5 ms·
Not just Facebook, but any targeted advertising platform that can target based on demographic could do this. Its not the first example of unethical behaviour u
by aussieguy1234 7y ago
Not just Facebook, but any targeted advertising platform that can target based on demographic could do this.
Its not the first example of unethical behaviour using this technology. Alcohol gets targeted to Alcholics, Gambling gets targets to problem gamblers.
Targeted advertising for certain purposes should be illegal, including employment ads, alcohol ads, gambing ads and any kind of political ad. There's just too many ways it can go wrong with these kinds of ads.
- erichocean 7y agoOr we could outright ban advertising everywhere, for any reason, full stop.
- dschuetz 7y agoWell. That's not as easy as you think. Most companies believe that without ads they'd lose to competition.
- jackvalentine 7y agoSo their only differentiator is they advertise and their competitors don’t?
- cwkoss 7y agosounds like brands that society would he healthier without
- greggman2 7y agoInteresting. You just advertised an idea. That should be banned?
- basq 7y agoThink it's safe to assume gp meant paid advertising.
- tnel77 7y agoWhen someone says “full stop,” I like to wonder if they think that that makes their belief more correct than it otherwise would have been interpreted.
- luckylion 7y agoI tend to read it as "and I don't intend to have any exceptions". More as a statement setting the limits of their claim/suggestion than "and this is not to be discussed".
- goatinaboat 7y agoIf a person needs a product or service, generally they can just go out and buy it. Advertising, whether or commercial or political, is really about exploiting psychological vulnerabilities in order to make people act against their own best interests. The promise of happiness if you buy this or that project, a momentary dopamine rush that serves to mask a real problem just long enough to set the mark up for their next unnecessary purchase. I wouldn’t go so far as an outright ban but I would regulate that all ads, on and offline, are pure text only, standard font, no targeting and lying in an ad to be a crime, just facts about the product only. I consider myself to be a capitalist but this is a public health issue. Ad companies including Facebook and Google are the tobacco companies of the modern day.
- keiferski 7y agoThen expect to see a massive increase in product placement within written content and TV shows, as well as whole series which are subtly sponsored. At least with traditional advertising they are direct about it. Marketing budgets have to be used somewhere...
- blub 7y agoStep two would be banning product placement. ;)
- keiferski 7y agoPractically impossible. Entire shows will then be written and created around a product line or brand.
- blub 7y agoIf an entire show is created around a product it will be easy to prove it's against those hypothetical rules. I am more concerned about subtler forms, but it seems that forced paid product placement disclosures are working just fine.
- keiferski 7y agoI think you are drastically underestimating the ability of media companies to develop content which subtly includes specific ideas, values or products. This already happens - it is not a future theoretical scenario.
- dschuetz 7y agoEspecially predatory credit and lending ads.
- SamReidHughes 7y agoBanning targeted advertising means the vast majority of people see irrelevant employment ads. Every lumberjack and security guard on Facebook will see useless software engineering ads, or nursing, or whatever is the hard to recruit field du jour. This means less people see ads for jobs for them, and that hurts untalented, unskilled regular people the most, because their job ads aren’t going to outcompete highly paid fields on price.
- dschuetz 7y agoRegarding ads for consumer goods, you're right. But ads for jobs should not be handled the same way. That's another market entirely. Imagine you being happy with your current employment, but you are bombarded with "outstanding employment offer" ads from shady recruiters? Not such a bright idea, right?
- throwaway2048 7y agoI think I'm willing to endure the horrors of insufficiently targeted advertising.
- SamReidHughes 7y agoI think pulling a gender lever means the ad targeting is just incredibly crappy. Let people identify what career they want jobs in, and target by that. Targeting ads towards age is no different than showing up at a university career fair. It's more efficient to target age groups that change jobs more frequently. Old people can put on their big boy pants and use LinkedIn.
- tbyehl 7y agoAll the employment ads I see are already irrelevant. I'm highly compensated for the type of IT work I do and ad targeting thinks I would like to drive for UPS or Uber or work in an AT&T call center? No thanks.