The selection, made by a jury of ad industry leaders, was “very controversial because of the nature of the campaign,” Mr. McDonald said. But the ad group viewed itself as “Switzerland,” he said, and was simply conducting “a scientific evaluation of the quality of work.”
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“Nobody had any idea the data might have been pilfered,” he said. Mr. McDonald said he planned to potentially poll the jury again and “see if the accusations are sustained” before officially stripping Cambridge Analytica of the award.
The existence of the award highlights the enthusiasm with which marketers have approached the reams of consumer data generated by digital devices and their belief that people are happy to share whatever information technology may be collecting from them.
The Advertising Research Foundation, which acknowledged that the United States may adopt new regulations on how consumer data is collected, said it planned to work with other industry groups to form new guidelines for collecting and protecting that information. Mr. McDonald said advertising had gone too far in viewing consumers as prey, noting that even the industry’s vocabulary had become militarylike.
“We talk about ad campaigns, consumers we target. We talk about subway takeovers, pop-ups,” he said. “These are fairly aggressive, and I don’t think we even think about it — they’re just embedded in the metaphors of advertising.”
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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/business/media/cambridge-analytica-advertising-award.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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