We have spent years telling businesses to listen to customers and build what they want. And, of course, that makes sense. If you do not listen to the market, you eventually stop being relevant. However, there is a question we do not ask often enough: Just because customers want something, should businesses build it?
Take advertising, for example. An advertiser naturally wants better results. First, they want to know who is likely to be interested in their product. Then they want more precise targeting. Then they want to understand behaviour and purchasing patterns. And the more information they have, the more accurately they can potentially reach the right person at the right time.
While, from a business perspective, this is completely understandable, where does it stop? What if technology can infer that you are financially going through a difficult period or you are more likely to respond to a particular kind of persuasion? The question is, therefore, no longer simply about making an advertisement more relevant. Instead, it becomes a question of how much a business should be allowed to know about a person in order to sell something to them.
So, here is where I think the old idea of customer obsession needs some rethinking: A customer can ask for something. A customer can be willing to pay for it. There can be a perfectly viable market for it. But that does not automatically mean that a business should provide it. | 
