Targeting is not all bad

- On Saturday mornings, my wife and I enjoy getting a cup…of coffee and walking around the local country market.…We love the variety, from antiques to collectibles…to organic vegetables and flowers,…there's always a lot to see but nothing I really need.…It's browsing.…When it comes to finding something I really need,…that market is not my first place to go.…Now, think about how you use the internet.…Without ad targeting or retargeting,…our online experience would be like walking around a market…that's selling things we don't need or even want.…

Anyone who used the internet in the late 90s or early 2000s…might remember the punch the monkey banner ads.…I don't know what they were selling,…but the banner ad was an obnoxiously colored…graphic of a monkey face moving…back and forth across the top of the page.…People became so resistant to seeing…these irritating, untargeted, and blatant ads,…that the term banner blindness was coined.…People simply stopped looking at the top…and side of the page where the ads were located.…