Comment by intended
2 months ago
What rot.
Here’s a simple experiment I ran and still works.
Back in the day there was a truly ghastly add for ear wax removal that showed up on YouTube in the UK.
In an experiment, and prank, I told two of my close friends about this, and how this horrid advert would kill my appetite when it came up.
And then I made it a point to repeat “ear wax removal” loudly several times.
Sure enough. A day later my dear friend messaged me with something on the lines of “I hate you”
Their phones were Android and iOS. I believe it was the Android user suffered.
If what you're talking about is the source of the ad, why did you see the ad yourself? Were you shouting about ear wax removal at your phone?
There are millions of ways the adware running on your phones could've correlated your profile and spread the "infection" to your friend. Basic location access being the most important one, but sharing an IP address (your friends' WiFi?), being near the same Bluetooth beacons, having the same stored SSIDs, or mere coincidence that your friend saw the same ad targeting a wide demographic are much more probable than "my phone is listening 24/7".
Sure. But its fun, and we can always replicate, just need a terrible ad.
Do note, this was tested in a park, so no shared WiFi, no Bluetooth beacons/devices. Also, this ad doesn’t/didn’t show up for others, ever.
I’m assuming like most friends you and your friends have nothing in common like interests, demographics, etc.?
And I’m assuming you also made them aware of other ads you’d seen recently so they could see if those showed up as well?
6 replies →
This is why “my phone is listening and I can prove it” is such a good shibboleth for lack of critical thinking skills.
Can you not see all the biases and fallacies in your own comment?
Or you told your friend about this horrible ad and they looked it up without thinking and got added to the retargeting list.
She wouldn't because she has much better things to do in life. Matter of fact, its an ad you would never look at, just because you don't even have a need for it.
She just spent time in the park listening to you shout about it for an extended period. And she's on YouTube enough for her to be annoyed by it so it's not like she doesn't have the opportunity.
You and your friends only saw this ad in the first place because you were all targeted for it. That would’ve been simple demographic targeting.
Likely you all ignored it in week 1 of the 4 week campaign and by week 4 you’d seen it so many times it stuck in your head.