Responsibility is Key, and Narrowcasting is OK by Me.

I’ve posted on this topic before in reference to another class, but since we discussed narrowcasting and its ethical implications in class Tuesday night, I thought I’d revisit the topic briefly.

Since the dawn of the advertising industry, companies and organizations have been gaining information about consumers in order to better target them with advertising and information. As it relates to the Internet my main argument is this: we should know that anything we do or say via the Internet is in the public domain and can be seen. That is a choice we make and a risk we take when we go online or use other new media. I see nothing wrong with companies gathering this information to target specific groups of people. A key word that has repeatedly come up in the last few discussions is responsibility, and here, it is important for there to be consumer responsibility.

Now on a political level, we have to recognize that as GSPM students, we are not like the average voter. We care about the big picture and many different issues while the average voter may have one or two issues that he or she feels strongly about and doesn’t care about the rest. This being said, isn’t narrowcasting what the average voter wants? Wouldn’t they rather hear a message about an issue they are interested in targeted specifically to them rather than a message about issues they don’t know or care about?

Narrowcasting helps to make campaigning more effective and delivers information to people about the issues that they care about or that affect them. Sure, narrowcasting may open up the door a little more for negative and/or deceitful messages. Once again, responsibility comes into play, the responsibility of the voter. Our common sense tells us all to not believe everything you see, hear, or read. Thus, the voter receives the information, advertising, message, etc., and it is then his responsibility to educate himself and discern the truth.