Advertisements are the most common of marketing which you can find anywhere. The advertisements are made by keeping the consumers’ profiles and their preferences in mind. Similarly, nowadays, advertisements are also being targeted by keeping their potential consumer profile in mind. Targeted Advertisements is a form of advertising which has gained a lot of popularity these days, as many brands are widely using it to sell their product while consumers are raising their voices against it for it being unethical. Let’s first look at what really targeted advertising is.
Contents
What is Targeted Advertising?
Generally, all ads are targeted ads as they targeting towards a certain consumer class, for which the brand is made. However, online targeted advertising is the one where the online agencies collect the personal data of users, and then use it to send either emails to their target consumers or show them ads between videos, on social media platforms, etc. based on their profile. This has been considered unethical and annoying by many as it is a clear breach of your privacy.
How do Targeted Advertisements work?
The targeted advertising is focused on your personal data and your preferences; both recent and long time. This data is collected from third-party agencies. These agencies collect data using various sources. It can be a spam link sent to your email id, data collected from a magazine you’re subscribed to, data from your private school or university, from any malware software in your computer, blogs you have subscribed to, your search data on google or other online platforms, etc.
Thus, it is evident that the majority of the data collection sources for the targeted advertising are unethical and in some cases even illegal. This has stirred a lot of debate recently among the online community as to whether these targeted ads should be provided with the information which makes it possible for them to track anyone they want.\
There can be many instances of a targeted ad shown to you that you may not realize at that moment in time. The targeted ads are made to cater to your needs and want. For instance, if you have recently developed an interest in gardening and have been researching it on the Internet regarding a plant identifier app, you may come across it sooner than later. The plant app will make you understand what kind of plant is this which you are currently having in your garden. This app for plants will be marketed to you using the targeted advertising tool as you are among the users who are currently interested in plants and their types.
The app for iPhone will be particularly useful for you showing that targeted advertising though dangerous can also be helpful to many. Often we are looking for things but are unable to find the right one on the internet. In such cases, targeted ads are super helpful as they let you come across stuff that you were researching for a while.
Is Targeted Advertising a threat to our privacy?
Targeted advertising is often disliked and found unethical by users due to many reasons.
Can advertisements be dangerous? Well, yes!
The agencies collecting data for the purpose of advertisements may obtain your financial information during the process. This mainly is the answer to why is targeted advertising dangerous as they may give out more than just your personal information, but also your financial information and your daily activities which can be misused by any one of these agencies.
Effects of Targeted Advertising Campaigns
Targeted advertising campaigns have many effects both positive and negative. The advertisements use your personal data which may often cross boundaries and reveal sensitive data to the data collectors which may become a threat to you. These targeted ads are also considered annoying ads by many users as they are repeatedly shown something they have recently researched which influences their way of thinking about that particular brand of a product or service.
This answers your question as to what are the disadvantages of targeted advertising, however, there are many positive effects of targeted advertising as they show only relevant ads to users which is often useful for many. They also make it easier to find something a user is looking for without going into a lot of research.
Final Thoughts
Targeted Advertising has been gaining more popularity these days due to the increase in online marketing which can easily be targeted toward a certain consumer group. Targeted Advertising plays an important role here as online most of the information regarding the users can be easily obtained and then further used by marketing agencies to create targeted ads.
These ads are annoying as well as considered unethical by many as it is a breach of their personal data. While, on the other hand, there are some consumers who find these ads helpful as they cater exactly to what they want rather than showing them irrelevant ads which are of no use to them, for instance, someone looking for a plant identifier app can easily find one if right ads have been shown to him. Thus, targeted advertising even with a lot of frowns has become a main part of our advertising culture which though unethical is highly effective for many.
