Target has specific ways of tracking when a women is likely pregnant. They data mine information. Target looks at specific transactions that if purchased together can indicate that a women is pregnant. If Target assumes that a women is pregnant coupons will be sent to the customers house at an expense and habit forming period of her life according to the article. Target even exposed a girls pregnancy. This was done once at Target when coupons were sent out to a man's house about baby clothes, cribs, etc. The customer arrived at Target store angry and upset because he says Target sent his daughter coupons about baby items and that is encouraging her to get pregnant. The manager was completely unaware of what was going on, but the mailer was addressed to the customers daughter, but the manager apologized on more than one occasion. Later on the man called Target back and apologized because he was unaware that his daughter was pregnant and this happened about a month ago. The primary question to ask is was Target doing an ethical act by data mining this certain customer purchasing information?
Source: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-16/strategy/31065696_1_pregnant-woman-coupons-target
I don't see how Target acted unethical in any way. In fact, Target sending coupons was a helpful tip to the girl that she can save money, while also targeting her to come in and spend money in the first place. The issue is that we as consumers would like to think that retail stores don't shape how we think of products and what we really need. But it seems more and more that ad agencies are targeting people based on related searches and are indeed responsible for putting the idea in our head that we "need" something that in retrospect, is an item that we simply "want". No one likes feeling like a chess piece in a game, but more times than less, we have all been targeted by retail and we have all given results that they wished to see.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Austin, I would also continue that saying that sending his daughter coupons for baby supplies MAKES her want to get pregnant is ridiculous. The fact that she actually was pregnant is hilarious though. This is an example of how consumers think they are attacked, when Target is just doing a good job at marketing.
ReplyDeleteLiving in a capitalist society, this will continue to be legal and a very helpful tactic for companies to expand their market segment and reach customers. It will continue to be accepted by the public as long as they don't know about it, realize it, or feel violated by it. Companies rarely admit that they sell information, use it to categorize customers, or include in the marketing program. THEY JUST DO IT. Until a company really pushes the limits on this and uses very personal information for unethical reasons and it's publicized, I say it's all up for grabs. The smarter companies will foresee issues and create a multi-faceted, secure, ethical, and customer emphasized program that is accepted by the majority.
I do not agree with the above commentators. I believe that it is an invasion of privacy for target to be sending coupons to pregnant women unless they are asking for them. Sometimes its taking it too far and in my opinion this is too far. I understand if the company would have taken down information about the person from a baby registry that had been applied for at target. But it is a different scenario when they are taking down information from the internet.
ReplyDeleteFrom a business management class perspective:
ReplyDeleteHow is Target "invading" the privacy of this girl? She went to the store on her own, she is on the store's property, she is in the public eye. All Target is doing is observing the buying actions of the customers and using that information in a logical way. In the times of today, if people don't want to be categorized or judged by others, they probably should not leave the house. This is just the times we live in.
If she has a Target card, she willingly gave her information to the company, her name, address, phone number and email were likely collected. They can send her coupons to fit her needs as they see it. If she bought cat food they sent her cat treat coupons, she and her father would have probably appreciated it. If she already had a child and Target documented that, they could have sent her baby coupons and I would think she would use them.
I dont necessarily think that this is wrong, but it is super creepy. I usually only get coupons from places that i have signed up for to get them or to get emails.
ReplyDeleteI think this is clever to really have information about someone's purchases to determine something about them. I do not think this is ethical but I also do not discourage it either. I just want to know what are they going to when they make a mistake when a women is buying items for her friend.
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