Have You Ever Struggled With Targeted Ads? Well I Don’t Have a Solution!

I have come across many ads on social media, more specifically the ones that need advertising to actually function. All targeted ads have some sort of thing to do with either google history, or recent activity on the app itself, while others seem to be completely random. Most of these things have something to actually do with my interests, some have nothing to do with me at all, while others seem to be based off of the people that I follow or conversations I’ve had.

There have been many times where I go online to look for something to see if any stores near me carry it or if it is sold exclusively online, then later that day or the next open Instagram and see an add for the same thing. (What is most frustrating about this, is that half of the time, I will buy something and then see an add for the same exact thing, but cheaper and closer than a trip all the way to Portland) A few years ago, I was buying a new pair of volleyball shoes because my old ones were worn down on the inside in the sole and around the heel. I had looked for them for several days, not seeing a pair that was quite what I had wanted (or were my size. Apparently, my shoe size is very common for women’s volleyball). I got the shoes, and I saw ads for volleyball shoes, volleyballs, nets, ball carts, bags, sport bags, water bottles, jewelry, name plates, clothes, warm up sweaters, and anything else you could possibly slap an image of a volleyball on or customize to make volleyball related for months. Sometimes, I still see those ads. It wasn’t all that bad , though. In fact, we noticed that we needed more volleyballs because they didn’t want to blow them all up for some reason, they had separated a few to be used as game balls, and half of them were flat. Someone had asked for the price, and because I had been seeing ads for them all of the time, I could give them the answer and we all talked about each person buying one and bringing it in so we would not be short anymore for practice or games (it never happened, but it was still a good idea).

Other times, though, targeted ads are a little weird. I’ll just be talking about something with someone and then see ads for what we were talking about, which a majority of the time are not in my interest. My family was talking about getting another dog, and there were ads for places to get dogs on my phone. I was with my cousins and they were talking about anime and manga (something that they are into and I am not), and I saw ads for things related to what they were talking about. Sometimes, I will look something up just because I did not know what it was, and see ads for stuff related to it for no reason. Mostly its just books related to the topic that I did not want in the first place. I follow a lot of people on Instagram, mostly “famous” people. I will see ads related to stuff that they are promoting on their page (if they are promoting their merch, then I see ads for clothes; promoting makeup, there are sephora or ulta ads; if their page is music related, I will often see ads related to music streaming services). If someone has a certain product that they sell (for instance, I follow someone who is a nail person, not a nail tech, but rather nail artist, I suppose, and she has her own polish brand), I see ads for their stuff on my feed, whether their brand or not.

There is then the other aspects of ads, which is the random ads seen in mobile games. Most of these have nothing to do with the game itself, or the persons interests. These ads are just for the creators of the game to make money, and they are typically just ads for other games made by the same brand. These often make no sense at all, and quite frankly, I find them to be concerning. Not only because of the contents of the ads, but also because of some of the games they are promoting. Some of these games and ads are extremely weird and I often find that I am quite concerned that people would actually play or be interested in what it was about. What’s even worse, is that a majority of them of these ads or games are for children.

Ads are something that everyone comes across everyday. Some of them are targeted, while others are completely random. Overall, most ads that I come across are related to my interests, while others just seem to be pulled out of nowhere and are completely random. Sometimes I find these random ones to be quite funny, as they are often based off of something that I hate, and the same goes for targeted ads. Some of them just seem to be based off of a conversation or something that someone said weeks or even months before I saw them, which is what I always find a little creepy.

“SXSW Interactive 2015 Back Cover Ad – “Set Yourself Apart”” by Jeffrey is licensed under CC BY 2.0