"Sometimes In Advertising..."

Yes, it's a brave new world we're living in...  I got this in an email this morning from Ally Bank (I already have an account with them). I liked the thought of earning more on my savings with them, so I clicked the "learn more" link and ended up opening a new account. It wasn't until I was done opening the account and went back to checking email that I noticed (at least consciously) that the ad featured a same-sex couple with a child.  And I thought to myself, "Damn, I wonder if I noticed that subconsciously and that's why I found this ad so appealing that I acted on it so quickly!" Now don't get me wrong, I love representation... it's important to me that the realities of my own life are represented in media. I guess it helps me feel that my choice to live authentically is being validated.

But then again, I do have a potential gripe in all this. I've talked about this before. I've noticed that a lot of the ads I see, whether they're online or on streaming television are clearly targeting "me" or at least who they think I am, "a gay man." So what's wrong with that? Only this - What if the ads they're using to target fascist homophobes and christianazis are designed to echo chamber what they think those folks want to see? If that's true, and I'm convinced it is, then all this "representation" is doing nothing to create visibility for us. Afterall, it's really easy to hate on invisible people. I know when I watch broadcast television (which is admittedly rare), I almost never see gay people and especially gay couples (nevermind with kids) represented in any of the ads I see.

So, as enamored as I am with the fact that I'm now earning 0.25% more on my savings with Ally, I'm also seriously worried about the direction things are going. I fear we're becoming invisible to the folks who most need to see us. Let's face it, advertising is the common media we all consume. We may not all watch the Superbowl, but we've all seen the commercials. I really think it's important that we're included in the ads everyone sees so that they can see us and realize we're human beings just like them. Afterall, wasn't it visibility that won the marriage equality fight for us... when people knew (or know of) gay people, their attitudes towards us changed. Even conservatives were often moved to acceptance.

So this movement towards data-driven specificity in the media we consume is really a worrying trend to my mind. We all saw what Facebook's echo chamber effect did in 2016 with the rise of the MAGA far-right and Donald Trump. Well, in the 7 years since then, the data they collect and what they know about all of us has gotten even more specific, so much so that I'm sure some AI algorithm Ally uses decided, "He'll respond to an ad with a middle-aged gay couple at home with a little one in the frame." Well, it was right, it worked! But I'm pretty sure Ally's AI didn't send this image to everyone and that's the rub. I'm afraid of where this will all end.

"Fear Eat the Soul"