Cookies Seen as Privacy Threat

From AdWeek :

“Well over half of users believe Internet tracking cookies invade their privacy, according to a new poll.

In a survey of 150 Internet users, 64 percent said cookies represent an invasion of their privacy. The poll was conducted by online ad network Blue Lithium, which recruited participants through banner ads.”

I haven’t seen the details yet (and recruiting via banner ads does not seem terribly sound and that is a small sample size. But I digress…). But the Behavioral Advertising folks everywhere should continue to be worried. Cookies have been around a long time (“The Blue Lithium survey… found 83 percent of respondents claim they are familiar with cookies”), and rightly or wrongly, consumers still have concerns. Unless the industry figures out a way to make more people comfortable with this, they are at serious risk for a backlash and/or regulation.

This is also going to continue to be a large roadblock for brand advertisers. As a friend at P&G told me a little while ago, it is just too risky when consumer sentiment is so negative.