Advertisers are now viewed to have more power over public opinion
than the public themselves. I would like to argue that this is due to an
inactive public, not because advertisers are abusing their access to main
stream media. Consumers can argue that their privacy is being infringed on;
that their information is being used against their will. I ask them how many social
media accounts do they own? How many rewards cards have they signed up for? The
general public, educated or not, has participated in the free market long
enough that they should understand its most basic building block by now;
NOTHING is free. Every time you click ‘Accept’ or create a media profile, you
are giving someone the rights to your information. Until someone can come
forward and tell me that they have truly abstained from the marketing game by separating
themselves from the bodies that collect information, I will continue to argue
that the general public not only had it coming, but they asked for it.
I’m not saying that I like the situation or approve of it. I
do, however, believe that it is the responsibility of the public to take
ownership and responsibility for the role they play in the game if they want to
truly call it quits. It requires the same active dissension that massive government
revolutions require. I recognize that the messages portrayed by
mega-advertising companies are not always productive to the public psyche, but
if a citizen is not part of fixing the problem, then they’re part of the
problem. Mass media moves billions of dollars every day and we both benefit
from that flow and we suffer. The only way to change the odds in our favor is
to take control of the media. Your average American has accepted the life of a
follower and has a strong dissimilarity towards challenging the status-quo. Until
we as a society break this trend, then mass media is free to lead and shape
everything they see fit. They didn't take the power from us, we gave it to
them.
Hello, Justin. Thank you for your blog. I agree with you in this point: “Advertisers are now viewed to have more power over public opinion than the public themselves. I would like to argue that this is due to an inactive public, not because advertisers are abusing their access to main stream media. Consumers can argue that their privacy is being infringed on; that their information is being used against their will.”
ReplyDeleteSometimes an advertisement is good and useful. For example, if I need good car insurance, or health insurance, I read many advertisements and choose the best. But I if I don’t need a beer, for example, but some websites forced customers with their advertisements. I open website and can’t read the text, because many advertisements about beer or porno appear one by one. They try to control my reading.
What is my choice? I close this webpage and don’t read anything.
In this way, I think there are not trusted and not believable websites. And I believe there are a lot of good websites: trusted and believable.
I agree with you on the fact that advertisement nowadays have a greater influence on the public than other things. It does play a big part in the thing that the public chooses to buy and the things that they choose to do. I agree with the fact that the public is allowing and giving up their information and allowing companies to track them with every profile they make and with the more social web sites they choose to have. Even though no one wants to be tracked we need to realize that its is some what our fault that it happens and the only way to minimize it would be is that we need to be more aware of the things we associate ourselves with on the web.
ReplyDeleteI agree that consumers are partially responsible for allowing advertising and tracking to go so far. As long as people still allow companies to use their information, companies are not going to make any major changes to how they do business. In order to cause real change, people need to mass protest the media that sell their information.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, people do resist advertising. As Tatiana mentioned, advertisements can reduce the credibility of websites and are therefore more pervasive in social media and entertainment than anything else. In a sense, people do choose when to be influenced by advertisements and they separate this from when they are seeking unbiased information.
Your post has made me realize that it’s not always the companies’ fault for spamming people with advertisements. You make a good point when you say that nothing is free and every time we accept to the terms and conditions, we’re giving people the right to use our information. I completely agree with you in that it’s the publics’ responsibility to take ownership of what they post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Technology has the upper hand, and we should blame ourselves for posting to the various websites. As you said, part of the problem is that the average American does not want to change anything. Also, many Americans do not realize that companies are tracking them.
ReplyDeleteWhile people are pretty dumb about what they sign up for, I'd also argue that a lot of the lack of privacy created by the developers of these web platforms may be motivated less by malice and more out of stupidity, thanks to the magical world of Hanlon's Razor.
ReplyDeleteTo be sure, a lot of it comes from the dudebro white marketers, who I sincerely hope get stuck in that subsection of the 8th level of hell where you have to swim in all the bullshit you spewed in life; as depicted in Dante's Inferno*, a lot of them are just well-meaning dweeby silicon valley types who come from an "information wants to be free" viewpoint thanks to tech culture.
Of course, this is because they're likely priveleged enough not to have a sexual orientation, whether it be LGBTQI or A, that they're afraid of being outed for or having any strong; controversial political views (See also, the corporate crackdown on Occupy and the NSA spying) that might piss off the G-Men. Because, again, dweeby white guys. And that's why we need to not only make them aware of these possible problems, but also make them aware of the human stakes of what they're doing making all our data public and makes them care about it, rather than making us come off as a bunch of killjoys.
*No, I did not make it up, that's actually in there. Medeval writers loved them some toilet humor.