Marketing Coincidences

My girlfriend uses her iPad for pretty much everything she does online, and she has a history of getting narrowly-targeted marketing advertisements and things from Facebook and Google, which is not too alarming, as a lot of these things are linked to search history, etc.

Sometimes she gets advertisements for things that she and I had spoken about in person without searching or viewing on the internet. She used to joke that she thinks she might be chipped or something, but after this weekend, she has started to seriously think that she is under some sort of surveillance.

We went shopping for some new furniture this weekend and visited quite a few stores, and she received some extremely specific email from stores that we visited in person having never visited their web sites.

For instance we went to one shopping plaza to look for things in Pottery Barn. We didn't buy anything, and on our way out of the plaza, we stopped by Williams Sonoma but didn't end up buying anything there either. Later that day we went to West Elm to look at sofas; she got distracted by their terrariums (it took me a few minutes to get her back on track), but we didn't end up buying anything.

When we got home, she checked her email and found the following email:

From Pottery Barn:


From Williams Sonoma:


From West Elm:


I have not received any email like this at all, and we were together the whole time. Neither of us signed anything or bought anything at these stores, but she got these ads while I got nothing. Any ideas of how these companies are able to identify my girlfriend and target her for email marketing?

Well user tracking on the web is nothing new, ever wonder WHY you always get exactly that stuff on amazon you're actually interested in? : )

But that store visit is interesting. They (likely) tracked your mobile....actually scary to think about...

This is why if you are looking at engagement rings online with a shared computer -- use incognito mode! Nothing ruins a surprise proposal faster than your girlfriend seeing ads for wedding rings when she uses the computer.

It's probably tracking her location and correlating businesses to provide targeted marketing. I know my phone is always asking if I want to turn on my "location" option. Sometimes I do because it helps me shop smarter. On the other hand, I'm sure the lizard people are tracking my every step just to make sure I get the ad for the latest coffee maker. Those dang lizard people!

a reply to: wagnificent
WOW , this is gonna be interesting . I have had very similar things happen to me , so i'll be watching this.
Thanks for posting. S+F

a reply to: NoRulesAllowed

I said the same thing. She has a Galaxy S3, whereas I have an LG whatever phone. She also sometimes keeps her wireless network on, whereas I keep mine off except the rare occasion when I use it at home. This could explain the first two, but the terrarium thing is the most alarming for her. She says that this actually happens to her a lot; she looks at things while she is out and about or talks about products and then receives ads and things about those very products.

a reply to: jrflipjr

I also said the same thing to her, but she keeps the location and GPS and all that stuff disabled. Of course that doesn't necessarily stop certain people from finding your location anyway.

I think you're right that we can safely blame the lizard people rofl.

a reply to: wagnificent

Not Coincidences
Iphone and by extension ipads are tracking your every move, supposedly for "Marketing" purposes.

Here are some links for your perusal.

Every few months, iPhone users around the world begin to panic yet again as a new round of tech blog coverage reminds us that Apple’s iPhone tracks our every move as part of a “Frequent Locations” feature. The potentially nifty feature allows iOS to monitor your position in order to determine places you visit most frequently, and this data could really come into play in future versions of Apple’s mobile platform by allowing your iPhone to present location-specific information that could be useful, perhaps similar to Google Now. Those concerned with privacy, however, likely want nothing to do with Apple’s Frequent Locations feature — and of course, disabling it couldn’t be easier.

bgr.com...

Your iPhone Knows Exactly Where You’ve Been And This Is How To See It

www.buzzfeed.com...

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn location tracking off if you’re using a standard iPhone or iPad device. However, you can prevent the information from being locally accessible. To do this, follow these three simple steps:

www.reputation.com...

How police have obtained iPhone, iPad tracking logs

It's no secret to police investigators that the Apple iPhone keeps track of its owners' approximate location. And Android devices appear to do the same as well.

www.cnet.com...

Most phones have GPS tracking abilities, some more accurate than others most can be turned off, the tracking device on the government issued (Obama) phone cannot be disabled.

Star and Flag OP

Unless you're this guy:



I really don't think any of this matters.

a reply to: RedmoonMWC

Thanks for all the links. I suspect that her Galaxy S3 is responsible for some of the things she gets, and her iPad is certainly responsible for others. I am wondering if marketers are using the microphone in these devices to queue up ads as well. That may explain how "offline" conversations could still translate to targeted ads.

She doesn't take the iPad with her out of the house, so if it is a device, it would have to be her S3. However we have the same carrier (MetroPCS), we both have Android phones (although mine is a cheap LG), and I don't have anything like this happening to me.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I had to laugh at that.
But it seams to that you are saying "if you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear".
Personally it is no ones business where I have been or where I go but mine, especially marketers and the Government.

..start having fake conversations with your girl about buying a terrarium, then see if you get an ad for sea monkeys?

my tinfoil hat wearing friends and i all keep our phones in the fridge

a reply to: MystikMushroom

She is actually kinda like him . She is a dual citizen of Colombia/US who immigrated here via political amnesty, and her dad is a union leader in Colombia. She was specifically targeted on a US government list that required "extra scrutiny" when she returned from Colombia last year. She has nothing to hide, but these things are unnerving for someone in her position.

I have an S3 on Sprint and this has never happened to me. However I very rarely use anything other than Wifi at home.

I absolutely believe you about this happening. Does not surprise me in the least, companies must have an entire psychological profile of nearly everybody at this point based on everything our devices pick up of our lives. As you said, it seems even "offline" conversations and the like is being used now for their marketing purposes.


I do wonder though, in this particular instance if perhaps it had to do something with that particular strip mall? As it was all 3 stores from there and even the emails appear very similar (the headers, etc. ) in nature though from different companies...

Strange Indeed.

a reply to: RedmoonMWC

Eh, I'm more or less saying that 99.9% of us aren't that interesting, and we still have the option to not own a smart phone or use technology at all.

If these things are problems for people, they can choose to disable the GPS or not use the devices at all.

a reply to: lightedhype

The first two (Pottery Barn and William Sonoma) were in the same strip mall. West Elm was in another strip mall about 30 minutes to the north. I think the similarity in the emails is probably a result of marketing research and the effectiveness of certain colors, fonts, etc. Of course this is a conspiracy site, so I will entertain tin hat explanations (lizard men) as well lol.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

It's true that we have a choice about our specific devices, but technology and society are inseparable. The only meaningful way to withdraw from this technology is to also withdraw from our society. While Amish food is undeniably delicious, we're not quite prepared to adopt that lifestyle lol.

And to address your point about the 99.9% being uninteresting, I agree, but it has been clearly demonstrated that my girlfriend is in the 0.1% of "interesting" people.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Agreed.
Although the GPS locater on the government issued phones cannot be disabled.

originally posted by: RedmoonMWC
a reply to: MystikMushroom

I had to laugh at that.
But it seams to that you are saying "if you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear".
Personally it is no ones business where I have been or where I go but mine, especially marketers and the Government.

You should stop using the internet and any devices that connect to it then since whenever you do, you are broadcasting your location (among other things) to at least one company (ip provider) and possibly more (websites you are visiting). If you do use the internet, don't expect your location data to be private. It's just the nature of the game these days.

a reply to: RedmoonMWC

Iphone and by extension ipads are tracking your every move, supposedly for "Marketing" purposes

Not true , its for keeping us safe against the terrorists. We all know Al-Qaeda cells are rather fond of pottery barn.

Your girlfriend probably has an app that monitors location in the background and uses it to target ads. Women are also more likely to get targeted by those stores than men.