IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i24p10589-d464196.html

Paying Attention: Big Data and Social Advertising as Barriers to Ecological Change

Author

Listed:
  • Kaitlin Kish

    (Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 845 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada)

Abstract

Big data and online media conglomerates have significant power over the behavior of individuals. Online platforms have become the largest canvas for advertising, and the most profitable commodity is users’ attention. Large tech companies, such as Facebook and Alphabet, use historically effective psychological advertisement tactics in tandem with enormous amounts of user data to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of their customers, who are not the end-users, but the corporations competing for advertising space on users’ screens. This commodification of attention is a serious threat to socio-ecological sustainability. In this paper, I argue that big data and social advertising platforms, such as Facebook, use commodified attention to take advantage of psycho-social neuroticisms and commodity fetishism in modern individuals to perpetuate conspicuous consumption. They also contribute to highly fragmented information ecologies that intentionally obscure scientific facts regarding ecological emergencies. The commitment to stakeholders and growth economics makes social advertising conglomerates a significant barrier to a socio-ecological future. I provide a series of solutions to this problem at the institutional, research, policy, and individual levels and areas for future sustainability research.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaitlin Kish, 2020. "Paying Attention: Big Data and Social Advertising as Barriers to Ecological Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10589-:d:464196
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10589/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10589/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zoe Sherman, 2018. "Commodified Attention, Commodified Speech, and the Rejection of Expertise," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 184-192, April.
    2. Costanza, Robert, 1989. "What is ecological economics?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 1-7, February.
    3. Melgar-Melgar, Rigo E. & Hall, Charles A.S., 2020. "Why ecological economics needs to return to its roots: The biophysical foundation of socio-economic systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    4. Zhou, Kaile & Fu, Chao & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Big data driven smart energy management: From big data to big insights," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 215-225.
    5. Kerschner, Christian & Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich, 2016. "A framework of attitudes towards technology in theory and practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 139-151.
    6. Stigler, George J & Becker, Gary S, 1977. "De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 76-90, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kish, K. & Mallery, D. & Yahya Haage, G. & Melgar-Melgar, R. & Burke, M. & Orr, C. & Smolyar, N.L. & Sanniti, S. & Larson, J., 2021. "Fostering critical pluralism with systems theory, methods, and heuristics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Guillaume Majeau‐Bettez & Jean‐Marc Frayret & Anu Ramaswami & Yang Li & Niko Heeren, 2022. "Data innovation in industrial ecology," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 6-11, February.
    3. Magdalena Roszczyńska-Kurasińska & Anna Domaradzka & Bartosz Ślosarski & Agata Żbikowska, 2021. "Facebook Data as Part of Cultural Heritage Investments Toolbox: Pilot Analysis of Users Interests and Preferences Concerning Adaptive Reuse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Corsi, G. & Guarino, R. & Muñoz-Ulecia, E. & Grande, U. & Buonocore, E. & Sapio, A. & Franzese, P.P., 2026. "Has “Ecological Economics” betrayed its roots? Revealing its state, internal tensions and evolution through a multi-level and multi-scale bibliometric assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    2. Lundgren, Jakob, 2022. "Unity through disunity: Strengths, values, and tensions in the disciplinary discourse of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Dube, Benjamin, 2021. "Why cross and mix disciplines and methodologies?: Multiple meanings of Interdisciplinarity and pluralism in ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Gowdy, John M. & Ferreri Carbonell, Ada, 1999. "Toward consilience between biology and economics: the contribution of Ecological Economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 337-348, June.
    5. Thunström, Linda & Nordström, Jonas & Shogren, Jason F., 2015. "Certainty and overconfidence in future preferences for food," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 101-113.
    6. Carl Christian von Weizsäcker, 2011. "Homo Oeconomicus Adaptivus – Die Logik des Handelns bei veränderlichen Präferenzen," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics 2011_10, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics.
    7. Kanazawa, Satoshi, 2005. "Is "discrimination" necessary to explain the sex gap in earnings?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 269-287, April.
    8. Dhaval M. Dave, 2013. "Effects of Pharmaceutical Promotion: A Review and Assessment," NBER Working Papers 18830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Gordon Burt, 1997. "Cultural Convergence in Historical Cultural Space-Time," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 21(4), pages 291-305, December.
    10. Meier, Stephan & Sprenger, Charles, 2010. "Stability of Time Preferences," IZA Discussion Papers 4756, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Vanberg Viktor J., 2014. "Evolving Preferences and Welfare Economics: The Perspective of Constitutional Political Economy," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 234(2-3), pages 328-349, April.
    12. Tomer, John F., 1996. "Good habits and bad habits: A new age socio-economic model of preference formation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 619-638.
    13. Stern, David I., 1997. "Limits to substitution and irreversibility in production and consumption: A neoclassical interpretation of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 197-215, June.
    14. Kesavan, T. & Jensen, H. H. & Johnson, S. R., "undated". "Advertising Information and Consumer Demand: The Case of Agricultural Commodity Promotion," 1987 Annual Meeting, August 2-5, East Lansing, Michigan 269901, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Victor Fernandez-Blanco & Juan Prieto-Rodriguez & Javier Suarez-Pandiello, 2015. "A quantitative analysis of reading habits," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-05-2015, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised May 2015.
    16. Hametner, Markus, 2022. "Economics without ecology: How the SDGs fail to align socioeconomic development with environmental sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    17. Drugeon, Jean-Pierre & Wigniolle, Bertrand, 2007. "On time preference, rational addiction and utility satiation," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3-4), pages 249-286, April.
    18. Budzinski, Oliver & Kohlschreiber, Marie & Kuchinke, Björn & Pannicke, Julia, 2019. "Does music quality matter for audience voters in a music contest?," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 122, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    19. Carmona, Salvador & Gutiérrez, Isabel, 1998. "Vogues in management accounting research," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB 6545, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    20. Alan G. Isaac, 2021. "Wealth Inequality and the Financial Accumulation Process," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 430-448, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10589-:d:464196. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.