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Websites like Google and Facebook use behavioral targeting heavily to help advertisers tailor advertisements. Our activities, likings and demographics are all captured by cookies through our word searches and digital profiles. This enabled advertisers to target consumers according to their interests.
So how do the consumers feel about this?
That’s what a recent study by professors at the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania tried to find out.
Out of the 1,000 surveyed, 66% of them stated that they do not wish to be targeted via behavioral advertising.
Other highlights of the study below
• 73 – 86% disapproved tailored advertising when they were informed of the ways marketers track their activities online and offline
• Ages 18-24 were more receptive to behavioral advertising. Nonetheless, 55% of them still disapproved tailored advertising
• 92% said there should be a law that requires websites and advertising companies to delete all stored information about them
• 86% of the young adults said they do not want tailored advertising if it is the result of following their behavior on websites other than the one they are visiting.
What did the authors say?
“Exactly why they reject behavioral targeting is hard to determine. There may well be several reasons. One may be a general antagonism to being followed without knowing exactly how or with what effects.
“Americans may not want their behavior on one site to somehow affect the interaction with subsequent sites. The rejection of even anonymous behavioral targeting by large proportions of Americans may mean that they do not believe that data about them will remain disconnected from their personally identifiable information.”
“Whatever the reasons, our findings suggest that if Americans could vote on behavioral targeting today, they would shut it down.”
Could websites like Facebook and Google be in danger?
Social networking sites, such as Facebook use online profile data (our birthdays, likes and page joined etc) to provide advertisers with various information.
With 300 million users, it also has a huge and comprehensive set of demographic and geographic data. Advertisers love it. It makes advertisements relevant, and helps to back their decisions with solid figures.
If online consumers were to cease such profiling and data collection, it will certainly cripple thousands of websites that survive on ad selling. Facebook and Google would then have to find other revenue sources!
Targeted ads are better than random ads
If you are interested in football, technology gadgets and parties, how would you feel if random ads like “ballet, shopping and dental” are displayed? Would you rather be informed of things you care about like new gadgets and latest events? If you think this way, would you be more appreciative of targeted ads?
I certainly do. Advertisement though bias, tells us what’s new and allows us to compare alternatives.
No matter what, ads are going to be around so why not have them within my interest zone? What bothers most of us is how our privacy is intruded without consent, and how advertisers are justifying their motive with what seems to benefit us. I understand all that but I still think it’s acceptable as long as it does not harm us in any way.
This is just my one sided thought. What’s yours? 
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Tags: Ads, Advertising, Marketing, Study
