Facebook Advertisers Know I’m Female (and Assume I Want to Be Thinner)…I’m Unimpressed

When Facebook first announced its targeted advertising, I thought it was a great idea. I reasoned that if advertisers knew a lot about me, they would be able to show me stuff I’m actually interested in spending my money on. That’s not happening.

If Facebook is really going after the targeted advertising space, then they should treat their ads like Pandora treats music. When I say I like a song, Pandora plays me more songs like it. When I say I don’t like a song, Pandora stops playing it. When I ask Pandora why they’re playing a song for me, they tell me.

For example: I don’t buy weight loss products because I don’t need to lose weight, but I’m seeing a lot of ads for them. I think that I’m getting these ads primarily because I’m female and I list “fitness” as one of my interests. But it could be that they’re just painting with a broad brush and targeting all women on Facebook.

Either way, I’m rather perturbed because even though I’m thrilled with my body — it can climb mountains and do the splits — looking at pictures of tanorexic models with 24 inch waists isn’t good for me. I’d rather see products designed to help me increase lean muscle mass and flexibility, rock climbing gear and yoga products. Those are the kinds of things I’d be more likely to spend my hard-earned cash on.

But Facebook’s advertisers have no way of opting out of showing their ads to people who are unlikely to click on them. They have no way of knowing that I don’t want to see weight loss ads, unless Facebook gives me a way to tell them.

I’d like to be able to ask Facebook, “why am I seeing this ad?” They can tell me it’s because I’m female, between the ages of 18 and 25 and into fitness. Then I can tell them that I don’t like this ad. Eventually, when I tell them that I don’t like enough weight loss ads, they’ll get the picture that weight loss doesn’t interest me. Then they’ll stop serving me weight loss ads. The impressions that used to go to ads I had no interest in clicking on will now go to ads targeted to my other interests, like gadgetry, music and baseball.

This model is good for advertisers because they’ll get tons of feedback about who likes their ads and who doesn’t. It’s good for Facebook because their now abysmal click-through rate will likely go up as advertising gets more targeted. And it’s good for the users because the advertising we’re getting is more likely to add value to our lives.

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