INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
If you've ever thought about signing up for a loyalty card at your local supermarket but haven't done it yet, maybe Mary Ann's story will give you some food for thought. She is a teenager and a little while ago, her supermarket began sending her offers on diapers, strollers, and baby powder. Big surprise for her father, who didn't know she was pregnant.
Mary Ann is a fictional name in a true story reported some months ago by a New York Times reporter. The store in question used loyalty card information, together with the help of algorithms, to profile customers to predict pregnancy from past purchasing habits. Their objective?
To target customers with personalised ads, not only for their usual purchases, but also for what they're likely to need. If you don't yet know what you want or you need, they will tell you!
Such profiling and targeted advertising often does not infringe upon any law: if you already have a loyalty card, you probably agreed that the information you provided "could be used for marketing purposes". Closer to home, the recent cooperation of the Nectar loyalty card, Homebase (a home decorating and garden store) and Mastercard in the UK goes even further.
With a customer's consent, any information given to the bank can be transferred to selected third parties for 'marketing purposes'. The result is that the bank is allowed to give your transaction details to a major retailer, who can then monitor your purchases.
Big Brother is always watching, but we perhaps kind of like it. We willingly provide a huge amount of personal information on the internet, without really knowing who is keeping track of it and why.
Big Brother is Watching You. Do You Like It?
Stefania Lopedote