Ineffective “Creepy” Advertising
https://www.wired.com/story/online-ad-targeting-does-work-as-long-as-its-not-creepy/
How effective are the ads that are perfectly chosen for you? With abundant online advertising, almost everyone nowadays has a story of how a “creepy” advertisement popped up on their phone or computer. Most of these stories go something like this: “I was just talking about [item in advertisement], and now I’m seeing ads for it!” Some people even report just simply thinking about an item has caused advertisements to pop up for them. Now certainly there’s not some master advertisement corporation out there reading our brainwaves right? Honestly, who knows… For now, we’ll attribute it to our web activity and cookies. The mechanisms that decide what advertisements you see consist of some pretty complicated algorithms, making different connections here and there through your collection of clicks on the internet, but it all remains semi-straightforward. However, sometimes ad placements seem to be spot on and garner clicks, and other times the ads are useless and ignored.
The article above discusses how viewers seem to be turned off from an advertisement if it is revealed how the advertisement obtained their data. If an advertisement reveals that it got the information from your web browsing history and activity on other sites, it sparks concern in a user and makes them feel as if they’re being watched and can’t do anything to protect their privacy. What doesn’t seem to spark as much concern is when an advertisement reveals that it got its information from your clicks on things that are pertinent to the advertisement. It makes sense that the more invasive advertisement would be seen as creepier, but it could be reasonably concluded that an advertisement that knows your browsing history and activity on other sites would be more appropriately targeted; thus resulting in a higher response rate. These two assumptions are at direct odds with each other, and as web users begin to become more concerned with their privacy, these assumptions raise the question – will better-suited ads lose effectiveness?
Companies looking for online advertising would be seen placing a higher value on a more effective advertisement. Therefore, most companies would prefer an advertisement service that knows more about a user, as they are more likely to experience a higher response rate. However, as users become more aware of “creepy” ads, they will start clicking on these highly targeted ads less frequently. Could this cause a shift in the value of online advertisements in which companies take into consideration the “creepiness” of a selected advertisement? Maybe a shift in the way online advertisement slots are valued could be seen in the future?