It’s possible that consumers are happy to have the most minute details of their lives surveilled and monetized in return for seeing ads they might want to click on. This is a hard theory to test, because very few people even know they’re making the trade. However, one organization recently tried to find out. After the European Union’s landmark privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, went into effect in 2018, a Dutch public broadcasting agency started prompting all visitors to its website to choose, in a clear and straightforward manner, whether they wanted their data shared with advertisers. The result? Ninety percent opted out, and the agency abandoned behavioral advertising altogether. (A Google spokesperson notes that all users can opt out of personalized ads, and that Google has long prohibited personalized advertising based on sensitive information.)
Obligatory: Bill Hicks on Marketing.
Like at least ban ads for giant companies. Everyone fucking knows what Geico and Progressive and Microsoft and Google are. We don’t need fucking ads from these companies. We need ads from companies we have never heard of.
It’s about giving you a brainworm. When it’s time for you to sign up with an insurance company, you’re most likely going to remember the insurance commerical that was the most ridiculous or unique. It’s not even about advertising a product anymore. It’s about jamming that little token into your brain so you’ll remember them later.
Bill Watterson nailed it down 30 years ago in 1994. Because the brain worms work if they’re repeated enough.