Ethics Alert Series
ANA Ethics Compliance Report, January — June 2023
Ethical Privacy Practices Advance Growth — Six Month Compliance Report Published
ANA's Center for Ethical Marketing provides self-regulatory enforcement programs to help advance ethics and accountability for our members to protect advertising and marketing freedoms from bad actors and provide education, tools and compliance mechanisms for ethical marketers and consumers — DMAchoice, DPF and DAA as examples. As part of our self-regulatory efforts, we provide regular reporting to provide transparency and accountability for the work of staff and our Ethics Committees. View our guidelines on ethical marketing.
ANA Releases Latest Ethics Compliance Report: Check out our latest report to review the types of consumer marketing ethical inquiries involving direct and digital advertising, including privacy, that was processed by our team covering January — June 2023. The report details the top consumer complaints from the nearly 2,300 inquiries received and lists the companies found to be out-of-compliance with industry standard practices.
- Top consumer concerns — honoring consumers' marketing preferences in direct mail and online advertising: consumers continue to seek more control in the amount and types of promotional mail and online display ads they receive.
- 2,247 consumer inquiries processed by the ANA Center for Ethical Marketing from January — June 2023: 1,305 general marketing ethical inquiries, and 942 digital and Interest-based advertising inquiries.
- ANA's signature data hygiene tools is DMAchoice — used nationally by top brands and data providers — to assist marketers and data providers in cleaning lists, saving money and resources and honoring consumer choice. The list is comprised of:
- The deceased
- Those needing extra care with their mailings (individuals with memory issues or other health-related challenges) as submitted by caretakers and family members and
- Individuals who seek to be opted out of mail due to their concerns with environmental impact or another valid reason.
- The ANA serves as the compliance arm to the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) to assist 1) companies in complying with DAA's notice and choice requirements and 2) consumers in managing the online ads served based on their browsing history.
- 55% of the inquiries received were from cellphone users and over 21% from users who use multiple devices. Most of the complaints were from Android users.
- Three main areas of concern cited: data security, how to better manage or opt-out of IBAs and ads blocking online content — news, email, games, etc.
If you believe that a marketing promotion or practice is questionable and may warrant a formal review by staff or the ANA Ethics Review Committee, consumers or companies may file a complaint. Questions or want to get more involved in the ANA Center for Ethical Marketing? Contact our team: ethics@ana.net or join our new ANA Center for Ethical Marketing LinkedIn Group and the ANA Ethics Policy Committee.
Click the DOWNLOAD NOW button for the full report.
Source
"ANA Ethics Compliance Report, January — June 2023." ANA, 8/22/23.