The Morality of Online Advertising

I think that target marketing becomes an invasion of privacy when a company or advertising agent uses cookies from your browser to gain personal information, such as your address, or phone number without permission. I think that targeting a 21-year-old student to drink instead of come to office hours isn’t exactly what you would consider “moral”, but that is simply how the business world works. Businesses are going to market groups that bring them the most profit whether it is exactly “moral” or not. In the end it is the individuals’ decision on whether or not they go to office hours or go out drinking. If the company or business knows that their audience is engaged by environmental issues its not wrong to focus on what their market is interested in. The company is performing smart marketing techniques by creating advertisement that attract their audience’s attention. I think that in the end the individual has to be aware that companies online are trying to gain profits by advertising things relatable to you and things that intrigue you. You have to be aware that you are putting yourself and personal information at risk when you shop or search on the internet. 

My major is "Advertising Management", online advertising and digital platforms are a big change and improve for the advertising industry. However, as a customer, I think online adverting make me afraid of it. It knows too much information and personal habit for me. Some customers do not care about this or they really like marketers send them information about what they want frequently, but there are also a large amount customers really hate these advertisements.

I was recently informed that Facebook has begun to monitor the "phone calls", which its users make through the platform and that it will potentially use the information to fuel its advertising machine and essentially gain more money from the companies advertising on its platform, as it will be able to target the customers even more directly. To me, as a private customer, this sounds insane, however, as a marketer it sound like a great opportunity to seek out a new way to communicate and engage with customers. Nevertheless, I think companies need to be extremely careful when committing to these activities, as I do not believe that all customers will percieve it as very positive and the companies could end up loosing the trust of its customer, which could essentially make a cut in their revenue. Is this ethical, well i is definitely something new that people has to get used to. 

Online adverstising has been deemed an invasion of privacy by many, however I do not agree with these accusations. Everyone who uses the internet is putting themselves and all the information they share on the internet at risk. For companies to not take advantage of that public information just would not be smart. For anyone on any social media websites, you have to realize that stopping people from accessing information about you is vuirtually impossible, so I dont believe you can be mad when information is used attract you to products. 

Nowadays, we should consider ethical questions seriously because technology develops rapidly and the regulation cannot catch up. There is no rule to follow. When it comes to something controversial, I think it’s better to run surveys before launch the ad. The judgement of an ad depends on how people think of it. Therefore, knowing people’s opinions of it is a good way to make sure the ad wouldn’t cause ethical controversies.

I still think marketing targets is a little invasive to my privacy and my computer but I am understanding more why companies use these techniques with customers.  They are targeting my interests, habits, and site visits to try and advertise to my needs.  I think this is successful becasue I typically get e-mails of things I actually look at on their website or buy from them.  Like a store I go to, I only by jeans there and I typically only get e-mails about pants and rarely about other clothing options.  It's like the advertising exectuives just want me to have the information I need and will use because otherwise they are really wasting their resources advertising something they know I most likely won't buy.

I honestly think that the research and inbound marketing is helpful as a consumer. I find things I'm interested in and looking for with more ease than I would with out it. If there's a line to be drawn, I definitly don't think the advertising industry has reached it yet. 

I did a research and searched some materials about how my brand uses various social media. And we believe they owned perfect system and plan for using social media. Nowadays, the online advertising plays an important role in our daily life. Cause a lot of young people are willing to reading something online via various social media. If I own a company I will utilize different types of online advertising for enhancing its influence to a various group of people.

After finishing the Inbound Marketing Assignment and learning more about how my brand practices it, I still stand with the previous point I made. There is a certain line that I feel like shouldn't be crossed when it comes to online marketing and reaching your subscriber's mailbox. But all in all, I would say that its a very effective technique and a lot of brands have definitely benefitted from it a lot. 

As a student in advertising major, I value online advertising from two different aspects. One is from advertisers' aspect, another is from audiences' aspect, and this is because I am kind of playing both roles right now. It would be very effective and efficient for advertisers posting online advertisements for target audiences. Especially in today's society, more and more people are using internet to do daily stuff. The rate of exposure of a brand will be increased by using online advertising. However, sometimes there will also be cases that the audiences or the users of a certain website get annoyed by the online advertisements. Especially if the content of the advertising is not very relevant to what the audiences' real needs.

As a student who studies Advertising, I think online advertising is much easier and accurate to target potential customers. But as a user or a customer sometimes I feel online advertising is a little bit annoying especially when I was watching and browsing a website. Some of the websites just pop out some commercials and interrupted me. For me, I don't think the question you mentioned above matters. 21 years old student is an adult and he/she can make his decision and if anything happened he/she should take the responsibility for himself.

Followed with the development of technology, tranditional advertising waning day by day. I like the online social media, it is selective and more promotional. Online advertising on the basis of your information, recent search. Different people may get different online advertising. I think it promote the efficiency of target aduience.

This is a age of social media, everybody share their life on the social media. Online advertising will become a mainstream advertising form. Using social media target audience is more accuracy, people post their personal information on social media, that is the way easily spread your advertising to them. I like online advertising it suit for me.

I think online advertising is useful in this society. Because traditional media cannot over the  geographical restrictions, it can only affect a particular area. But once any information is available on the Internet, users on the Internet all over the world can see it on his computer screen. In this sense, the Internet will be a high-tech media with a global impact. Low-cost advertisements Although the advertisements of radio and television stations are calculated in seconds, they cost tens of thousands at every turn; newspapers and advertisements are also expensive and exceed the individual capacity of most units. Internet computer networks save on the cost of newspaper printing and radio and television production costs, significantly reducing the cost of the vast majority of individuals can afford. Also, Speediness refers to the release of information on the one hand and the feedback and replacement of information on the other hand. For advertising operations, the time it takes to submit a material to publication can be hours or less. 

Since this class started, I have been researching my brand, Nordstrom Rack, and as result I frequent their site and as a result now my Facebook feed is full of product suggestions from Nordstrom Rack. I thought that I knew these are just tactics employed by brands and I won't fall prey to it. But believe it or not, I still end up clicking on that out of curiosity and check out their products and believe it or not, after a month and half doing "research" on the brand, I have spent a sizable amount shopping on the website. Welcome to the world of online advertising and its effects. Even educated consumers aren't spared.

I do believe online advertising is useful and effective. No one can live without using internet, so the online advertising is best and fast way to show their products to audiences. People are easily to reach them by online advertising.

I think is ok to target 21-year-old students, because they are all adult now, and they should be responsible for the decision that they made. but the night bar should double check to make sure everyone is 21-year-old or older.

I think online advertising is a good and convenient way to promote products to consumers. It is more directly than flyers or billboard. I feel online advertising already accepted by most people and people can just click the ads if they want to purchase the product. Online video advertising is really working for most consumers because they may think the ad is interesting then keep looking that. This way could attract more audiences than picture online advertising. As for an ethical ad, it cannot contain some too sensitive topic or unhealthy message.

I think online advertising is very effective and sort of creepy... I know the cookies on our browsers are for sale and they use that to more effectively target products towards us, but sometimes it's really annoying. Personally I think it's hard to draw the line between what works and what's ethical because everyone reacts differently to ads. Some people have more money than others and so ads are merely a simple reminder to them so they can buy the products they were previously looking at. 

I do think the online advertising is useful. Online advertising is one of the most effective ways for businesses of all sizes to expand their reach, find new customers, and diversify their revenue streams. With so many options available from PPC and to online display advertising and in-app ads – online advertising can be intimidating to newcomers. Online advertising is a kind of metric to know the efforts. on the other hand, lots of young people are willing to use the online ad, because it is convenience. 

For advertisers, online advertising has created a new era, we can target our audiences easier. For audiences, it is annoying to watch the same message over and over on different platforms. I think online advertising is ethical as long as it is legal. For the example on the blog, students are attracted by the ads published by the bar and they go to bars on Thursday night. The professors can also send attractive messages (e.g. "Free beers in office hour on Thursday" ) to get students' attention. It is a fair competition.

Online advertising is really important and become more and more common in recent years. There are both advantages and disadvantages to audiences. Different online advertising target to different kinds of people. People will get atracted by the online advertising they interested in. For me, I think it is ok that to target the 21 years old student to go to a bar. A bar will try their best to advertise people to drink rather then let them go to visit the office hour.

Like you mentioned, online advertising has many advantages. It is obviously the most effective and efficent way to market a brand, campaign, etc. But, sometimes it can get a little bit creepy. My friends and I are convicned that smartphone are listening to our conversations. I know that once you search for something online, their ads will pop up on your webpages more frequently than other things. But, we have noticed that we will be talking about something so random and then we will open safari, or open an app that shows ads or recommendations of products, like amazon app, on our phones and the random thing we talked about will appear. None of us have previously searched the item, but the voice activation on our phones picked up on the products we are talking about. I guess it is smart in the distributers eyes but, in my opinion, it is an invasion of privacy and just really creepy.

There are definitely many things with online advertising I could say would be taking it too far. Something actually happened to me this year with my targeted ads on my phone, where I literally was talking about something to do with a ski trip or snowboarding, and that same day I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and saw an ad that had to do with exactly what I was talking about. Whether it was the freaky things they do on the iPhone like track what you are doing in your browser and carry that data into your other social media apps, or using the microphone while using apps, I immediately noticed my microphone was turned on for the longest time in my Instagram app and had turned it off ever since that happened to me. Another online advertising instance that also took it too far was with the microphone used with the Facebook mobile app as well. I remember having some conversation with my friend about some movie or TV show, and that same day she had a picture or ad from one of the characters show up in her Facebook newsfeed......it's instances like this have scarred/haunted me and I think are just down right wrong and a HUGE invasion of privacy and, quite frankly, I think should be illegal.

Online advertising is the definition of a gray area to me. It is hard to know where to draw the line, and an even harder task to draw the line in your own ethics/morals in our field. But in order to our job in the field of advertising I think it is good to have a clear line drawn before you even start the career because if not you will end up getting yourself in a situation that is uncomfortable and it may affect your work in a negative way.

For me I see a minimum line and a maximum line. The minimum being children advertising to children should not be allowed as much as it is. If you have every watched Disney channel it is filled with advertisements about different products it sticks more to just talking about the channel and the shows which in its own way is advertising but it is not trying to constantly buy something and it is not as easy to do. Online everything is just a click away with their mom’s credit cards hooked up. Not Okay!

The problem with the internet is that it is an absolute free-for-all zone. There is almost zero regulation and that can show in advertising. As an advertiser, it is important that we do not lose site of our ethical principles. I believe online advertising is the new wave and should be respected as such. There is much uncharted territory, thus, leaving advertisers questioning when too much, is actually too much. I think it is by far the most effective tool to a company because everyone in this age is digital and has an online presence of some sort. Online advertising reaches such a wide variety of people and targets them primarily on what their intrests are. 

However, I draw the line at marketing to the youth. Kids under the age of 18 are so impressionable and take everything so seriously, that marketing to them about drugs, and alcohol should be illegal. They barely have the ability to chose when they can use the bathroom in class, let alone, how much alcohol they can consume, especially in American culture. Our drinking age is so high and that hinders us as a whole because binge drinking and alcoholism rates soar due to it being taboo for so long. 

On my opinion, online advertising has more advantages than disadvantages. The economy can be improved by online advertising because there will be more demands. For those under ages, I don't think they will be mislead. The law state that under age can't be allowed to drink, but some of them still drink in the party. So, for the one would be "mislead", they will be "mislead" anyway. But they know what is "Okay" to do what is "Not Okay". So that I believe in this question, online advertising is nescssary.

I believe online advertising is a great tool for companies to utilize as long as it is within means. Since we live in a world that is driven by the internet, what better way to show your brand than on something everyone uses. On the contrary, I believe that it is unethical to stalking what a person likes and views. It seems almost an invasion of privacy to me and creeps me out to think about it. I think that that is a line in online advertising that shouldn't be crossed.

I believe we discussed this lask week, but I stand by my position that marketers have a responsibility to not target at-risk populations like children, etc. Most consumer don't like being "sold to" and believe that too much advertising or targeting can be annoying/creepy. Advertisers are better off use targeting for general demographics without needing to delve deeply into user's personal information.

From a capitalist perspective, it's a wonderful thing that marketing and the internet have evolved hand in hand, allowing for more precisely targeted marketing tactics (and greater profits...) than ever before. With an abundance of data and analytics, producers/brands can put their products in the hands of consumers faster and easier than ever, and that means more money for producers and brands. Now, if I owned a large corporation, I would probably say this is a great thing because I would be making incredible profits. However, when looking at the big picture and considering the potential impacts of hyper-precise marketing on society as a whole, I'm inclined to think it has great potential to be abused in a way that does more harm than good. For example, maybe one company is using modern internet marketing to funnel fidget spinner ads directly to kids aged 10-16 years old, which isn't doing much harm and is making the company some good money. However, maybe another company is using the same modern internet marketing tactics to funnel cigarette ads to students as soon as they turn 18, and alcohol ads as soon as they turn 21, causing more students to start smoking and drinking that never would have before. Perhaps some would say that this is immoral, and targeting youth with substances should not be allowed. Now lets be honest, most people don't pick up harmful habits from a few ads, but some people might, and over time that small amount may grow larger. At the end of the day, we have to realize as a society that precise internet marketing has the potential to be abused in various ways, and perhaps consider some type of standards related to its use. It's easy to say that we should draw the line wherever marketing becomes immoral, but the reality is that the confines of morality can be viewed differently depending on each individual person, and there is no agreed upon definition for what is "moral". In my overall opinion, I think the current state of hyper-targeted internet marketing should be toned down as the levels of invasiveness and potential for abuse have reached an all-time high. However, there's no doubt this is a very complex question, and that's largely because people have such varying opinions on morality, especially in regards to the pursuit of profits.

I draw the line when ads are targetting specific people to incite action. This incitement just seems wrong and in today's media network where there is a mob mentality towards specific users, it is just sad to see. A great example is a movement of "feminist" who are targeted by others to incite violence toward video game developers because of how female characters look. These people, by the way, do not even play or care about games but because they are targeted it is all of sudden a social issue instead of a couple individuals who actually care.

I honestly think it is depend on the role of yourself in this market. If you are a receiver, then first of all you are still making decision on your own. You are just more intended to get tempted by those advertisements that you are interested in. Either going for a party on a friday night by caused you got attracted by the party event page on the facebook, it is still you youself making decision. If you end uping can not handle the attraction from the party, then that means you want to go to the party. If you would rather studying at home, then you won't even turn on the facebook page.

I think that online marketing allows consumers to purchase exactly waht they want without having to look for it. I think that saves a lot of time and is really convieniant, but has flaws. I could imagine that if anyone wanted, they could hack that inforamtion and use it maliciously. Even though the possibility of a hck is very possible, I don't think that very important information is at risk, just a few private details that most likely arern't that big. Online marketing, in my opinion, has a stronger positive impact and is worth the risk of a possible hack. I believe that the infomration that you may lose is not somehing big like your social security number, but information that is a fleeting interest or a topic that you looked into.

I dont see the harm in targeting 21 year olds to come out drink. I think its smart to advertise towards certain demographics, it keeps people interested. It becomes peoples personal choice whether they would like to particpate or be responsible and go to office hours. Life is about choices and we live and learn from them. 

First of all, I think online advertising is a very fast and low-cost way. It is different from the traditional advertising, its more common and efficient, and it can  also make people memorable to it. For example, when you are watching TV, it will always before it plays, even if you skip, it will still play in the next episode. The impact of this online advertising on people is subtle. So its content is also very important, for example,if the online advertising's content is learning is more meaningful than drinking,  people will get more positive impression of learning. I think online advertising should also be more positive and have its own moral standards.

Sometimes it can be very possible for online advertising to cross the line and invade people's privacy with the way that they target them. But without online advertising it would be so difficult this day in age to reach the right people who are interested in the brand and will purchase the brand's products. All advertising can do is try and convince someone to buy a product, even though they may be advertising something that may not be appropriate it is essentially the consumer's decision if they want to buy the product or not. So yes, online definitely can cross the line in some ways or another but ethically is is not un-ethical. 

I believe that is the job of an advertiser to determine what their target audience finds as morally acceptable. I believe if the product you are advertising isn’t illegal, outright immoral, or dangerous then you should be able to advertise your product. In the case of advertising to 21-year-old MSU students I feel like that is acceptable. You’re not forcing a consumer to come out to the bar, you are simply a business owner advertising a product.

In the case of posting articles related to environmental issues, I feel as though you shouldn’t shy away from posting articles to raise a discussion. If the discussion remains civil and well moderated, then I believe there is nothing ethically wrong with it.

I believe it’s our duty as advertisers to sell a product or service even in the face of controversy.

It all depends on the product or service that is being advertised. If a bar is advertising for students to come out and drink at night then that would make more sense that advertising students to go visit office hours. Targeting 21-year olds for a fun night out is fine because of their age and demographics. It is ethical and something you need to capture the audience's attention to sell your product or service any way you can. 

Due to the development of the online advertising, most of people may use the social media and other online resources everyday. To be honest, the online advertising is lower cost, easy to catch people's attention and well known. But the cons of the online advertising are still a few. First of all, the online advertising may bring some bad programs to users' computer accidently. People may crush their computer when they were clicking into the online advertising. And secondly, the online advertising may uses the customers personal information like phone number, email address in a wrong way. People may lost their personal information online. 

Online advertising is omnipresent and not going anywhere, so we definitely need to discuss the ethical and moral dilemnas it presents. I think it's appropriate for a company to market things to a specific audience, whether they are college students looking for a deal on beer or environmental activists looking for a product that doesn't harm the environment. While I do think online advertising is quite intrusive in the way companies can track and tailor advertisements according to our online habits, it seems as though there is nothing we can do about that. If we are going to use the Internet now, we must also accept that we are going to be tracked and advertised to by companies and ideas we frequent online. Where I think some companies cross the line is when they advertise funeral homes to someone searching for therapy about a dead family member or something along those lines. While I don't expect this to change, it definitely rubs me the wrong way to have a company taking advantage of people in desperate times. 

Online advertising is designed to be convenient, with lower cost, and easy to control. Online advertising should be managed well in case losing people's private information. Invasion of privacy is about people because people do this, not the system. So, what we should do is to protect privacy information from strangers by installing the security system. Also, the government should add a policy about online information security into the law. 

As the development of the online advertising, people are targeted through many channels and social media. Sometimes, the online advertising is kind of invasion of privacy because the companies use people's profile, address, phone number, and preferences to maximize their profits. Actually, people hate this since their private information is exposed. I think the companies should keep customers' information safe and protect their customers. 

It is crazy how much advertising is around us, researchers have said that you see anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day and I completely believe this to be true. From the minute you wake up you see an ad on your cereal box to an ad on a particular piece of clothing you might wear. Now with ads being on the internet and through other electronic devices, we see even more of them than someone did say 50 years ago. I think that retargeted ads (when you are shopping for a flight and then see that airlines website on your facebook page a few hours later) are genius and a great, morally ethical way to advertise. I was obviously wanting to look at that and to have a reminder of it a few hours later drives their business up. I couldn't think of an unethical ad so I did some Googling and found a few that I was appalled by. PETA has an ad for going vegan that shows a cartoon lady (who is overweight) that reads "Save the whales. Lose the blubber. Go vegan". Poking fun at someones (even when it is a cartoon) weight isn't okay and crosses that line. There are many other ways to promote a vegan lifestyle than calling someone who isn't one fat. Basically, you have to think "will this hurt someone else" before posting an ad and if the answer is "yes", I would think of a different way to advertise whatever it is. 

I feel that there are many lines that online advertisements can cross. It is up to advertisers to set a standard for society. If they are intentionaly enourageing young people to drink instead of study or childeren that they need the newest sugary cereal with ads that are extremely hard to ingnore or resist, then their having a negative effect on society. How easy it is for companies to target specific groups is what makes it unfair and why there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. For example, ads can be put up on popular gaming websites that childeren visit that look like games but encourage the childeren to buy products that arent good for them. 

Our world has becoming more digitally orienated in the last couple of years. Therefore,  we have seen an increase in online advertising, and more importantly, more advertising on social media platforms. This is  great but there's a fine line between when these advertisments show up and the level of intrusion that occurs.  For example if you search up flights on expedia, and then go to Facebook an ad regarding booking flights will show up, which isn't  a coincedence because there was an algorithim made to bring up,  that expedia advertisment while borowsing Facebook. Online  advertsing is great and can be effective if used properly. At the same time,  I believe online advertising can have effect on how we live out our daily lives, because we're always  surrounded by ads. 

Online advertising is the fastest growing form of advertising to-date. Most people today look and use the internet more than any other form of media, making it the number one place to utilize for advertising to reach the biggest possible audience. I believe when it comes to advertising being ethical should always be one of the main concerns and things to follow. You can definitely cross this line in advertising, whether it’s intentional or not. An example of crossing the ethical line, made me think of a time I saw an advertisement at Central Michigan University during my freshman year there. There was this pastor that every so often would stand in the middle of one of the big crosswalks you had walk through to get to class, promoting converting to Christianity. While there is nothing wrong with promoting Christianity (I am a Christian in fact), his signs he had were completely and uttering offensive and unethical. One part of his sign said something along the line of “If you don’t convert to Jesus you will be condemned to hell.” Another part of his sign said something offensive about abortion like, “You are committing a sin that will send you to hell and are a murderer if you have an abortion.” Beside that they also had a gruesome picture of a fetus. How would that make people feel who aren’t Christian? Or maybe someone who has already had an abortion? I found this to be extremely unethical and quite frankly only giving people a bad outlook on Christianity. There is nothing welcoming about these “ads”, and only makes people want to turn away from Christianity, and gives good Christians a very bad report. Although there are many other examples I could put, this is one that came immediately to my mind as a form of an “unethical” advertisement. (I was extremely sick this week, that’s why I’m just now making my post, if you could take that into consideration I would greatly appreciate it, and it won’t happen again.) Thank you!

Online advertising is today's newest form of advertising. it is a quick and easy way for a brand to get their word out about promotions, products, and events. Even, targeting a specific audience based off of their likes or age. When it comes to advertising, it is extremely effective and most times, efficient. But is a huge invasion of our personal privacy. As much as I like to know about certain adveetisements, it can become uncomfortable seeing producets specifically for you or products that you've clicked on in the past and now resurfacing. I feel online advertising can't be avoided, no matter what we do. Especially in today's society, there is always going to be new and upcoming technology and techniques to target certain individuals. 

Online advertising is great for advertising.  I can't really imagine the internet without online advertisments.  But to a point it is an invasion of privicy.  However, people are accustomed to this and they know their information will be available online, yet they still continue to use the internet.  In that sense, those individuals are consenting to this tracking for advertisments.  When the information used for advertisers becomes more useful to the general public, it could be bad.

Online advertising is a great method of promoting many different products.  It is sort of hard to create an ethical approach on the Internet.  This is because I feel that everyone has their own personal views so being outraged by an add is up to that person to try to block that ad on their personal computer.  I do not feel that ads that continuously cover a webpage are being viewed a lot, however ads that are simple and gives an optional link to the viewer are much better to me. 

I think the idea of online advertising is very effective and efficient. However, I would draw the line when this type of advertising interferes or makes individuals feel uncomfortable to the point where it violates their privacy.  

I also like the examples given along with the questions we had to answer as part of this exercise. They were really interesting to think about and develop different perspectives and ideas. 

This is really interesting and brought up some scenarios that I hadn't thought of before. I don't mind online advertising, I think I tend to tune out a lot of it. I do get a little creeped out when I'm re-targeted and see ads for items I have looked at previously on other sites. Honestly, it feels like that high-pressure sales person who won't leave me alone.