The Current Model Of Online Advertising Presents For Society Is that Dangerous?

The digital ads business, nowsadays, is nearly a magical machine, which collect all our behaviors, interests or desires. However, from the massive amount of data, the number of misusing its data has increased. There are an uncountable number of Fakery among the internet using. Besides, there are more that a million fake Instagram and Facebook User in general, and even fake review site to sell your stuffs.

In facts that advertising is everywhere, and we have subconsciously seen as advertisement 20000 times each day. People who say Advertising are dangerous have raise many justifiable concerns. Here are some of potential problem:

• Impractical Body Image Expectations
  In the Advertising, most men have perfect body with ripped abs and perfect hair and teeth. It’s even worse for women. The standards of beauty in advertising are ridiculous, and even when they try and empathize, they still come out with ads that heavily favor good-looking women. Dove has done a great job of trying to embrace real women with its “campaign for real beauty,” but even then, the ads sometimes bumped. Thus, our self-image is absolutely being affected.

• Compelling an Unnecessary Need
  there are a lot of ad that push products to very few people actually need. Think about the product or service that people actually need to survive and thrive does not need an ad campaign right?  consumers are actually seeking them out. But when it comes to the “stuff” that we fill our lives with, advertising can implant deep-seated a yearning desire for those products. “You need that new mobile phone.” “Your life would be so much better with this car.” “How could you possibly live without an iPhone?” From new cars to music players and the latest candies and junk foods, advertising can literally make people crave something they didn’t even know they wanted.

• Targeting Younger Consumers Using Sex appeal and Violence Content
  Advertising somehow uses sex appeal and violence to make products appear cooler to attract the youth audience. And advertising, especially political advertising, can sway the course of a nation through deception and misinformation.

• Messing Our Lives With Endless Messaging
  For example, Pop-up ads ruin any kind of website experience, often slowing the site down to feed you with ads you don’t want to see, and making it hard to close them. Even in the products we purchase (the cheaper Kindle Fire comes with ads built-in to the device). It’s hardly surprising that people are paying significant monthly subscription fees so that they can avoid ads on YouTube, and Hulu

• Invasion of User Privacy

User privacy is one of the biggest risks in online advertising. Using someone’s name or likeness without their permission, sharing their private data, or revealing information about a user that represents them falsely. The best example of this risk is the use of personal information without asking for the permission of the customer, which can often be quite costly.

Is that the current model of online advertising is dangerous for society?

I believed that the current model of online advertising is dangerous for society. I would give the rate 4 out of 5, which is generally high. Because of online advertising nowadays is like the blood of the internet, we see them throughout our day by the time we are using our smartphone and computer.

The riskiest part is privacy concerns, and I personally think that nowadays, marketers and advertiser, exceed the line of our privacy. We have been a pawn in the advertising game. We have been collecting our behavior, interest, and desire even the most private one by using the internet. The result in the advertising aspect is going to be great because we can collect potential customer’s data and using it to penetrate the right market. Conversely, in a regular people aspect, it seems to be unfair for people who have to see the ads that they do not need to see, YouTube especially, the advertisement has obstructed the joyful and fun in their leisure time.

Along with privacy, misleading concern has played a significant role in this. Kids and children are targeted in this situation. They are being compelled by most of the ads they have seen, such as games, toys, or brand name items, which are sometimes unnecessary. Besides, online advertisements, sometimes including sex appeal, violation, or impractical social standard. For instance, there is some kind of pop-ad that has shown gambling or sexual content, which may be a fraud. Therefore, online ads nowadays are very dangerous. We need to be using it properly.

CODE OF ETHICS FOR DIGITAL MARKETER(s)

• Not set unreasonable audience expectations.
• Stay Away from Biases
• Never Compromise On Privacy
• Be Transparent
• Speak Truth
• Imagine the Impact
• Not engage in any activities that intentionally cause harm to a client’s brand or reputation.
• Not intentionally violate any governmental laws
• Not falsely represent others’ work as our own
• Not intentionally deceive or mislead consumers or search engine crawlers.

Work Cites:

• https://www.business2community.com/social-media/7-fundamental-ethics-social-media-marketing-01571504

• https://www.thebalancecareers.com/is-advertising-harmful-to-society-38971
• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/technology/internet-advertising-business.html
• https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/end-privacy
• https://blog.ed.ted.com/2017/01/24/how-to-protect-your-online-privacy/