It is difficult to believe that online advertising has been pushed to they wayside in favor of traditional advertisement in television, newspapers and magazines among others. The truth is that this has been the case for the most part, until now. As advances in technology are able to measure more accurate reads of the traffic and success of online advertising, the medium continues to grow in unparalleled levels. One of the main reasons for this is what Bob Garfield considers to be online advertising’s holy grail and that is its “ability to mine data and target individuals with an offer relevant to their lives and interests,” according to his article “The Revolution will not be Monetized.” Apparently, that grail has been found. Today, online advertising is eerily similar to the image that Garfield describes in his article. Almost every website from Facebook, Google, Amazon and Yahoo has advertisements that are geared specifically towards the user. This allows for more revenue for the advertisers since their messages are relayed to individuals that are more likely to seek their products and offers.
The downside to this form of advertising is that privacy is difficult to maintain. Every click that we make sends information directly to databases that hold countless files of information about our personal lives and interests. Some are not bothered by this but others worry that the information could be used for more than just to sell products. They fear that the information that is taken from them could be used to harm them financially, emotionally and physically. There are many who try to prevent their information to be sent by making their profiles on any website they frequent, private. However, as each day passes it becomes more difficult and confusing to be able to make anything private due to the loopholes that are created so companies can attain any grain of information possible. The battle for privacy has just begun but the repercussions of the fight have yet to be seen.