Week 13 Part A: Online Advertising

         The place that I see the most online advertising is on Instagram. I think that Instagram is notorious for listening to my conversations to pull up the most specific ads possible to the point that I've turned off my microphone abilities in Instagram. One advertisement comes to mind that always scared me: A few years back I was having a conversation with my brother (my phone was nearby but Instagram wasn't even open). We were talking about bologna sandwiches (he was telling me that I needed to try a fried bologna sandwich), and he was saying you need some cheddar cheese with mustard on white bread. Five minutes later I open up Instagram for my hourly scroll, and the first thing that shows up on my feed is an advertisement for Oscar Meyer bologna and the ad was of a FRIED BOLOGNA SANDWICH WITH CHEDDAR AND MUSTARD ON WHITE BREAD. I had NEVER felt more seen by an app in my entire life. I started looking around to see if an FBI agent was hiding in the corner. I digress. Some ads, such as  this one, make me really uncomfortable because they are far too specific and it really does feel intrusive. 

        Instagram has dialed down the specificity of their ads lately because I just opened up Instagram to scroll through some ads and the first ad that popped up was for Sheertex rip-resistant tights. I don't need rip resistant tights. When I clicked on the ad where it said "Learn More" it took me directly to their website to shop. I could also swipe down and go directly back to the ad on Instagram. If I clicked on the name of the ad I was directed to the Instagram page. Since I don't need tights the videos weren't very intriguing to me, but it was cool to see them put to the test with three people pulling on the legs of a random woman who was wearing the tights. After I clicked on that ad and went back to scrolling I saw three more ads for rip resistant tights and leggings, so that was kind of annoying. I finally got to a different ad that was for some powder vitamin that's supposed to make you poop and lose weight. All of the ads seem to be pretty similar with a short video that demonstrates the product and has little text boxes that pop up with quoted satisfied customers. I would say that they're pretty effective because I do remember buying a face mask off of Instagram because it had a similar style to the ad where it quoted five star reviews and when I clicked on the ad it took me to their website and it was very aesthetically pleasing and it was actually a great product. Instagram seems to give me ads for more products whereas TikTok gives me advertisements for services. 

        I went to TikTok to see what type of advertisements I could find and the first one was of a hoodie I have no interest in so I kept scrolling but the next one was for BetterHelp. TikTok ads are more sneaky because with some of them you don't know that they're an ad until you watch a few seconds of the video. In this video there was a man who was talking to the audience asking if they have parts of them that they are trying to sort out but don't know where to start, and proceeds to explain why therapy with BetterHelp can be beneficial for your mental well-being. When I clicked on the ad it took me to a page that was prompting questions about who the therapy is for, what symptoms are being experienced, and more. TikTok ads don't seem as effective to me because I personally trust a product or service more when someone makes a video with a good review specifying that their video is not sponsored. It just seems more trustworthy to me. 

        Advertisements on social media seem to be more effective than radio, TV, or newspaper ads because they just seem more personal for the consumer. Ads on television are extremely annoying because the commercial breaks are longer than the segments of the show you're watching. At that point I just go on my phone to pass the time and I can hear an annoying song for a nasty fast food place playing in the background. I don't listen to the radio so I haven't heard ads on there in quite some time, but I do get ads on Spotify while I'm listening to a podcast. Most of the ads are for State Farm, ADT or BetterHelp (probably because I listen to a lot of murder podcasts and they're trying to push that life insurance or help me recover from the gruesome story I was just listening to). I have Spotify premium though, so most of the time I skip through the ad. 

        Overall, I would say that advertisements on social media are a lot more effective than any other advertisement because a lot of them are directed to the particular consumer rather than a generic audience. I read someone's blog post who said that people are 1.5 times more likely to buy a product when they see it on TikTok, and it makes sense to me because the platform brings a more personal touch. I also think that social media ads are more effective because so many people use social media, and not as many people listen to the radio or read the newspaper. Social media ads can reach a greater and more specified audience than any ten minute commercial break on television.