How the internet is shaping our biases and the dangers associated with the current online model of advertising has consumers concerned on what and how they’re shopping and what and how they buy. With the continued advancement of technology its changing our direct buying behavior. Do you think this is a problem? Here’s why it might be.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most dangerous, I’d rate the current online marketing model at a 3, only because we as consumers have a chance to protect ourselves from these online markets and swaying the way we think, in what we need to buy. What happened to offering our customers a product, convincing them why they should trust us when all it seems that happening is trickery.
I think a code of ethics to back a moral operating system, like mentioned in the Ted Talk given by Damon Horowitz, needs to be created for marketers to follow in order to protect themselves but to instill faith in their consumers when buying their products online, they outline the following:
1. Informative: Online marketers need to be transparent with people and communicate their messages effectively. Why do you really want me to click on your ad or buy your product?
2. Regulation: Companies should continually and consistently monitor the practices of their online marketers presence.
3. Social Media: Being one of the prime dividers and sources information, social media sites should be held accountable, like marketers, for what they post inaccurately, forcing people to believe false information.
4. People: We as consumers must stand up in the face of false marketing practices and voice our opinions.
5. Civil Law: State and federal laws should prohibit marketers from praying on isn’t consumers and force penalties upon those you don’t adhere to the guidelines. Similar to how the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and like groups does.
6. Community: It takes a joint community effort among people to stand up for whats right in the face of marketers.
7. Consumer: Marketers should place themselves in their consumers shoes and ask themselves if their tactics would be OK for a friend or family member of theirs.
8. Companies: Companies need to and marketers alike need to keep each other honest, most importantly in the tactics they use against consumers and call each other out of propagated content.
Sources:
- https://www.ted.com/talks/damon_horowitz#t-277812
- https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dystopia_just_to_make_people_click_on_ads#t-35232
- https://blog.ed.ted.com/2017/01/24/how-to-protect-your-online-privacy/
- http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-features/what-have-ethics-got-to-do-with-digital-marketing/4031
- https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=danger+imaghe&fr=mcafee&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmoziru.com%2Fimages%2Fdanger-clipart-warning-sign-3.png#id=-1&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmoziru.com%2Fimages%2Fdanger-clipart-warning-sign-3.png&action=click
