Ad attack! The creepier side of marketing

Spring is (supposedly) here and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be fantasising about all the things you can do outside, just as soon as the weather becomes bearable and we’re treated to lighter and longer days. Right now I’m thinking about the joys of cycling around Richmond Park in the sunshine followed by a nice pub lunch and a cold beer. I’m so excited about it that I’m thinking about getting myself a new bike for the summer.

I’m not one to impulse buy. For me, part of the excitement of buying something of any great expense (I’ll be riding it to work every day, so I intend to get one that will last) is reading up about it, speaking to a couple of ‘experts’ and trying to hunt down the best price. I may spend days - weeks, perhaps - working out which one I’ll buy and how to get the best deal. I’ll visit retailers, go Google shopping and hunt around for any sales.

I’m sad, I know, but me admitting that is not the point of this blog.

Days after trawling through cycle shops’ websites, hunting for the ideal bike, I was minding my own business on a non-bike-related site when a banner ad caught my eye. Nothing unusual about that, you’ll say, but this particular banner ad was about the very bike I had my beady little eye on while ‘on the hunt’ - the bike at the top of my shortlist. Coincidence, I thought. But then this happened on another site. And another. I started to think I was going a little crazy…

After speaking with the web geniuses in the project management team at Base One, I realise that I wasn’t crazy (or, if I am, that it was unrelated). It was in fact a clever targeted banner that stored what I had been looking at in a cookie. It could then find me wherever I went in the future. A stalking banner, if you will. Very clever, huh? Well, is it? Or is it just creepy?

Then something similar happened. I was also looking for a cookery book on Amazon later that week. Lo and behold, I get an email a day or two later with a few alternative suggestions for cookery books I should consider.

In this instance, I wasn’t as spooked because Amazon has used a cookie to store your search history for as long as I can remember using the site. (I know this because I get recommended some lovely Cath Kidston kitchenware and kitchen wear each time I visit just because I bought some for my mum one Christmas.)

But, for me, there is a line that can be crossed between clever marketing and an invasion of privacy. That banner ad was like a little voice in my head that seemingly said, “Go on, buy me. Go on! Buy me. You know you will eventually because you’re weak.” Did it cross the line? To be honest, I’m not sure. Yes, I realise I can turn cookies off on my browser to stop this happening again, but I suppose my biggest worry is where it’s heading…

I remember a university lecturer telling us all that sooner rather than later the GPS feature found in many mobile phones would soon be used to advertise ads for a certain product or store as you walked past them in the street. Imagine walking past a KFC and your phone flashing an ad for their latest Mega Chicken Twister Tower Wrap thingy - I’d be huge within a year. At the time, I thought this lecturer was a little bonkers. Now I’m not so sure. After all, something not too dissimilar may already happen if you turn on your phone’s Bluetooth.

If this were to come true then surely the line between clever marketing and invasion of privacy has been crossed? When does an ad become a message that you can selectively filter and when does it become obtrusive and annoying? I’m afraid I’m too busy to tell you - I’ve got to go buy that bike.