I was reading an article on Pocket Picks the other day, wherein they reported that figures from Q Research indicate that 71% of 11-20 year olds would be happy to receive advertisements on their mobile phones so long as they were targeted to their interests. This actually surprised me a little, and would have been unheard of in generations past.
Younger generations are far more open to advertising in general, probably because of the way it is always in their face, and has been since birth. Sure, advertising has been around for a long time, but older generations would have had far less and in far fewer places, making them far more resistant to its introduction these days.
The fact that youth are more open to advertising is aided by the way there is more commonly something in it for the viewer. Schemes like Virgin Mobile’s ‘Sugar Mama’ allow users to earn free minutes on their phone accounts for viewing mobile advertisements, which makes it feel like the viewer is getting rewarded, making them want to view more ads. The company showing the ads will then get more advertisers interested, making it a win-win situation, provided the company being advertised finds leads as a result.
I do not believe this trend will stop, and I think that advertising will become a more pervasive part of our lives. This may upset some people, but for the next generation, it will just be a fact of life.