Ad tech firm wants to help keep your hemorrhoid and herpes flare-ups private

Protecting one's privacy online is a hot topic in recent years, with marketers such as Apple doubling down on highlighting its safety features in increasingly attention-getting ways. Now, ad tech firm Perion gets in on the action with this colorful tale about people taking drastic measures—like faking their own death—just to avoid sharing third-party data. 

For its new campaign entitled “The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Privacy Online,” the company tapped writer/director/producer Max Joseph, whose credits include MTV's “Catfish,” HBO Max’s “15 Minutes of Shame” with Monika Lewinsky to create a three-minute long film, produced out of m ss ng p eces. It promotes the company’s new ad tech platform, Sort, which promises to help brands target the right consumers while maintaining their privacy. 

The film centers on a man who seems to be extra-careful in everyday life. He secures his spare keys in fake rocks and only gives out his Netflix password to his mother. But when it comes to data on the internet, he seems to throw caution to the wind.

That manifestd when a presentation he gives to work colleagues reveals his herpes and hemorrhoid searches, inspiring him to take drastic measures. He uses a map instead of GPS (leading him to the middle of nowhere); he burns off his fingerprints, uses a fax machine for a “booty call” and fakes his own death by blowing up his car.  

The calamity ladders up to the final point, that Perion's Sort “allows brands to connect to you without ever taking your personal information.”