My daughter turns 3 next month.
About a year ago, she taught herself how to use my iPhone.
Now don’t get me wrong, she’s not texting or tweeting or posting pictures to Instagram – though she does know how to take pictures. She also knows how to answer the phone, where to hold the phone when she’s on FaceTime, and how to navigate to whatever picture or video she wants to look at.
My wife and I have downloaded a dozen or so “parent-approved” apps for her – mostly in the educational-game genre. I’m too cheap to pay the extra $1.99 to remove the ads, so many of these games include some type of advertisement.
Last night, as I was watching my daughter play one of these games, I noticed an ad from Ally Bank that took up the bottom quarter of the screen.
Why a bank would be advertising on a toddler game is another story, but stick with me.
I watched as my daughter accidentally clicked on the ad (I did mention that it took up the bottom quarter of an already-small screen, right?). When she clicked, Safari opened up in a new “window” and suddenly we were looking at some ad from Ally Bank. I quickly closed it and we were back to the game.
Then I noticed something interesting.
The next time that ad popped up, she ignored it. I watched – in awe – as she intentionally did not get her little fingers anywhere near the ad. She came close many times, but it was clear that she knew – after one “oops” – to not click the ad. She learned. She adapted … after one erroneous click.
She has already learned, 7 weeks shy of her 3rd birthday, to ignore ads. Even better? Guess who taught her to ignore those ads? You got it. The very marketers who are slamming these ads in our faces every chance they get.
Mull that over for a few …
DJ Waldow
Waldow Social
P.S. Have you heard the news? Nick Westergaard and I have started a weekly podcast called The Work Talk Show, where we interview crazy-smart folks about how work gets done. Give the latest episode a listen!
