That's how it USED to work on the web and still does in some parts. Until Google (and others) started selling increasingly accurate demographic and behavioural targeting. Now advertisers are addicted to targeting 50+ females who like baking, cats, have at least one grandchild and who have recently shown an interest in Easy Bake Ovens.

I dislike ads for two reasons:

- highly targeted ads can impact my behaviour in ways I’m not aware of (existing vs. created needs, emotions vs. rational decisions) - it’s an invasion on our personal (internet) and public (your street, your neighbourhood) spaces.

The points above allow for manipulation at a unprecedented scale.

Again, this is more of a mental exercise, a problem I like to revisit from time to time, but if we take the points above into account, removing targeting doesn’t solve the issue completely.

I do think that contextual targeting is a more viable alternative, unless it becomes a rebranded version of behavioural (which is already happening).