Wednesday 9 October 2019

INSTAGRAM THINKS I'M A WOMAN. SO WHAT?


Instagram thinks I’m a woman. I’m not sure how that started. Perhaps the algorithm made a horribly sexist assumption because I follow quite a lot of fashion and art and accounts like Gurls Talk and gal-dem… no idea. But I know it doesn’t think I’m a bloke, because it serves me ads for menstrual cups, shapewear, lipstick, etc.


I’ve definitely made the algorithm double down on this assumption. That’s because the total irrelevance of these ads gives them stopping power, my curiosity takes over and I end up watching the whole thing. And presumably the algorithm decides I’m a hot prospect.


This got me thinking. Maybe contextual relevance (for making creative) is a massive error. Sure, for media buying it makes a lot of sense, in the end I won’t be buying any of these misplaced products. But I’m starting to think that ads for products I might buy need to be contextually irrelevant to get noticed. Or is that just a wanky way of saying ads need cut-through?

Lemme know your thoughts @LucianTrester