4 ms·

Why is ad targeting "terrible"?

arthurcolle 8y ago
Consider an alternative scenario: you're a business person and you present an alcoholic beverage to someone you know is an alcoholic because you are paid to do so. You know they've had substance abuse problems in the past (you have all the metadata!) but you turn a blind eye because $. Is that morally acceptable to you? Just because it produces revenue for a few ad tech companies doesn't make it objectively good. Marketing bs products to people through online ads is no different than giving crack to kids, presenting the idea of a major life solution through pretty fonts and flashy user flows when in fact most products are just stupid and ill-conceived from start to finish. If I left a tab after checking out a product and didn't buy it, it probably sucks. But repeatedly shoving it in someone's face through advertising after visits, for one concrete example, basically pushes people into situations they didn't consent to. It is total manipulation and its reprehensible - its just slightly more abstract and people get drawn into the "well just dont buy it!" narrative. It is a fact that an increasingly large number of people have poor impulse control and pretending it doesn't is not equivalent to predatory activity being OK.
- idonotknowwhy 8y ago
  > It is a fact that an increasingly large number of people have poor impulse control Got a link to this data?
- alphakappa 8y ago
  > Consider an alternative scenario: you're a business person and you present an alcoholic beverage to someone you know is an alcoholic because you are paid to do so I'm sure there's a good counter example to the notion of 'ad targeting is terrible', but this is not it. If one goes by this example, you'd need companies to know that you are an alcoholic in order to avoid advertising to them, which seems to be an extremely personal piece of data. Surely your point is not that this is an acceptable compromise in order to avoid alcoholics ever seeing an ad for alcohol?
  - picsao 8y ago
    Imagine someone you loved died. And the ad Algo takes your engagement with memory triggers as product interest. And rubs the loss in again and again.
monochromatic 8y ago
They invade my privacy to do it.

Consider an alternative scenario: you're a business person and you present an alcoholic beverage to someone you know is an alcoholic because you are paid to do so. You know they've had substance abuse problems in the past (you have all the metadata!) but you turn a blind eye because $. Is that morally acceptable to you? Just because it produces revenue for a few ad tech companies doesn't make it objectively good. Marketing bs products to people through online ads is no different than giving crack to kids, presenting the idea of a major life solution through pretty fonts and flashy user flows when in fact most products are just stupid and ill-conceived from start to finish. If I left a tab after checking out a product and didn't buy it, it probably sucks. But repeatedly shoving it in someone's face through advertising after visits, for one concrete example, basically pushes people into situations they didn't consent to. It is total manipulation and its reprehensible - its just slightly more abstract and people get drawn into the "well just dont buy it!" narrative. It is a fact that an increasingly large number of people have poor impulse control and pretending it doesn't is not equivalent to predatory activity being OK.

idonotknowwhy 8y ago
> It is a fact that an increasingly large number of people have poor impulse control Got a link to this data?
alphakappa 8y ago
> Consider an alternative scenario: you're a business person and you present an alcoholic beverage to someone you know is an alcoholic because you are paid to do so I'm sure there's a good counter example to the notion of 'ad targeting is terrible', but this is not it. If one goes by this example, you'd need companies to know that you are an alcoholic in order to avoid advertising to them, which seems to be an extremely personal piece of data. Surely your point is not that this is an acceptable compromise in order to avoid alcoholics ever seeing an ad for alcohol?
- picsao 8y ago
  Imagine someone you loved died. And the ad Algo takes your engagement with memory triggers as product interest. And rubs the loss in again and again.

monochromatic 8y ago

They invade my privacy to do it.