The current model of online advertising consists of companies collecting enormous amounts of data on individuals and selling that data to companies for use of targeted advertisement. This data collection has only become more and more invasive as time has progressed. These companies that are collecting our data are selling our interests, habits and all sorts of other things about ourselves without consent and for a profit. So many companies these days are utilizing online advertising and has pretty much created a war over consumer attention, which is what all these companies want. In the ways the dats is being utilized, especially by artificial intelligence, it has become more and more dangerous for the consumer. Zeynep Tufekci had said in her Ted Talk that these AI’s can be categorizing people that they believe are the correct target market for a product/service but what we don’t know is that they could be people who are bipolar and about to enter the manic phase. So with all this data being categorized by these artificial intelligence programs, it could be finding these customers with weaknesses and be taking advantage of them for profit. This is when we start to see the danger of the current model for online advertising in today’s society. If we were to rate the level of danger on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 is highly dangerous and 1 is not dangerous at all I would say we are getting very close to a 4 in today’s society.
Digital Marketing Code of Ethics
- Honesty: Be straightforward with your customers. Be truthful in all situations. Provide products that create value that you can stand behind.
- Responsibility: Understand the consequences of your actions when marketing and strive to provide to the needs of our customers.
- Fairness: Know the balance between buyers and sellers needs, and protect their information that they provide while avoiding manipulation.
- Respect: Understand and attempt to meet the needs of customers through efforts of communication. Acknowledge the contributions of others around you.
- Transparency: Be open within your communication while marketing by disclosing wanted information.
- Citizenship: Follow the laws and conduct your marketing efforts as an upstanding citizen with the vision in mind to improve.
- Impact: Understand your impact on society through your marketing efforts and utilization of personal data.
- Goodwill: Create a strong reputation amongst the people around you because of your moral compass.
Sources:
“Social Responsibility & Ethics in Marketing.” Cleverism, 20 Feb. 2018, www.cleverism.com/social-responsibility-ethics-marketing/.
Wells, Thomas. “Is Advertising Morally Justifiable? The Importance of Protecting Our Attention.” ABC Religion & Ethics, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 13 July 2018, www.abc.net.au/religion/is-advertising-morally-justifiable-the-importance-of-protecting-/10098098.
