Journal of Innovations

Vol. 2, Issue 3

How Do Consumers Feel about Their Data Being Used for Targeted Advertising? 

AUTHOR(S)

Kayla Fitzwater

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how consumers are affected by the ways marketers choose to gather their information. In specific, author asks consumers, through a survey, how they feel about personalized ads, whether user-generated, social media, and email advertisements are relevant to the consumer, if consumers trust social media advertising, and what consumers feel needs to change for them to view marketing more positively. The survey results showed that roughly 70% of consumers felt negatively about advertisements, only 25% trusted social media advertisements, and only approximately 35% of consumers said that the advertisements were relevant to their interests. The biggest complaints from consumers were that they felt social media sites couldn’t be trusted to give them trustworthy ads due to most of them being sponsored by marketers, and they didn’t like how companies were gathering their data. They felt like they were being listened to during conversations and being watched when surfing the internet. Consumers also mentioned feeling overwhelmed with the number of advertisements on their social media and through their emails. The research findings suggest that marketers should change their marketing strategy, making fewer advertisements of a higher quality.  Marketers should also consider their sources of consumer data. Buying consumer data from a third party or using personal information, such as health status or sexuality, will set consumers on edge and make them trust less. Furthermore, marketers should be more transparent with where they are getting their information and let the consumer know when data is being collected; this will help consumers feel less anxious about their privacy being invaded.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.62470/4c242781

CITE THIS ARTICLE 

Fitzwater, k. (2024). How Do Consumers Feel about Their Data Being Used for Targeted Advertising? Journal of Innovations. 2(3), 52-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.62470/4c242781