Online Advertising: The Unseen Intrusion

Popup advertisements are the most annoying thing in the world and they are getting worse. Whether it be on a TV, the internet, or by mail advertisements are starting to take over in many areas of our lives, the scary part about it is many people are not aware what they are being exposed to. Many advertisements tell people that they need to product to look a certain way, to accomplish something quicker, or live a certain way. Making people feel that they need a product in order to survive is not the way to sell products, however many companies are taking that next step just to sell products. That is why Joseph Turow wrote “The Daily You” to open our eyes up about what is really going on with advertising these days. He targets how online advertising is taking over,

what advertisers are doing with online advertising, and how online marketing changes the way people see themselves after looking at those advertisements.
Towards the beginning of the book Turow discusses the way advertisers gain information about consumers through internet activity.

Anything on the Internet the user clicks on is great information for marketers. They will use that information to find patterns of consumers Internet activity and then place ads of similar products on other webpages the user frequents. Turow mentions a topic frequently within the book known as, “the click.” According to Turow, the click was a tangible audience action that media buyers and advertisers could use to ease their anxiety over whether people notice their persuasive messages or, even care about them (pg 36). Next to the click, Turow also discusses the term of “the long click.” The long click is the combination of tracking information from multiple social-media sites. The usability of the click led to the selling of ads by the cost-per-thousand model, which made it easier for marketers to analyze traits of the consumers viewing, and clicking on their ads based on previous website visits. Marketers are then able to decide whether a consumer is considered an appropriate target, or a waste of additional advertising dollars, because of that consumer’s tracked

activity.
Targeting is another big topic that Turow discusses in his book. Once marketers decide that a consumer is an appropriate target based on their profile, they are reached out to. According to Turow, in their quest to separate “targets” from “waste,” marketers buy access to data about users’ backgrounds, activities, and friends that will allow them to locate customers they deem most valuable (p. 190). Turow questions in the book the possibility of privacy laws by tracking information and using it for third party advertising purposes. Turow also mentions that the FTC actually condones the targeting and tracking of consumers, meaning no permission is necessary to retain information on consumers’ actions over the Internet. This is the really scary part, that they do not need our permission to keep our lives and business to ourselves. With the government controlling much of what we do, there is no reason to have advertisers right behind them watching our every move.
The book also discusses the power that advertising has over content in print media. The advertising industry is one of the main funding sources for newspapers and magazines, they have the power to control what content is included in the print. However, this can be considered for online media as well. The advertisers control what you may or may not see on a webpage or streaming video. By creating personalized ad content, marketers are essentially telling the consumer who they are, what they already like, and what they should like based on consumers trail left via previously visited websites.