A Marketing View

Given we have a new sitting parliament just elected, the second Morrison Government, they’ll no doubt be working towards implementing policies they campaigned in the lead up to the election.  Amongst their promises, I have a prediction for a policy that will be implemented as law by Prime Minister Morrison during his term (assuming he goes the distance). The use of information to influence consumers who are of a vulnerable state be made illegal. The key word in that is vulnerable. But how do you define vulnerable? Perhaps the best way of defining vulnerable in a marketing context is that being vulnerable means one can be subject to harms stemming from actions or omissions (Goodin, 1985: 110). A study conducted by Humboldt University and Darmstadt Technical University have found that after using Facebook, the envy of seeing other people’s activity (whether that was holidays, relationships etc.) were leaving users feeling lonely, frustrated or angry. Digit...

With the breakout of Internet of Things (IOT) devices over the last few years (i.e. smart TV’s/smart watches), it has provided a subtle platform for companies to infiltrate into our daily lives and learn more about us. In a data-drenched world, we cannot escape the fact that almost all our movements are recorded and used to benefit someone.  Perhaps the impact of IOT is best summarised by Nick Wreden of The University of Technology Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: “There will be absolutely no privacy, not even in the jungle, away from civilization. I don’t like this, but people have shown over and over again that they are willing to trade away their souls for a ‘$1 off’ coupon.” What does this mean with regards to IOT devices collect data? Consumers understanding of where the data goes varies depending on sectors, according to Boston Consulting Group (2012), for example in a study they conducted 79% of consumers were aware of their data being used by banks. What is ...