To be strictly accurate - we should be talking about Blocking Trackers

... I came across this article (note if you are using an 'ad blocker' ... then guess what - they tell you that you have an 'ad blocker' on .... actually I don't use an 'ad blocker' - I use a 'tracking blocker'.

That aside, I thought I would extract some pertinent quotes from the piece and add my comments. The piece appeared in Adage and was written by Jason Jercinovic - and so all the quotes below I attribute to him. Adage says that "Jason Jercinovic is global head of marketing innovation and global brand director at Havas."

Havas is a pretty good agency that has produced some great campaigns for Air New Zealand, Global Mental Health and Canal+ - so I kind of feel that they (should at least) know what they are doing. I'll go further. They do - but it is clear that they remain bought into the narrative of 'poor us - we have to do this [efn_note]Use Ad Trackers[/efn_note] for it to work'. They don't.

So - let's get too it ...

and no one can blame the advertising industry for rapidly adopting them.

I can!

Advertisers may soon know us better than we know ourselves.

... there are more practical considerations around the use of AI in advertising: inherently biased data, algorithms that make flawed decisions and violations of personal privacy.

That is happening now - and nothing to do with AI.

The more complete our understanding of an individual, the more persuasive our marketing can be.

Why does he assume I want to be persuaded?

But each new insight into a consumer raises new questions about our moral obligations to that individual -- and to society at large.

... then ask out permission

AI is fueled by data, which is used to train algorithms and sustain the system.

'Back in the day', we had an experession 'Crap in ... Crap out' .... that adage (which is different to the publication) is as relevant as ever.

In order to make an informed choice, consumers need a clear explanation of the value exchange in any given campaign. What are they giving up? What are they getting in return? And they should be allowed to opt out if they are uncomfortable with the transaction.

At last .... sadly - I don’t see much of that happening.

Do you?

Thinking Allowed

This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.