Black Ops Advertising: Native Ads, Content Marketing and the Covert World of the Digital Sell

Einstein (media studies, Queens Coll.; Compassion, Inc.) sounds the alarm on the pervasive, insidious nature of the new digital advertising landscape and the effects it has on consumer choices and traditional journalism. While buyers today may see themselves as savvy and difficult to fool, Einstein asserts that even those who understand advertising strategy are increasingly duped by online commercial content disguised as straightforward news and entertainment. The book takes readers on a crash course in modern advertising techniques, starting with traditional word of mouth and relatively outdated online ad styles such as pop-ups and banner advertising, moving into the more difficult-to-discern native advertising and content marketing. The author argues that when advertising is masked, the impartiality of journalism suffers, public life is commercialized, and media consumers unknowingly provide advertisers with incredibly detailed data profiles that are then used to create even more narrowly targeted and cleverly concealed promotions.