Day 6: 6 Jan 20
App: Pinterest
Ad: Sky/WWF Ocean Rescue
Targeted: Unsure
Ah, Pinterest, that most aspirational of apps. It's one of the few apps where I don't feel like I'm putting on a show because I don't have any followers (or at least, I don't know any of my followers), yet it's the social media app that I see as the shiniest and most in pursuit of perfection, even more than Instagram.
I use it to 'pin' pictures in different categories - photos of my favourite celebrities, inspiration for my bullet journal, the occasional lifestyle tip, that sort of thing. Of all my apps, it's the one that personalises the content on the homepage the most, aside from maybe YouTube - I don't really follow anyone on Pinterest but it knows what I like. I usually ignore the ads on there when I'm scrolling through potential pins to add to my collections and find them to be an annoyance but today I paid attention to see what I got.
Here's what the algorithm served me today: a photo of Lana Del Rey from her Ultraviolence video, a photo of Matty Healy lounging dressed all in red, an autumnal bullet journal spread, a list entitled 'better synonyms for 'sad'' (Pinterest thinks I'm a writer, despite me never pinning anything relating to writing), another more recent photo of Lana Del Rey and finally a video ad that started like this:
It's another New Year's Resolution themed ad! It goes on to talk about how plastics are killing our oceans and is a promotional video for Ocean Rescue, which is a project Sky is running in conjunction with the WWF. Clicking on the video takes me to the Ocean Hero page on the WWF website:
Apparently, Sky have pledged to cut down on their plastic use and are investing in alternatives, which is a good move. I see and hear a lot of adverts for Sky on social media, especially on Spotify and Podcasts, and usually they're trying to sell me broadband or TV packages, so when I saw that Sky was the sponsor of this ad I almost didn't click, assuming that's where this was going. As a side note, I won't be switching telecoms providers as part of this experiment for a few reasons - I don't pay the phone bill, we entered a new contract on December 31st (with a different provider), and I work in the telecoms industry so it's going to take more than a shiny ad with some bold claims to earn my trust!
So, I was pleasantly surprised to be taken to the WWF and asked to make a pledge to become an 'Ocean Hero'. There are four pledges to take:
- Say no to plastic
- Reduce carbon emissions
- Eat sustainable fish
- Donate
The first one suggests cutting down on carrier bags, coffee cups and plastic bottles. This is something I'm already working on (and I hope you are too) - my family have always reused our carrier bags so always use bags for life at the supermarket, and if I go out I always have a tote bag or a cool plastic bag from a record store to re-use. I've stopped using plastic cups at the office watercooler and I'm working on finding an alternative to a plastic sandwich bag to bring snacks to the office. It doesn't seem right to pick this one as my pledge since I'm already doing it.
Reducing carbon emissions is all about using public transport and clean energy. Like the phone bill, I don't get to choose the household energy supplier so I don't have any control over that part. I also can't drive so I don't have a car, which means I rely on public transport to commute and travel. Basically, I'm already doing all I can here. I'm also not the person who buys fish to bring into the house for dinner, so looking for the MSC or ASC label in the supermarket isn't for me either.
That means it's time to donate! After clicking the 'donate' link on the page, the site took me to a page that explains some of the things they've done with people's donations, like built a robot shark designed to eat plastic, planted seagrass which absorbs carbon, and lobbied the government to protect marine life. I decided to give £10 which only required me to enter my details, no registration needed. They sent me a thank you email which offers links to environmental petitions, WWF membership and information about the endangered species that they're working to protect.
Although I'm not a big animal lover, it's hard to argue against the WWF as a worthy cause, especially as with this campaign they're trying to save the environment for humans as well as animals. Climate change is a very real threat that I hope the big global powers start to take seriously. Sometimes it feels hopeless to try to make changes on an individual level when the huge corporations aren't doing their bit, but as Greta Thunberg says, no one is too small to make a difference. It's good to see Sky advertising some action but I'll be on the look out for other Comcast companies making a positive or negative impact on the environment to see how believable I think their story is.
It's hard for me to say whether this was a targeted ad or not. I think Pinterest ads are probably rolled out to all their users because I haven't pinned anything relating to the environment or animals, but I can't be certain. Perhaps once I'm further into the experiment, I'll be able to draw a better conclusion.
If you want to check out the WWF's Sky Ocean Rescue Project and donate to the cause, click here.
PS. I haven't mentioned her today but did anyone else watch Safiya's wedding video that just came out? It made me a little misty-eyed, what a beautiful wedding!
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