When Does Advertising Cross the Line?

Kendall Kraft

kk922418@ohio.edu

Picture from DazeInfo

At the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual leadership meeting, fraud was the most prominent topic of conversation. Unfortunately, the fraud problem is out of control, and artificial intelligence and other internet algorithms worsen the problem. I understand the advertising industry's need for human behavior, but to what point does tracking everyone's online move cross the line?

Assessing the entirety of one's every word, every picture, and emojis seems to be an ethical concern when gaining consumer data. However, nothing is private for people, especially on the internet. Therefore, there has to be a line drawn for a consumer's private and personal information, rather than it being used for the marketing industry's gain. 

When there are slip-ups as big as the 'Worst Facebook Ad Ever,' the entire industry needs to self-reflect. The Facebook ad was a picture of a young Canadian girl to promote a dating app for singles. Unfortunately, the young girl hanged herself and took off life support from a coma before this ad's promotion. The ad was not just disturbing for the girl's loved ones but proved that Facebook "social context" advertising had significant flaws.

Advertisers are also targeting your mood. The ethics behind companies using algorithms to post articles to reflect your mood or ESPN not posting advertisements of your team if your team is losing are controversial. Media companies claim they can do their job better and promote what the viewer needs based on their mood. Except at one point, should be privacy matter?

It is scary to think about the amount of access these technology companies have to us. If they can promote ads based on our mood and behavior, what else can they do? Some companies have tried to fight fraud and keep their ads ethical, but the amount that promotes ads unethically has taken over our privacy. The argument between companies giving their viewers what they want and our privacy should be easy. However, there still should be some private and personal things for technology users.