Have you ever browsed in the world of online shopping then noticed you kept seeing that pair of pants you just couldn’t commit to buying appears on multiple sites thereafter?  Many of us have and probably don’t even flinch at this type of advertising but more and more branded companies are getting involved with retargeting campaigns.

A retargeting campaign is simply when a website places a cookie on the users computer to track their buying or lack of buying habits so the advertiser can serve more relevant ads to the consumer.

In many instances this is a great way to “remind” the consumer of something they were recently interested in but possibly didn’t have the time to complete a transaction. In other cases ad retargeting can become an embarrassing nuisance, as it did for one consumer. Ms. Matlin was recently hounded by ads for dieting services she has previously used online, “ they are still following me around, and it makes me feel fat”.

Retargeting is not showing any signs of slowing down, but where do we draw the line when invading consumer’s privacy?