Media Tech Business

… and he is us. (Walt Kelly, Pogo)

For years I’ve enjoyed asking a couple of simple questions when speaking to online advertising, marketing and media groups:

- “How many of you delete your cookies?”

- “How many of you use ad blockers?”

Try it the next time you’re in front of a roomful of advertising and media professionals. I’ll bet you will find that at least a third, and often more than half, of the audience will raise their hands. They are the professionals, and they don’t get it.

They think that internet advertising is an invasion of privacy, an unwanted distraction, and a downright unAmerican practice. If people in the business don’t understand, how can we expect ordinary web users to welcome cookies, targeting and advertising generally?

Lots of people in the online business tend to be self-absorbed and smug about how they have changed the world. Well, they’ve done a poor job of educating themselves and the people around them who have made them successful.

How about a web-wide blackout? Every website would replace its contents with a blank screen for a few minutes at a peak time of day. And here’s the message they’d put on the screen instead:

This is your internet without advertising.

Please disable your ad blocker, enable your cookies and enjoy the great free content.

Tags: Ad Blockers, Behavioral Targeting, Data, Digital Economy, Digital Publishing // Add Comment »