Advertising, the invasion of privacy and the power of the mobile.

Advertising is an age old trick. There are records of the Egyptians using papyrus to make wall posters, commercial messages have been found in the remains of Pompeii and Ancient Arabia. 'Lost and Found' posters were used in the time of the Ancient Greeks and the Romans. In short, advertising has been around forever, and as an industry that grows larger and larger everyday, is not going to be disappearing any time soon.

In 2010, it was estimated that a whopping $467 billion was spent on advertising world wide, with $143 billion of that being in the US alone. That is an incredible amount of money and indicates just how prominent advertising is in our day to day lives. The beauty of advertising is that in this day in age, it can be done via any media platform. Whereas before it had to be printed on paper, we now have billboards, TV, radio, the internet, social media, mobiles. The world of advertising is not only bigger than ever before but also more varied and exciting than ever before. 

Perhaps the biggest development in advertising is mobile advertising. Whilst still a fairly new concept, and having only really been developed over the last five years, mobile advertising has been on a steady rise- and with 70% of the UK owning a smart phone, 90% of 16-24 year old's owning a smart phone and the average user checking their phone 150 times a day, mobile marketing is expected to exceed TV advertising by just 2016. Scared by this hefty increase? Read on...

It has to be acknowledged that advertising would be nothing without the constant and mind blowing increase in technology. In fact, over the last 5 years technology and advertising have really gone hand in hand. Thanks to such incredible developments in technology, advertising can now do a lot more than persuade you to buy a product. It can target a specific individual directly dependent on their personal tastes. 

Look on your facebook homepage. What clothing brands do you see advertised- and more specifically, what products from that brand do you see advertised? One's that maybe you've clicked on and added to your shopping basket? Or maybe you've tweeted about them, or written a status about them? Technology now allows this information to be stored and used by marketing companies to directly target an individual in an attempt to persuade them even more so to buy a particular product. 

Do any of you watch 4od? Perhaps you will have seen the new advert, which personalizes a bottle of perfume with your initials, or a bottle of coke with your name on- this makes the product seem more personal to you and entices you into buying  the product. Who doesn't love a personalized gift? 

An even more recent technological development that has made advertising even more personal to a buyer is a fairly new concept called 'geo-fencing'. For a lot of people, such as myself, who are not fully understanding of technology I shall break this concept down to you in simple terms. Geo-Fencing allows an individual to be targeted via their mobile when they are within a certain distance of a shop. For example, if you are near to a Pizza Hut (about 25 meters away), they would have the ability to text you with an offer from Pizza Hut in an attempt to reel you into the store. If you walked into Tesco's, you would receive a message letting you know what clubcard deals were available. 

Whilst this all seems amazing and tells us just how advanced technology is, and also seems rather helpful to an individual, just think about it a bit more. Is this not a pure invasion of privacy? A certain brand can track where you are in regards to their nearest store and try to reel you in. Online companies can take information from one website and use it to target you when you visit other websites. If it was a human being physically doing this to you, it would be classed as stalking. Surely advertising is no longer about selling a product but more about trying to gain as much information about an individual as possible. 

The latest technology/advertising development I have heard about that scared me more than impressed me is 'beaconing'. Let me break this down for you. You walk into a department store, such as Topshop and see a nice dress that you like. You decide to try it on. When you do, a message will appear on your phone telling you a pair of shoes, or a handbag that matches the dress and where in the store you can find it. 

To me, that is a total invasion of privacy. It also eradicates the need for Personal shoppers and essentially any store assistance besides the till at all. When will this development end? It seems as though soon, our phones will be dictating to us our every move. And this doesn't excite me, or impress me. It scares me. In 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, what role will humans play in society? Will we still have a role to play if technology- namely mobiles- have taken over everything? 

To me, we need to find the line in regards to advertising, privacy and mobiles, as to what is impressive, what is helpful and what is a total invasion of privacy. How do advertising companies know what people are comfortable with in regards to being directed as an individual? Surely they don't. I think the line between normality and what is essentially stalking is a very fine one, and one that needs to be dealt with with great care. 

2013 was the year of the mobile phone, and rather than declining after reaching an impressive peak, the industry is only growing. The world of technology is changing all the time, and the world is becoming a scary place.

Love from, 

Florence Grace

What's your opinion on the invasion of technology and marketing? Going too far or helpful and exciting? Let me know in the comments below, or get in touch using the links in the side bars!