Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Coming Soon: Personalized Campaign Ads

From The Washington Post(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090701573.html)By SAMANTHA GROSSThe Associated PressFriday, September 7, 2007NEW YORK -- Imagine: You turn on the TV and see acampaign ad. Your neighbor down the hall, watchingthe same channel at the same moment, sees adifferent ad selected for her in part because she'sHispanic, single, owns a dog and drinks Bud Light.For years, politicians have been using massivedatabases that cover everything from what you drinkto what you drive to decide which fliers to mail youand whether to send someone to knock on your door.But with new technology that can send individualizedads to cable boxes, candidates will soon have anunprecedented ability to send their images into voters'living rooms while tweaking their voice, appearanceand policy focus to match each viewer's predilections.In short, voters' race, income, marital status andfavorite brands could soon determine exactly whatthey learn about political candidates while watchingcable TV.The technology, built to deliver what's known as"addressable advertising," is not yet widely available,but the nation's largest cable operators have madepreparations to change that.

Poster:Yonca Aslanbay

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