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My first thought before reading the article was: "What is targeted advertising anyway? I could choose to target a specific demographic by placing my billboard i
by phonebucket 9y ago
My first thought before reading the article was: "What is targeted advertising anyway? I could choose to target a specific demographic by placing my billboard in a certain spot, or choosing which magazine to take my ad out in."
Thankfully, the author does state his suggested law explicitly:
"The ban I propose would be rather straightforward: The U.S. would disallow all individually targeted ads, with large fines or even removal from the public airwaves for repeated violations. Nothing tied to a user’s identity should be used to serve them a particular message. Companies would have to make all ads on its networks publicly viewable and searchable, so regulators can oversee them."
It's perfectly possible to achieve a very targeted system of advertising without going down to the level of targeting an individual explicitly. In fact, this sort of similarity and demographic targeting is the most effective form.
IMO, the correct approach is to regulate what is advertised, not who is targeted, or how they are targeted. The point is that political advertising is potentially dangerous. People don't complain too much about craft beer and coffee adverts, right?
- dominotw 9y ago>the correct approach is to regulate what is advertised Wouldn't that contradict first amendment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Political_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_...
- klez 9y agoAs the article points out, that's already been done for cigarettes and tobacco products.
- karljtaylor 9y agoI could be wrong, but I've always suspected the only impact of ads like http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/anti-smoking-tv-ads-big-tobacco-forced-run/311379/ http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/anti-smoking-tv-ads-bi... are the padding they provide to the bottom line of the WPP shops.
- icebraining 9y agoEDIT: Nevermind, misread the thread
- quietbritishjim 9y agoThe top-level comment proposes banning political advertising, but this link talks about commercial advertising so (honest question) surely it doesn't apply?
- icebraining 9y agoYeah, I misread the top comment.
- tscs37 9y agoYou can target ads in other ways, for example, by putting them on a certain website (see: Hackernews) or websites could allow some granularity by allowing individual sections separate ads (the Financial section of the NYT could show some Pyramid Scam and the Health section a insurance ad)
- gnode 9y ago> IMO, the correct approach is to regulate what is advertised, not who is targeted, or how they are targeted. I disagree. The point made in the article is that individually targeted advertising requires information on individuals and necessitates the surveillance economy. Personally, I don't care if advertisers show me ads for drugs, for instance, but I do care if they're doing that on the basis of what medical conditions I search for information about, and might have -- information which could be leaked or sold on. Even perfectly benign adverts can be targeted using information which the subject may find sensitive. While targeted advertising remains, an incentive to retain personal data exists.