User:Junaedkhn/sandbox

Junaed Ahmed Khan

Introduction
“Targeted advertising is a form of online advertising that focuses on the specific traits, interests, and preferences of a consumer. Advertisers discover this information by tracking your activity on the Internet” according to GCFGlobal.org. Social media and search engine sites are the most used platforms for this kind of advertisement. Tech companies, such as Google, Meta, TikTok and other tech giants collect information about users, based on their likes, dislikes, video watching history and groups or pages they follow. These companies then sell this information to the advertisement agencies, or they use it to show their users, selected and specific advertisements, based on their interest, as Madhumita Murghia, a British Indian journalist, explains on her Ted Talk.

The collection of personal information by tech companies for the purpose of targeted advertising is a controversial topic. Some experts think targeted advertising is useful for both consumers and companies. They believe that when advertising is categorized, people can reach out faster to what they want, rather than shuffling here and there, and companies also can reach their goal easily. Take for example, if someone needs to buy shoes and they search on for a shoe store, he/she can see results from the region situated thousands of miles away from them, which is useless and a waste of time. In the meantime, if they can see an advertisement targeted for them, it would be from a location they can reach easily. On the other hand, some experts believe that targeted advertising makes people more stubborn and aggressive. It encourages people to stick to their beliefs and discourages them from considering other points of view. Imagine that you are a political conservative who is constantly being targeted with ads from liberal organizations. These ads may feature images of violent protests or angry mobs, and they may use inflammatory language. Over time, this exposure to negative messages about liberals could make you more likely to view them with suspicion and hostility.

Our dependence on the web has led to the collection and sale of our personal information by big tech companies to advertising firms, compromising our right to privacy. This essay will explain how targeted advertising affects our lives negatively and how we can stop being targeted by the advertiser. And, to what extent targeted advertising is beneficial for consumers and how far does it fulfill the desire of advertisers.

Disadvantage of targeted advertising
While the internet is the most used location to target someone for advertising, social media is its hot spot. People spend most of their Internet time on social media and hence, most of their spendings for online advertisements is invested on social media advertisement. According to Statista, digital research and forecasting site, social media advertising had been expanding since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has increased the usage of social media, especially for video content, which has caused exponential growth in social media advertising. The market share of Facebook amounts to an estimated 16% of the social media advertising market and the selected region in 2022. Arwa Mahdawi, a regular columnist of The Guardian and award-winning author criticized big tech companies for how they collect and sell the data of their users. She identifies that the targeted advertising as “one of the world's most distracting trends.” In her 2019 essay, she revealed some of the disadvantages of targeted ads which are also relevant in recent times. She explains that targeted advertising is not as effective as advertisement companies think it is. Take for example, when someone buys a car from Facebook marketplace and following this activity, it starts showing ads of car showrooms. How worthy these ads could be? Someone who just bought a car will not buy another car the next day! Targeted advertising is also one of the mostly ignored items. because it has led to a proliferation of fake news and click baits.

It is also a matter of concern how targeted advertising affects our national life. Especially in the United States, political leaders and candidates spend plenty of money to reach those people who they think can accept their appeal for voting for them. Politicians approach the tech companies at the time of election, as there is already information about the specific regional peoples, and candidates then spend billions on advertising. CNN correspondent Casey Tolan reports that candidates in some of the highest-profile midterm races in North Carolina Senate in 2021, used Facebook and Instagram ads, targeting to aim messages at voters based on their music tastes, sports fandoms, shopping destinations and television habits. Samuel Woolley, professor and researcher at the University of Texas-Austin, argued that Meta should put even more restrictions on how campaigns can target users. People's personal data is being used without their consent to try to influence their behavior, such as their voting choices of their beliefs about certain issues. This is a violation of privacy and the right of individuals to make their own decisions. However, if this data is used in a way that does not harm people's privacy, it could be a valuable tool for political campaigns.

Psychological effects
Targeted advertising can contribute to the formation of what Eli Pariser has called information filter bubbles, where users are exposed only to content that aligns with their existing beliefs and interests. This can lead to a narrowing of perspectives, reduced exposure to diverse viewpoints, and potential impact on democratic processes. Pariser, a expert who is mostly known for his research on tailoring information and filtered advertisements, has been concerned about people's negative psychological change. In his 2011 TED talk, he argues that filter bubbles make people more stubborn. He explains that when people are only exposed to the same kind of information repeatedly, their brains become accustomed to it, and they start to see it as the only option. This can make them unaware of the wider world and lead them to develop negative beliefs and a stubborn mentality. While Pariser is primarily concerned about data privacy, his findings also raise concerns about the impact of targeted advertising on our brains. Data privacy and targeted advertising are connected, as he argues that targeted advertising can be used to manipulate our thoughts and behavior, and it can negatively impact our ability to think critically and make informed decisions.

Benefits of Targeted Advertising
Although targeted advertising has many drawbacks, it can also have positive consequences on some occasions. Willson Lau, Sr., SEO Marketing Manager of Adroll, an online advertising company, illustrates their view that targeted advertising is beneficial for both advertisers and consumers. According to him, it saves consumers time and at the same time benefits companies to reach their goal. When companies advertise the same item repeatedly to the same people, it compels the person to think about the product. As a result, most of the time they buy it or decide to have it later. The advertising company believes people nowadays also want to find exactly what they need. As targeted advertising is based on consumers’ information, it is more likely to be accurate to what they need, rather than a random promotion to an anonymous person. For example, if you are looking for a new pair of running shoes and you see an ad for running shoes on a web site that you visit regularly, you are more likely to click on the ad and learn more about the shoes. In addition, Jiwoong Shin, a professor of marketing at Yale University, conducted team research on targeted advertising. They found that targeted advertising is most beneficial when the information about the people who are being shown the ads is more accurate. Shin's research shows that tech companies play a more significant role in targeted advertising than those that are doing it.

Conclusion
Targeted advertising benefits companies to reach their goal fast and easily while it violates people's right of privacy. Privacy is the most valuable thing in someone's life. It is one of the fundamental rights as well. Most of us are introverts and even those who are not, also have concern about their privacy. Hence, advertisements that violate people's privacy, either directly or through tech companies, are never acceptable. Besides privacy rights concerns, when people are obsessed with the same typical advertisement over and over, they are blinded by many. What I mean by “blinded” is, they are not able to see many other objects that they might prefer to have. It might be goods they use for themselves or the people they chose to serve the nation.

To avoid targeted advertising, experts recommend not clicking on or following ads, and to opt out of the algorithmic tracking systems that companies use to collect and use your data. They suggest, even not to watch the following videos that are suggested by YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook. And it can be avoided manually, in the setting option of certain apps or sites.