Behavioral targeting has become one of the most controversial vehicles for reaching consumers in the digital age. The more consumers know about how they are monitored, the less they like being monitored, according to a study of US opinions about behavioral targeting conducted by professors at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley.

The study found that most US adults (66%) do not want marketers to tailor advertisements to their interests, and only 47% appreciated getting discounts targeted to their interests:

Knowledge Increases Resistance to Targeting

When respondents were told about three typical ways that information is gathered about consumers in order to tailor ads to their interests, even greater percentages—between 73% and 86%—said they do not want to see such advertising:

Key findings:

  • Even when they are told that the act of following them on websites will take place anonymously, Americans' aversion to it remains: 68% "definitely" would not allow it, and 19% would "probably" not allow it.
  • 69% of American adults feel there should be a law that gives people the right to know everything that a website knows about them.
  • 92% agree there should be a law that requires "websites and advertising companies to delete all stored information about an individual, if requested to do so."
  • 63% believe advertisers should be required by law to immediately delete information about their Internet activity.

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Consumers Dislike Behavioral Targeting

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