might even be
able to turn up his exact APO address where I’ve been sending him packages
(with labels printed online through the United States Postal Service). They
might be able to turn up medical history or that my son is about to undergo a
second surgery for his poor continuously infected ears. I imagine my file would
read that I’m in school (in fact, since being a student I’ve been the target of
a good bit of educational advertisement). Around October my file would probably
start turning up pregnancy related websites. In November they would know what
my children were getting for Christmas. By January my file would read that our
4th baby is also th boy (yes, FOUR boys…
save me now!). Most people don’t realize just how much their browsing history
would give away about their lives. All that aside, there’s still the question
of ethics. Is this ok or is it invasion of privacy?
going to be our 4
While it is probably a little bit of both, online targeted
advertising is not something forced on people. Do they take advantage of the
fact that most people are unaware of their options to opt-out of targeted
advertising? Of course, but being unaware doesn’t make it their fault. There
are many ways to keep from being targeted by online advertising. Browsers like
Firefox and Internet Explorer have options in the settings to tell websites
that you do not want to be tracked (which is news to me and something I will be
using as soon as I’m done here!). There are also ways to go about opting out
directly from the advertising agencies themselves (http://www.aboutads.info/choices/
lets you opt out of over 60 companies tracking for advertisements). No method
will be 100% effective, and if that’s a concern for you there are also browser
add-ons to up your security or you can use private browsing sessions (that
store no cookies or history) to do your online business.
Online targeted advertising is bigger and better than ever
and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Either you’re comfortable with that (and
sometimes glad, I’ve found plenty of nifty things through targeted ads!) or you
take the extra effort to prevent yourself being targeted.
As you mentioned your pregnancies and targeted marketing, it reminded me of a story I saw recently. Here is a copy of the story:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/
The part of the story I first heard reported that a man went to his local Target to complain about a letter and set of coupons his teen daughter had just received. The coupons were for products pregnant women would want or need. The father was outraged that Target would do this and wondered if they were encouraging her to get pregnant. The father learned shortly after that that the girl was, in fact, pregnant. The girl didn’t tell Target she was pregnant. Target figured it out based on her recent purchases. One of Target’s research gurus found 25 items that when purchased at the same time was generally a sign that the woman was pregnant, so Target started sending these women prenatal coupons. Target has since stopped sending coupons that only include pregnancy related coupons and now they mix these coupons in with other unrelated coupons. So, they still send the pregnancy related coupons, but they have figured out how to mask them a bit.
You are right. I am concerned about the ethics of such practices. However, I don’t think these practices can be stopped, so educating the receiver of the messages is our best hope, I think.