Written by: Sydney Villanueva
Let’s talk about creepy advertisements. It happens to all of us, all of the time. Just last week I Googled IPSY, the subscription box brand, because I was researching it for a project. I exited my browser, pulled out my phone to go on Instagram, and what do you know? There was an ad for IPSY. I find that this most frequently happens to me on Instagram and Facebook.
Companies have taken targeted advertisements to a whole new level in recent years with something called cookies—and no, I’m not talking about the kind that you eat.
According to Privacy.net, “cookies are used to remember things about websites: your login information, what you have in your shopping cart, and what language you prefer.” The cookies that make those creepy ads pop up on all of your social media accounts are called third-party persistent cookies/tracking cookies. Other websites can access cookies they didn’t necessarily create in the first place, making cookies a powerful tool in advertising.
Although targeted ads can seem creepy, your name isn’t attached to the cookies in any way, shape or form; however, they do categorize you in groups for targeted advertisements.
Companies are well aware that targeted ads can persuade people to buy items that they were initially not going to purchase. That’s why they use them.
I have been on the verge of buying an item online and decide against it plenty of times, but ads that continually pop up on my social media accounts eventually make me want to purchase the item after all.
Users can take action to avoid these types of cookies, but it’s getting harder and harder to avoid them all together these days. One way to prevent these stalker-like ads is clearing all of the cookies from your web browser often. If you’re really concerned about being targeted by ads, the New York Times has a great article on free tools you can use to help it stop.
Picture source: https://digiday.com/media/know-cookies-guide-internet-ad-trackers/