[falcolas]

> they don't seem to be able to use it well

Or they are intentionally dialing back on the accuracy.

Being too accurate in your advertising is like delving into the uncanny valley of CGI. It gets spooky and makes people intentionally shy away from your products.

So, perhaps they're following the same trajectory as CGI: adding intentional inaccuracy to mask their actual targeted ads. If I saw the one thing I wanted in a lineup of four other poorly targeted ads, I'd be less likely to consider it as spooky, and more likely to treat it as I would any other advertisement. These companies follow you around the internet for years, after all. They can afford to play a long game.

Or it's just my tinfoil hat. Either way.

[pdkl95]

> too accurate in your advertising is like delving into the uncanny valley

This isn't speculation - it's standard practice now in some companies to try to avoid "scaring" the customer with something that reveals how much modern advertising looks like a stalker. A well known example is Target when they discovered[1] they could predict pregnancies very early and very accurately:

    At which point someone asked an important question:
    How are women going to react when they figure out
    how much Target knows?

    “If we send someone a catalog and say, ‘Congratulations
    on your first child!’ and they’ve never told us they’re
    pregnant, that’s going to make some people uncomfortable,”
    Pole told me. “We are very conservative about compliance
    with all privacy laws. But even if you’re following the
    law, you can do things where people get queasy.”

The article then tells the story of the time an angry father stormed into Target after the company had sent ads for maternity clothing and nursery furniture to his high-school age daughter. He was angry what he thought was an attempt to coerce his daughter, but later apologized when he discovered that Target was right.

We now live in a world where it businesses can infer significant attributes like pregnancy from subtle changes in their buying patterns. When stalker-like behavior is built into modern business models, the smarter businesses realize that most people will hate you if you act like a creepy spy.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...