Why it’s important to share our data with the advertisers?

I’m about to ask you to share your data with the advertisers and be OK with it. Actually, before that, I’m about to ask you to love ads, to wish to see them more.

I know that sounds weird, please let me explain.

A few months ago I read about a research of Prof. Andrew Oswald at HBR. It was claiming that advertising makes us unhappy.

I have been in the advertising industry for almost a decade, also my MBA research project was about data and advertising. And currently I have a startup in this field. So obviously I’m biased. But with all due respect, I think that claim is not fully correct.

Happy Countries

Here are some of the happiest countries in Europe: Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden.

And here are some of the countries with the most digital ad spending per capita in Europe: Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland.

As you can see, people in these countries saw a lot of ads, but they’re the happiest people on earth.

Why?

I think the economical conditions in a country have a big impact on the happiness of people. I live in Turkey, and economically we’re going through challenging times. So I don’t see many happy people around, nor I see many ads.

I’m not claiming seeing ads makes you happy, don’t get me wrong.

But I do claim a country where there are no ads must be full of sad people.

The Cycle

Let‘s think about how the system works. An economically-strong country is where there are strong businesses. These businesses thrive, they employ more people, provide better conditions for their employees. Happier employees create better products, and businesses show more ads to sell these products, which leads them to grow further.

Figure 1: Benefits of Advertising for the Businesses

People see those ads, they buy those products, businesses grow further and they provide better conditions for their employees, which makes employees happier and motivates them to create better products. Then businesses advertise and sell even more, and this cycle continues. So seeing more ads is a natural part of living in an economically strong country.

Figure 2: Benefits of Advertising for the People

I’m not saying seeing ads and buying products makes you happier. But I think being well-paid, having better conditions at work, providing better conditions for yourself and your family makes you happier. That won’t happen without sales, which won’t happen without advertising — unless you have a super-star CEO like Elon Musk (most likely you don’t).

I also think how wealth is distributed in a country has a much bigger impact on the happiness of people, but that’s a different topic. My point is, if you’re seeing a lot of ads around, that’s a good thing. Actually, that’s a wonderful thing. That shows you’re living in a country where the economy is strong, businesses are strong, employment is strong, people are well paid, children get better education, and overall the mood in the country is good.

Data

Now back to the initial question: why do we need to share our data with the advertisers?

Because that’s the only way they could show you targeted ads.

Targeted ads improve our lives. Targeted ads help your company to sell and grow more, which will eventually provide you better conditions. And without data, there are no targeted ads, only wasted advertising budgets, less sales, worse conditions for you. And probably those products would be more expensive too, how else can a business compensate for the wasted advertising budgets?

Besides, advertisers use your data for the most naive purposes. They just want you to click that ad, and hopefully buy their products. That’s it. They don’t know and don’t want to know who you are. The ones who track you for evil purposes are not the advertisers, and most likely these “evils” use better technologies than cookies to track you.

Solution

So what can you do now?

First; realize that ads are good. You may dislike ads, but be grateful you see them. The more, the better.

Second, click “OK” when a website/app asks your permission to use your data for advertising purposes. Understand that your own company asks for that permission too, and if your neighbor doesn’t allow it, you may be unemployed.

Third, ask your government to design data-related regulations properly. All the regulations like GDPR, CCPA etc. forces advertisers to find inefficient ways to advertise. And remember what inefficient, wasted advertising budgets mean: you being potentially unemployed.

I know, I’ve simplified a lot of things here. There may be many points you object to, and please do so by providing your feedback.