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Americans Don't Want Targeted Ads

Posted by timothy on from the might-prefer-them-to-endless-tampon-ads-though dept.

itwbennett writes "A survey by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California Berkeley School of Law and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania finds that US residents do not want to receive Web advertising tailored to their interests. 66% of those surveyed said they don't want tailored, or targeted, online ads and when asked if online ad vendors should deliver targeted ads by tracking customers' behavior across multiple Web sites, 86% of the 1,000 respondents said no. 35% of respondents said executives of companies that use personal information illegally should face jail time, and 18% said those companies should be put out of business. 'While privacy advocates have lambasted behavioral targeting for tracking and labeling people in ways they do not know or understand, marketers have defended the practice by insisting it gives Americans what they want: advertisements and other forms of content that are as relevant to their lives as possible,' the study said. 'In high percentages, [US residents] stand on the side of privacy advocates.'"

2 of 404 comments (clear)

  1. What I Want by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...marketers have defended the practice by insisting it gives Americans what they want...

    If I wanted some giant faceless social entity telling me what I want I would:

    A) Start going back to church
    B) Start using Microsoft products at home again
    C) Start wearing a dark turtleneck and buying Apple prodcuts
    D) All of the above

    And since I do none of the above, and never intend to, I say to you, marketers, go f*** yourselves. I have a brain. I think. I make choices. I have freewill. Stop looking at me as an endless consumer statistic for you to shovel your broken/flawed/rushed/under-designed P.O.S. products into the mouth of, and start looking at me as the living, breathing, intelligent human being I am, you insensitive clods!

    --
    Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
  2. Re:And.... by bit01 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Way to mistake marketing as advertising there genius. Advertising is a subset of marketing. Opinionated != Informed.

    I'm well aware of the difference. Neurotic marketers who harp on this difference are doubly pathetic. My point stands.

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    The majority of modern marketing is nothing more than an arms race to get mind share. Everybody loses except the parasitic marketing "industry".