Big Brother Is Watching You

 

There are times when I am on my phone and I will see an advertisement for a product or service that I have searched for or only thought about in my head. It is as if someone is reading my mind. Am I being watched? It is like Big Brother in George Orwell’s book 1984. Big Brother was an all-seeing leader who became a universal symbol for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy. Orwell’s book was the inspiration for Apple’s commercial in 1984. The commercial, which was the debut of the Apple Macintosh personal computer, featured a woman running into a crowd watching a Big Brother figure on a television screen. The woman tossed a sledgehammer through the screen. What does all of this have to do with advertising? Whether we realize it or not, many advertisers are paying companies like Google and Facebook to place strategic ads on our screens. Some people might think of advertisers as Big Brother because the constant ads online and on social media can be invasive. Advertisers are willing to go to great lengths to get their message heard by a large audience. 

 

                                                        Photo from Apple

Social Media Advertising

Advertising on a social media site like Facebook and Instagram is a key component to building a brand. According to the Pew Research Center, 69 percent of adults used at least one social media platform in 2017. The top performing ads on social media sites can use “geolocation technology on mobile devices, allowing for hyperlocal ads to target users with a predetermined area” (Business.com, 2018). Geolocation technology allows advertisers to see where consumers are located through their mobile devices that are converted into specific GPS coordinates. This is helpful for advertisers, but unnerving for some consumers. It is hard to think about your location being known by an outside source. However, many of us open ourselves up to being found by outside sources because we use our mobile devices to browse the internet and our social media sites. My brother made the decision to remove his Facebook and Instagram sites because he wanted to remove himself from social media. He is also in the Army and likes to be off the grid. Those of us who are doing daily internet searches and online purchases on our smartphone will be more susceptible to ads on the internet and on social media.

Companies use Facebook advertising as one of many platforms to reach their target audience. Facebook offers an array of targeting options and multiple ad placement choices. Advertisers would need to know their objective, target audience and budget before placing a Facebook ad. Then, they would create the ad to send to the audience. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, allows companies to advertise through a single image, a carousel or a video. A company’s target audience can either tap through to a company’s profile or visit a company’s website on Instagram.

Advertisers also use retargeting ads, which are “a type of online advertising that involves showing display ads to users who have already expressed interest in your business, such as by visiting your website, liking your Facebook page or subscribing to your email list” (Heitman, 2017). Retargeting ads can often appear on Facebook. I have received retargeting ads when I have visited retail store sites on my Facebook page. Social media sites may help advertisers bring their brand’s message to a large audience, but that can backfire when a brand’s message is deemed offensive by many consumers. For example, Peloton introduced an advertisement for its stationary exercise bike back in December 2019. The advertisement is about a woman being given the Peloton bike for Christmas from her husband. It then shows how she used it throughout the course of a year. At the end, she thanks her husband for a present that some might say was offensive. The company received backlash from some members of the public who thought the advertisement was sexist and endorsed hurtful relationship dynamics. Ryan Reynolds took advantage of Peloton’s faux pas and had Monica Ruiz, the actress used in Peloton’s commercial, appear in his advertisement for Aviation Gin. At a bar, she sits with some friends and downs a martini in one swig after giving a toast to new beginnings. To try to avoid Peloton’s mistake, advertisers need to think about avoiding stereotypes for their products or services. Just because an advertisement is fine for one group of people doesn’t necessarily mean it is fine for others.

The Future of Advertising

As the internet evolves and new technology is developed, advertisers need to keep abreast of new and emerging trends. One of those trends is augmented reality. Remember Pokémon Go? That was a popular augmented reality game that used geolocation to control physical reality with tech-discoverable Easter eggs. Advertisers can use augmented reality to create virtual experiences around their brand or products. “The big boom of augmented reality is happening, as phone manufacturers are already developing AR-capable devices and that creates a large window of untapped potential for advertisers,” said Halli Bruton, content and social media account executive with Burdette Ketchum” (Business.com, 2018). Advertisers and marketers have been looking at using Snapchat’s various photo filters as a type of augmented reality. Companies need to adapt and evolve to new technologies if they want to stay in competition with their competitors. When companies fall behind on new trends, their brand will suffer.

Product Placement

Product placement is a form of advertising that can be traced back to 1927. In the silent film Wings, a prominently placed Hershey’s bar could be found in one scene. Since 1927, advertisers have been using movies to showcase their products. Some examples of product placement include Rolex watches in Ocean’s Eleven, Ray-Ban sunglasses in Risky Business and Nike in Back to the Future. Sometimes a company’s products can be placed in a scene inadvertently. A modern-day coffee cup which strongly resembled the familiar Starbucks paper cup appeared in a shot during the final season of the HBO television series Game of Thrones in 2019. “Usually, product placement is initiated and regulated through an agreement between a brand and a media company” (Tunikova, 2018). Advertisers and media companies both benefit from this type of advertising. The advertisers get the exposure they need for their brands and media companies get paid by the advertisers of the brands. Product placement is also used by advertisers who utilize guerilla marketing strategies. Two guerilla marketing techniques that use product placement are stealth marketing and street marketing. Stealth marketing engages with customers through subtle and creative marketing strategies. Street marketing uses nontraditional methods to reach a larger audience and increase brand awareness. An example of stealth marketing is FedEx boxes used in the movie Cast Away. An example of street marketing is Kit Kat’s take a break challenge which involved outdoor ads with one-person bench seats attached to big Kit Kat signs throughout Amsterdam and Utrecht. One person taking a break at the right moment would win a brand new Nexus 7 tablet. These marketing strategies help brands gain greater exposure and stand out from the crowd.

In conclusion, advertisers building a brand need to be willing to adapt to new technologies that can promote their brands. Just about any social media platform can be used to promote a brand or product. YouTube and TikTok have ads placed in videos on their platforms. Some consumers just think of online and social media ads as spam. Advertisers think of online and social media ads as a gateway to their target audience. Brands that showcase creative ways to promote their brand will continue to be relevant for years to come. Companies that do not think ahead will be left behind.

References:

Heitman, S. (2021, March 31). 6 Terrific Types of Online Advertising You Need to Try. Retrieved April 25, 2021 from https://localiq.com/blog/types-of-online-advertising/

How Technology Is Changing Online Advertising (2018). Retrieved April 25, 2021 from https://www.business.com/articles/how-technology-is-changing-online-advertising/

Tunikova, O. (2018). Product Placement-A Good Advertising Adaptation? Retrieved April 25, 2021 from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.business2community.com/marketing/product-placement-good-advertising-adaptation-02026643/amp

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