Ever see an ad that says "Kiwi Mum makes it big"? Or does the one you see say "Japanese Mother shows wise investment path" or "American Mom gets the big bucks"? All these lead to the same site. I only see the Kiwi version, being from New Zealand but after seeing Kiwi Bloke and Kiwi Grandma also making it big, I realise these ingenious little ads are computer generated. Look up the IP address and blammo. You got yourself a "personalised ad". But you have not. You just have a bunch of labels that are approximate guesses at your demographic based on something you already know about yourself. Where you are.
Being told things that identify your demographic is deceptive. Sure they may be making google money and they may even be true in a generalised sense - yes - it is true - a Kiwi mum has made it big - somewhere. It does not mean that the advertising is going to lead the interested to the same pile of dosh, does it.
The great thing about disingenuous advertising is that it helps pay people who have nothing to offer. Ponzi/Pyramid schemes get shut down but time wasters? "Find out who has a crush on you" sounds harmless enough, until you get sucked into paying for the text message saying something like "It is someone you know, better than you think!" for $3.49
The explosion of "new media" - conversational software like Twitter - is partly due to the totally variant and interesting voice of random individuals. It is a delightful modernist exercise. It so often publishes our inner voice. It's public nature mimics the walls of denial we throw about ourselves called "privacy". Twitter shows this to be a construct. We have built walls about ourselves to prevent the intrusion of the generic. The advert that attempts to sucker us into a scam.
Free web tools that do so much more than the gimmicky rip offs that ramp up the mobile bills for the 20 something set are becoming the default method of communicative socialising. This is not due to their efficiency but the degree of broadcast spread potential. Anyone can be "famous".
But the same old ads get churned up because only the mobile companies have masses of cash. This is the next bubble. Generational wealth transfer by provision of the useless to the mindless. The problem is not that google makes money from running these ads - it is that it loses relevance as people learn to ignore them.
Advertising is about to evolve hugely. We have not yet found the answer to prevent the death of the medium. It seems to want to convince us that it is annoying and irrelevant. Google should provide an editor to provide some value to their ads.
Television commercials in France are sometimes works of art. The return of art to the medium of advertising means great writing, great imagery and a really good product behind the advert.
The boom in social networking is due to a postmodern need for authenticity combined with the modernist need for historical relevance and place. If celebrities use the service and I make friends with them, then the idea or promise of it is the value imparted. It is an illusion - but entertainment is a product.
You do not need to pay $3.49 for a text message joke or chat room access. Advertising fake products can not survive in this connected world.
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