It is one thing to track and sell people’s data to companies so that they can run targeted advertisements for each individual. It is an entirely different issue to boldly declare that you are keeping tabs on real-time behaviors so that email advertisements can keep people in a money spending loop, and doing so in a nationally broadcast commercial. 

That is exactly what Intuit MailChimp did, and it has been bothering me since I saw the commercial while watching the NFL Playoffs this past weekend. Let me explain what happened in this 30-second advert to give a reference point for why it’s causing my brain to run laps around itself.

The ad opens on this clump of people that the narrator calls “clustomers” to showcase how advertising to the masses won’t push people to spend their money. Intuit is saying that since people have different behaviors and backgrounds, marketers cannot sell to all of them at once but rather need to personalize their advertisements to turn those “clustomers” into customers. 

And how is Intuit saying that its MailChimp service will help marketers with this issue? By tracking “real-time behaviors,” they will make it easier for marketers to send specific advertisements to each individual person so they’re more likely to buy whatever product companies or businesses want to push. 

From my understanding, Intuit wants to personalize email advertisements as much as possible to gain the most clicks and the most purchases, ultimately trapping people in a loop of spending money by honing in further on an individual's habits and interests.

I have a number of issues with this: one is with the overarching idea itself, and another is with how it is presented. It feels largely dystopian. The commercial says the quiet part out loud. 

Intuit admits to tracking people’s behaviors, with intent to further influence them to sell them products and keep them in a loop of spending money. This fear of missing out is created, and once people buy or at least click on one email ad, then they will see more of that product and ultimately will want it. 

It feels so dystopian for a company to say that consumers are just a data set of behaviors and that they want these other corporations they work with to sell products so the average person will spend their money on things they don’t really need. It also feels dystopian to broadcast that message for everybody to hear. 

They felt comfortable to boldly say the shady stuff they are doing to advertise because they think nothing will be done about it. Intuit is giving marketers a way to maximize their targeted advertisement at the expense of the consumer. It feels like both an invasion of privacy and manipulation on a grand scale… because it is.

The rhetoric of this commercial is dangerous, not only because companies do this kind of thing, but because now, they aren’t doing it in secret. They’ve normalized their actions so much that they feel comfortable enough to show millions of people what is happening behind closed doors because there is this belief that people are so worn down and uneducated that they will accept anything at face value and not go any deeper.

This represents a lot of elements of a dystopian society. Intuit are partners with the NFL and played this commercial during a game, which their target audience probably wasn’t tuning into, and I’m sure not that many people cared about the commercial itself. 

The biggest feature of a lot of dystopian novels or movies is that the government and corporations, which are already heavily intertwined in our society, control people’s behaviors. And while it is obvious that people are being controlled, they can’t do anything about it. Corporations are getting more comfortable with manipulating people and invading their privacy, and the more comfortable they get, the more they will do it.

Corporations shouldn’t get away with these actions, and I think it is a mistake to broadcast it because the more corporations let the average person know what they truly do, then the more the consumers will push back.

I believe that people are smarter than they are given credit for, and these actions will not fly anymore, especially if companies like Intuit want to broadcast it so nationally.