Data collection and analysis has been named “the oil of the digital industry” (The economist, 2017). With the increased use of technology both business and consumers now generate large volumes of data every day with the ‘Big Data’ technology market growing at an annual growth rate of 23.1% from 2014-2019 (Herschel and Miori, 2017). Consumer data is proving to be of great value to business enabling a deeper understanding of consumers in order enhance their customer experience and inform marketing activities (Colombus, 2016). However alike to the oil industry, the big data industry does not come without it’s flaws. The volume and scope of data now being generated raises questions concerning morals, ethics and consumer privacy. This critical essay will investigate the moral implications of data collection and how data should inform marketing activities. Example cases will be examined to draw an informed conclusion.

The increase in technology and digitalisation of consumer culture has resulted in what’s known as ‘Big Data’ referring to the collection and analysis of extremely large sets of data (Deighton, 2018). Businesses, in particular marketers look at metrics now more than ever before (Olenski, 2018). Colombus (2016), believes the use of big data is “revolutionising” marketing and sales providing businesses with valuable information that allow managers to gain insights into future trends, improve their customer service, maximise their online reach and increase the efficiency of their supply chain. Boyd and Crawford (2012) support this in stating that the technology and techniques behind big data analysis provides a level of intelligence that can generate insights that were previously impossible. However, this named ‘revolutionary’ technological movement also brings uncertainties. The benefits of big data to businesses are unquestionable however it’s moral impact on society is less easily understood (Braschler et al,. 2019). There are concerns that the scope of big data is a major threat to individuals “freedom and privacy” (Christen et al., 2019).  That being said, the use of big data is now considered essential for businesses to effectively adapt to meet demands in order to survive amongst competitors (Cordon et al., 2019).

To understand th