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CONSUMER SURVEILLANCE IN THE 21st CENTURY


By Jonathan Bonilla

Let's say you are surfing through the Internet or diving into random YouTube videos, and you see ads either playing a small promotional video for a service or a vivid photo of some random product. Now a days, the ads you see popping up on your laptop or social media page is not by luck or random chance; it is all by design.

Marketers are changing up the game in which they showcase and sell to consumers in many digital spaces. They want to get smarter, faster and better in understanding what consumers like you and me desire. The world humans currently are moving into is heavily driven by data. Marketers are now taking an exploiting view, “instead of merely seeing data gathered about consumers as a guide to their product preferences and interests, such data is being used to refine mechanisms of shaping decisions, behaviors, and habits” (Nadler & McGuigan, 2018).

There has been a major boom of consumer data by which marketers and advertisers need resources to interpret and analyze all that data. Here’s where things start taking a darker turn: when our digital data footprint becomes a tool for businesses to make a profit. Now digital marketers are looking into the study of behavioral economics. According to Nadler and McGuigan (2018) behavioral economics promises to reveal the processes that drive consumer’s purchasing decisions thus enabling marketers get into the head of consumers in a whole new way. The studies research is based on psychological research on the theory of cognition that divides the human mind into a dual system: System one and System two. System one makes judgments quickly in ways that are experienced as effortless and mostly automatic. In contrast, System two is slower and experienced as more effortful and quite limited in how much incoming information it can process. System two handles the most complex and mentally taxing operations. On the other hand, marketers are trying to find a loophole in System one thinking that serves as the most pervasive, default mode for making decisions (and making money for others). This trend will become more pervasive and will further try to expose the vulnerabilities of the human mind towards making decisions.

To illustrate some examples of behavioral economics being applied to digital marketing, in research done by Nadler and McGuigan (2018) corporations like Target would comb through mass amounts of consumer data predicting pregnancies with great accuracy sending special coupons to those couples. Facebook as well has allowed advertisers to target users based on recent changes to their relationship status thus the raise of dating apps and other social services. Another example is Uber, who would prod drivers to work longer during less profitable hours through gamification, a system of goals and worthless badges.

Also major advertising firms like Ogilvy & Mather, who specialize in behavioral economics, are partnering up with major companies such as American Express, Nestle, British Airways, Starbucks and many more to have the most effective marketing in all digital platforms.

Will our future be designed by algorithms and artificial intelligence surveilling all our actions we make in digital space (Internet, social media apps, etc.) to the point where marketers can serve our wants and needs? The reality is that it is already happening as you read this sentence. Our digital reality is being fabricated and constructed without us having a say or word in how that is happening.

People should be aware about the changes in digital marketing that will affect everyone in the Internet, social media domains, and other digital spaces. The goal in “raising awareness may serve as a form of critical media literacy, one oriented not to the goal of savvy interpretative skills but to resistant user practices” (Nadler & McGuigan, 2018). It is crucial now more than ever for people to question what is changing in their digital environment and be conscious about the practices of businesses on the infringement of your privacy and data to make profit.

References
Nadler, A., & McGuigan, L. (2018). An impulse to exploit: The behavioral turn in data driven marketing. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 35(2), 151-165. Retrieved from Communication and Mass Media Complete database.

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Comments

  1. KHSeptember 14, 2018 at 8:08 AM

    Terrific post, Johnny. You've made effective use of the article from CSMC to discuss a troubling turn in data marketing. Your concern with this practice and the larger project of "critical media literacy" is especially welcome and productive in the context of this course.

    A few minor issues: nowadays is one word. You confuse studies for study's (possessive construction). Finally, you might consider breaking out the longer paragraphs into shorter passages for readability.

    Otherwise, you've done a fine job with this assignment. And, as noted the other day, I appreciate the care and attention you've taken with this entire project. You've demonstrated admirable leadership skills.

    27/30 pts.

    ReplyDelete

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