In a Washington Post article this week, staff writer Rachel Beckman shares her hilarious (to us anyway) experience of Facebook calling her fat. Based on some unidentified data in her profile, possibly her status as "engaged," the facebook targeting engine begin serving her ads for how to get rid of "muffin top" and how to "not be a fat bride." A laughing matter? Hardly. This is a shining, and often too common, example of targeted advertising gone bad.
With all the potentially "good" uses of targeted advertising, why does a site as large and popular as Facebook make such a mistake? Is it lack of relevant advertisers? Bad data profiling and segmentation? Or perhaps just a penchant to insult people? And if even publishers with a wealth of targeting data can't get it right, then what's the outlook for the industry as a whole?
I went to my own Facebook page and on repeatedly hitting the refresh button, was served many diet ads. So apparently being female might be enough to trigger them. I also received ads for free Obama buttons, marketing groups, books, and wine. OK, so maybe they get it right part of the time. But still. With the technology that exists today, I really wish my favorite merchants would come find me, and then serve me up some stellar offers. I'm just sayin'.
– Layne Salter
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