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Big marketers to begin a push for higher ad-transparency this week, will use "power eyes" to tell users how they were targeted for ads
It appears that "privacy" and "transparency" are more than just the latest buzzwords to hit the online community. This week, dozens of the biggest companies advertising on the Web today are banding together in an effort to regain some of the trust that's been lost over the years due to ads. Alright, let's just be honest about it then; while regaining a modicum of the consumer's trust is an added bonus, they're probably a bit more worried about pending legislation that could force them to take much more drastic measures should they continue along the path they've been traveling. Whichever way you slice it, targeted ads will be changing soon.
Companies like Microsoft, AMEX, AT&T, and many others are all looking to get serious about self-policing when it comes to targeted advertising on the Internet. The plan is to begin testing a new function that will be layered on top of pre-existing ads; it will allow users to see just how they were targeted and, therefore, shown those ads. Theoretically, each ad will get a smallish icon in its upper right-hand corner; they're calling that icon a power eye. Don't worry, it's not just you; power eye really is a cheesy name for it.
When a user mouses over the power eye in an ad, they will be shown why they were targeted for the display of that particular ad, and they will be able to opt-out of that specific targeting on the spot. It's a bit like Facebook's "I don't like this ad" feature (and, hopefully, much less "buggy"). Advertisers will get usable data from this as well, since it will show which targeted ads are least tolerated by the consumer and which aren't minded at all. Also, simply opting-out of ad targeting with the power eye doesn't preclude users from seeing ads; it means that the particular ad they've opted out of will no longer haunt them, and the company behind the ad will no longer cyberstalk them for the purpose of selling that particular product. If people don't notice the power eyes, or if they're using ad-blocking software, plug-ins, proxies, or other ad-blocking methods, they won't be affected by this at all.
These so-called power eyes are apparently quite aptly named, too. They're supposed to look like "a cross between an eye and a power button." Oh those clever admen!
Advertising Age is reporting that, while there are several bidders trying to get the job, the company that seems to be ahead of the running in the bid to implement power eyes in this trial period is a startup, founded by former About.com chief Scott Meyer, called Better Advertising.
Whether it's Better Advertising who finally gets the endorsement or not, adding "power eyes" to targeted ads can and will help to make the practice of behavioral targeting more transparent. It may not make much of a difference to the vast majority of Internet users out there, but it's at least a bit of an improvement and a step in the right direction. While it's more of an afterthought than a major goal for the companies involved in this, added transparency is a good thing for everybody in the long run, and this bit of self-policing may actually help keep Internet-based legislation from running amok.
And before you go looking for why power eye sounds so familiar, ... I poked around the tubes for a bit to see if there was ever a superhero with that name. While I didn't find any actual characters to match it, I did come across some random guy's MySpace that listed his superhero name as The Power Eye. So, if one of those crappy name generators can come up with the same thing you did, it doesn't bode well for whoever came up with power eye. If you do happen to come across an old superhero or a random item in a hero's tool belt with this name, please let us know in the comments.
