Target advertisements are built on analysing consumer behaviour.?
Using ‘cookies’ from your computer, smartphone or tablet a company can predict what advertisements a consumer may be interested in seeing based on past online activity.?
They can be used to build up a picture of who a customer is, what their interests and buying habits are.?
Bonfire Marketing Manager Rob Di Giovanni highly recommends targeted advertising to their clients.?
“You’ve got a much smaller group of people, but you’re hoping that because they should be more aligned with the message that you’re advertising, you’ll get better results”.?
He believes that it is better than “screaming into the void”.?
When does this practice become unethical?
Mr Di Giovanni says that Bonfire relies on ethically sourced information for any targeted advertising campaigns.
Bonfire looks at first-party data, which is information collected throughout a consumer’s transaction.?
“If someone lands on a brand’s website and they’re getting something shipped to their house, they’ll put in their home address or their mailing address,” says Mr Di Giovanni.
“That’s the best kind of data because the customer knows they’re given it out and there’s a meaningful exchange,” he says.?
However, he acknowledges the dark side of targeted advertising- when a company or advertising agency connects a person’s data.?
Information like a person’s name, age or date of birth is an example of unethically sourced personal data.?
Mr Di Giovanni believes that a company’s responsibility is to ensure that customers’ personal data is safe,a nd they understand what their data is being used for.?
“There is a responsibility on the brand and the advertising agency to make sure that what they’re trying to do, is like I said, create those win-win situations,
“Where the person who’s receiving the ad feels like it’s a great outcome for them,” he says.
What regulations apply to target advertising??
Curtin Professor of Internet studies, Tama Leaver, believes that although targeted ads are an important part of marketing, they should still be subject to regulations.?
“A lot of regulation is still based on what the ads say rather than the way that the ads are finding someone.”?
“So, there’s other legislation, things like privacy legislation, which do more of the work of saying what data can and can’t be used,” he says.?
Professor Leaver is referring to the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024.
This means advertising agencies are penalised if they do not gain consent for data-driven marketing, such as targeted ads.
While Professor Leaver highlights the importance of this act, he believes that without further regulations, the practice teeters on becoming completely unethical.
Ariana Koskela-Reyes
Ariana Koskela-Reyes is a third-year Bachelor of Global Media and Communications student at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. She is currently on exchange at Edith Cowan University as part of a dual degree program, majoring in Journalism.
