The rebellion against personalisation

For 15 years, personalisation was the holy grail of advertising. “Right person, right message, right time.” Algorithms promised to know you better than you knew yourself.

In 2026, the consumer is pushing back. And the pushback has a name: the Rebellion Against Personalisation.

From ‘Creepy’ To ‘Claustrophobic’

The first wave of backlash was privacy. “Why is this shoe ad following me?” Then came regulations: GDPR, DPDP Act 2023, iOS ATT.

The second wave, happening now, is psychological. Personalisation has become claustrophobic.

You search for a sofa once. For the next 3 months, every app is a furniture store. You watch 1 video on anxiety. Your feed becomes therapy. You buy a gift for your nephew. Your “For You” page thinks you’re 12 years old.

Kantar’s India 2026 study finds 54% of urban users feel “trapped by their own data”. 41% actively try to break the algorithm: clearing history, using incognito, or buying products they don’t want just to confuse it.

We didn’t kill the cookie. The cookie killed us.

What The Rebellion Looks Like

1. The Rise of Context Over Cookies

Brands are buying “context” again. Show a sports drink ad on a cricket match, not to “Rohan, 27, who runs”. Spotify’s 2026 ‘Sound of Now’ push sells playlists, not people. Unilever reported 18% higher brand recall with contextual buys vs lookalike audiences. Why does it work? Context feels relevant. Personalisation feels watched.

2. Anti-Personalisation UX

Apps are giving users an off-switch. Instagram’s “Reset Recommendations”. YouTube’s “Not Interested” button that actually works. Google’s “Ad Settings: See Less Personalised Ads”. People are clicking them. 1 in 3 Gen-Z users in India used a “reset” feature in the last 90 days, per LocalCircles.

3. Cohort & Community Targeting

Instead of “you”, advertisers target “people like you”. Google’s Privacy Sandbox, FLoC 2.0, and cohorts like “Bengaluru Budget Travellers” are replacing 1:1 IDs. 

Example: Zepto doesn’t retarget you with chips. It targets “Late-Night Craving Cluster” with a meme. You feel seen, not surveilled.

4. The ‘Glitch’ Aesthetic

Creatives now deliberately misfire. A skincare brand ran an ad to men: “This is not for you, but share it with your sister.” Engagement was 3x higher. The rebellion is aesthetic too. Perfect personalisation is boring. Controlled chaos is human.

Why Personalisation Failed Us

Personalisation made 3 wrong assumptions:

1. More Data = More Relevance

Wrong. More data = more assumptions. And assumptions get stale in 48 hours. Your mood, income, and life stage change faster than your cookie.

2. Relevance = Conversion

Wrong. Relevance can feel like pressure. A 2026 Nielsen study found ads with 80%+ personalisation match had 22% lower purchase intent than 60% match ads. The consumer needs room to breathe.

3. The User Wants to be Understood

Wrong. The user wants to be entertained, helped, surprised. They don’t want a mirror. They want a window.

 How Personalisation may not be the real Mantra

1. CRED: From ‘You’ to ‘Us’

CRED’s 2023 ads were hyper-personal: “Pay your rent, CRED it.” By 2026, it pivoted to absurd, non-personal films with Ranveer Singh + Jamna Bai. No targeting. Just culture. App opens grew 29% even as CAC fell. 

Lesson: When everyone is personal, broad is the new premium.

2. Netflix India: The Genre Flip

Netflix killed “Because you watched” on the homepage for 40% of users in a test. It replaced it with “What India is Watching” + editorial picks. Time spent increased 11%. Users said they were tired of the echo chamber. 

Lesson: People don’t want a feed of themselves. They want a feed of the world.

3. Mamaearth: The Blank Ad Test

Mamaearth ran blank white ads on Instagram with text: “We don’t know what you like. Tell us.” It linked to a 3-question quiz. Cost per lead was 40% lower than their retargeting ads. 

Lesson: Asking beats assuming. Invitation beats inference.

The Legal + Tech Tailwinds

The rebellion isn’t just cultural. It’s structural.

1. DP Act, 2023 Consent fatigue is real. 78% of users click “Deny” on app tracking prompts now. No consent, no personalisation.
2. Cookieless World: 3rd-party cookies are dead on Chrome. Advertisers can’t track you across sites without permission.
3. AI Search: On ChatGPT/Perplexity, there is no feed to personalise. You ask, you get 1 answer. The ad model flips from push to pull.

If Personalisation is the Past, what’s next?

1. Personalise the Experience, Not the Person

    Don’t show me 100 versions of your shoe. Show me 1 great version of your website, store, or app that adapts to my task. UX > Ad.

2. Use ‘Opt-In’ Data or Don’t Use Data

    Quizzes, wish lists, loyalty programs. First-party data given willingly beats inferred data taken silently. 

3. Budget for Context + Community

    Put 30% of your media money into contextual, topical, and creator-community buys. Stop chasing 1:1 IDs. 

4. Measure ‘Comfort’ Not Just Clicks

    Add a metric: Ad Annoyance Score. Run surveys. If your ad is effective but hated, you’re borrowing from your brand equity.

My view … in conclusion

The internet’s first promise was freedom. The last decade’s promise was convenience. The next promise is space.

The rebellion against personalisation is not a rejection of technology. It is a demand for boundaries. Consumers are saying: “Don’t know me better than me. Just be useful when I need you.”

Brands that keep chasing the 1:1 ghost will be blocked, skipped, or reset. Brands that master context, consent, and community will win.

Because in 2026, the most personal thing a brand can do is… not be personal at all.

The future of advertising is not “for you”. It’s “for us, when you’re ready.”

Dr. Sandeep Goyal is Chairman of Rediffusion and heads The Red Lab.