Week 9: EOC: The Darker side of Market Research

Unfortunately I was absent for this lesson, but I will explain what I feel the darker side of marketing research involves. Marketing research is used to solve problems and find solutions in order to successfully launch a product or business. In finding our data, we try our best to keep the consumer in mind and what is it that they need from us as a company. Problems that may occur when trying to find out what your target market wants is privacy. Many marketing companies are taking the easier route by spying on their consumers. It seems as if every single piece of information that we type into the internet is stored and sold to the company with the highest bid. You ever find yourself bombarded with ads that show what you bought last week online, or even at the store! They follow us now through grocery stores to see which aisles we stop in and what items we're searching for. It's scary. To make this clear, this is not a way to solve problems because it is actually causing more friction between companies and their consumers.