Creepy Ads
In a recent study, 59% of people surveyed stated that they did not like companies tracking their tendencies to aid in ad targeting. Apparently advertisements are getting creepy Are ads getting creepy? Are more targeted ads invasive or useful? I tend to find them useful, but only because I'm familiar with how they work. Take Gmail as an example. Open a message and then check out the ads that are showing on your Gmail page. Odds are they are relevant to either the email you have open or other emails in your inbox. The best/worst part, depending on your view, is that over time these ads will become more and more specific to your likes and dislikes. Google does this by tracking which emails you open and read and which you discard or filter without even opening. By storing more and more data about you and your email preferences, Google can target ads that some seem to find invasive. However, this is a great thing for advertisers. They can spend less money and be more effective than in the past. Some consumers though see this as an invasion of privacy. What if I see ads about my illness or about family matters? So you're concerned that Google may recommend the Cancer Treatment Center of America as an option because you have gotten several emails lately with keywords "cancer," "terminal," "won't live long," "funeral planning," and "dad's illness." Why does this bother you? Personally if Google wants to personalize my ads and keep me interested in the otherwise seemingly pointless ads, I'm all for it. This means I won't have to look at annoying Victoria Secret ads. Wait...maybe this thing is evil after all.
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