Is targeted advertising responsible for the polarized dystopia we live in?

Google recently launched My Ad Center, which allows people to indicate their ad preferences across Discover, Search, YouTube. It allows them to exclude certain product categories that they might be trying to avoid (alcohol, weight loss, etc.), other sensitive content, or to turn off personalization altogether.

There are serious revenue implications for Google, Digiday notes:

“Speaking about the launch of My Ad Center controls, such as the ability to block ad serving from alcohol and gambling brands, Ruben Schreurs, chief product officer at Ebiquity, noted how its rollout could have a financial impact on Google.

“Google needs to follow through and show their commitment on this but it’s also a really dangerous area for them to go to,” he said. “They don’t break down their [advertiser] sector revenues but betting and gambling [brands] are huge [spenders] in digital display and video.”

Schreurs concluded: “If the user control of this module is so good, then everyone could turn everything off, and it’s a dangerous game for Google.”

While I think this is a positive move that puts more choice in the hands of consumers, it also highlights how little control we’ve had thus far. The advertising we receive is so hyper-targeted, fueled by the cookies that are nearly impossible to turn off (at best, annoying to turn off, thanks to the efforts of regulators).

In effect, every time I open my Google app on my phone, it is just that: mine. The ads I receive are a reflection of what I searched for the night before, even what I spoke about with friends and with my phone, the omnipresent silent observer, her mic-ears always listening, serving me ads for an emerald green wedding guest dress, event tickets on the Upper West Side, Bib Gourmand restaurant reservations. It’s a portal to my most recent thoughts.

 This article led me to reflect on the impact that personalization has had on us – not as individuals, but as a society.

What are the consequences of these siloed experiences that digital advertising has created? As a society, we have fewer collective experiences. Rather, we might observe the same events collectively, but our experiences and the information we receive is no longer collective; a group of 10 sitting in a room might be fed different versions of the same story based on their income level, their location, their political leanings, their gender.

Increasingly rare is the Budweiser commercial that everyone sees together, for the first time, and experiences the emotion of a Dalmatian puppy being reunited with his horse friend.

 Now, we opt out – I only see red wine, full bodied and dry, Italian. My experiences with ads are more limited. More polarized.

 I can’t help but think that this hyper-individualization is partly responsible for the echo chambers we’ve created as a society: islands of small communities who reinforces the same ideas, rather than reaching across to understand and connect with people who are different than they are.

Maybe Google’s new feature will solve this problem, assuming we all go in and turn off personalization. Fat chance.