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Programmatic Advertising Woes: A Fried Chicken Disasterpiece
I’m no stranger to the world of advertising, but even I was caught off guard when I came across an ad for chicken wings and fries in an article about the death and destruction of the Ukranian war. The disconnect between the life-and-death images of the war and the crispy chicken dipped in spicy barbecue sauce was jarring, to say the least.
Unfortunately, this type of inappropriate ad placement is all too common thanks to the world of programmatic advertising.
Programmatic Advertising — Promises and Problems
Programmatic advertising is a system that uses algorithms and data to target ads to specific audiences. It lets advertisers use algorithms and data to buy and sell ad space in real time. While this can be a great innovation for businesses, allowing them to reach their desired audience more effectively, there’s a long list of pros and cons to it. Sometimes, the downsides are quite severe
One major issue is that the ads we see are often disconnected from the content they appear with. This can lead to frustrating or even offensive combinations, like the cruise missile-chicken wings combo I mentioned earlier.
As a human being with a moral compass, I’m tempted to criticize the ethics of programmatic…
