By Simi Gill, Head of Digital as originally featured in Performance Marketing World
If you’re a Black Mirror fan, you’ll know its purpose is to make us think about the extreme consequences of modern technology on society, culture and individual lives through exaggerated means and dark storylines. Season 7 kicked off shining a direct light on the ethics of the ad industry, with the episode ‘Common People’. It follows a couple who subscribe to Rivermind, an experimental technology that restores lead character Amanda’s cognitive function when she falls into a coma. Rivermind works on a subscription model which increases in price, leaving them with no choice but to remain on the free version. This version however controls aspects of Amanda’s speech, using her as a vessel to listen into conversations around her, to then serve ads in response to these.
Within digital media today, ad personalisation is on the rise, specifically given the increased shift towards the use of first-party data as third-party cookies demise, with brands leaning into developing their CRM/CDP bases to segment user data for tailored comms and user journeys. Alongside this, the rise of AI-driven ad tech has been dominating the market, making this personalisation easier than ever.
This is a necessary and positive shift of data usage – ad personalisation provides higher relevance and therefore engagement, drives greater marketing efficiency and ROI, and improves a customer’s experience with a brand, allowing ads to feel helpful rather than annoying. Personally, I love being served a tailored ASOS catalogue ad in my Instagram feed, curating a bespoke set of products I am likely to be interested in, saving me scrolling through the thousands of products myself! Furthermore, ad personalisation supports full-funnel marketing and gives brands a competitive advantage, allowing them to stand out within crowded digital spaces.
However, Black Mirror aimed to show us what happens when those benefits of personalisation are pushed too far – the ads became intrusive, creepy, manipulating and drove extreme fatigue amongst the recipients.
First and foremost, consent and control are a must when using personalisation. Ongoing legislation has been evolving since GDPR came into enforcement in 2018, via the Digital Services and Market Act which paves the way for transparency in data collection, the ICO cookie-banner compliance crack-down and the development of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations that now sits alongside GDPR. The current O’Carroll vs Meta case is a recent example of how data usage will continue to be scrutinised and called out, with platforms needing to be watertight when it comes to gaining consent for what can be classed as ‘direct marketing’. Under PECR, prior opt-in consent is required to use personal data for direct marketing, including social media advertising. Under GDPR, that consent must be specific, informed, freely given, and demonstrable.
In Common People, Amanda involuntarily delivers hyper-targeted ads that are out of her control, intrusive, and disruptive to her relationships. The thought-provoking episode provides key watchouts for brands and advertisers:
Brand safety: Contextual alignment is vital when planning ad placements, to avoid them feeling invasive or inappropriate. In the pursuit of personalisation standout, brands can walk a fine line between relevance and overreach. This was reflected in the episode, where ads were placed into the most intimate, private conversations. Brand safety goes beyond just avoiding harmful content, it must ensure that ad personalisation doesn’t override contextual appropriateness as this risks the brand appearing as intrusive, opportunistic and untrustworthy – which can do severe damage to brand perception.
Frequency control: Amanda and her partner literally became drained by the volume of ads being served through her, representing a perfect metaphor for what happens if brands prioritise impression volume over audience experience. Frequency fatigue happens when users are shown the same ad/brand too many times over a short period, when they feel they are being stalked by ads across platforms and there is no frequency cap or sequencing logic in place. Advertisers must balance smart sequencing with the emotional impact of ad frequency if they wish to remain authentic. Unchecked frequency risks driving audience disengagement and resentment that undermines campaign goals and may reduce the likelihood of conversions. With Amanda, the ads were inescapable which became dehumanising, showing us the truly dark side of this bombardment in the modern world.
Responsible media buying: In this sense, being responsible with our media is about prioritising metrics that adhere to ethical buying, rather than performance only goals such as CTR and ROAS. We should be optimising our campaigns with the audience’s experience, wellbeing and trust in mind, which means a focus on new performance indicators such as attention over impressions, engagement uplift and brand perception. We should be avoiding disruptive ad formats and only spending with verified, ethical partners.
Rivermind’s ad delivery adhered to none of these. It was solely performative, delivering impressions with no concern for Amanda’s wellbeing or relationships – a system that prioritised reach and frequency over humanity with no way out but to pay – as most subscription models work today.
Black Mirror called out the advertising industry with this episode. I’ll admit, it was uncomfortable viewing, leaving me feeling like I was part of the problem. But I truly do applaud this storyline. Common People did an incredibly important job in highlighting what can happen in a world that is increasingly shaped by AI, algorithms and over-personalisation. The lesson to take however is not to fear personalisation, it is important in building relevance, efficiency and audience connection, and when done correctly it creates valuable interactions with the brands we love. However, just because we can target, it doesn’t always mean we should.
Black Mirror has warned us, if we don’t adhere to evolving data legislation and apply ad targeting ethically, with care for consent, context and frequency, we risk undermining the very trust we seek to build. As digital marketers, the core responsibility lies with us in balancing media performance with these ethics – we hold the power to ensure we shape a future where advertising serves people, not the other way around.
Personalisation is a powerful tool – but only when it is used responsibly.