Portia Kapraun has always seen unwelcome ads on Twitter, usually from major brands pitching (竭力推销) her expensive jewelry or vehicles that she, as a librarian in Indiana, could not afford. Ms. Kapraun was not interested. But she soon saw the ads again. And again. And again. "These feel like low-end ads," she said. In a shaky advertising market in an uncertain economy, ads that few people want to see suddenly seem to be everywhere.
Advancements in digital advertising technology were meant to improve users' experience. People interested in shoes are intended to get ads for sneakers and boots, not repeated pitches promoting gold investments. And the technology is supposed to remove misleading or dangerous pitches. But lately, on several platforms, the opposite seems to be happening for a variety of reasons, including a slowdown in the overall digital ad market. As numerous deep-pocketed marketers have pulled back, and the softer market has led several digital platforms to lower their ad pricing, opportunities have opened up for less demanding advertisers.
Advertising experts agree that poor-quality ads appear to be increasing greatly. They point to a variety of potential causes: internal troubles at technology companies, weak content moderation (审核), and high-level advertisers seeking other choices. Then, there's the economy: A recent survey of 43 multinational companies representing more than $44 billion in advertising spending found that nearly 30 percent planned to cut back on their marketing spending last year.
Other factors are also contributing to lower advertising quality. Social media advertising, once only practiced by specialists, is now easily available to anyone. Many of them are avoiding targeted ads — placements intended to reach specific audiences, usually at a higher cost — in favor of a cheaper spray-and-pray (广撒网式的) approach online, hoping to catch the attention of gullible (容易受骗的) or bored shoppers. Major social media platforms are now like "a mall that used to be good", Corey Richardson, vice president at a multicultural ad company, says. "But now there's no longer a mall there—it's just a calendar store and a place sling beepers (传呼机). "