Ethical Marketing: Resources

Quinn O'Brien, CMO of Carnegie Learning, argues that in-house agencies built around cost savings may be losing ground to artificial intelligence (AI). His Lenovo experience shows how pursuing the work that matters most to the CEO could redefine an in-house team's value.

Candice Kersh of Frankfurt Kurnit explained how marketers can use artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising production while limiting legal, talent, vendor, and disclosure risk.

AI is accelerating everything, from the speed of decisions to the risk of getting them wrong. This session provided the critical public insights and strategic frameworks needed to navigate this complex terrain.

Legal experts outline how marketers can avoid production delays by aligning contracts, ownership, NDAs, and risk early — so speed and legal rigor work together in modern production.

As companies seek to embrace green initiatives and eco-friendly campaigns, it is crucial to adhere to ethical marketing practices that not only reflect genuine efforts but also foster consumer trust and avoid “greenwashing” pitfalls. This Earth Day, April 22, is a prime opportunity to review, highlight, and renew your organization’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Consumers want better experiences with their ads. The ANA Center for Ethical Marketing is dedicated to advancing ethical marketing best practices for our members and the industry while safeguarding advertising and marketing freedoms. Our robust self-regulatory enforcement program provides education, tools, and compliance services for ethical marketers and consumers. This serves to build trust in the marketplace as consumers engage with their favorite brands.

As we look ahead to the New Year 2025, we all are making resolutions to do and be better – aspiring and planning is a wonderful way to refresh and invigorate your outlook. This is also a perfect time to add the ANA ethics tools to your resolutions. And it’s easy! Here are the ways you can champion ethics in 2025 for your own ethical approach and to advance our industry.

As Halloween approaches, don’t let scary marketing practices haunt your sweet ethical marketing campaigns. Treat consumers with respect and instill brand trust all year. The Center for Ethical Marketing warns against these five ghastly marketing practices and offers tips for handing out ethical marketing treats:

Global marketers and data providers are celebrating the announcement and impending launch of the long-awaited Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF) to replace the former Privacy Shield, which was invalidated by the courts in 2020. The Swiss-U.S. DPF will go into force on September 15, 2024, and follows the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework which was enacted in July 2023.

The ANA Center for Ethical Marketing is dedicated to advancing ethics and accountability for our members and the industry while safeguarding advertising and marketing freedoms. Our comprehensive self-regulatory enforcement program offers education, tools and compliance services for ethical marketers and consumers. Key offerings include DMAchoice, ANA DPF Dispute Resolution and the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA).

To promote a common set of rigorous standards and solutions for ethical marketing, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) developed a new comprehensive marketing ethics framework, the ANA’s “Ethics Code of Marketing Best Practices.”

What ethical risks and issues come along with using AI (Artificial Intelligence) in marketing?

The ANA Center for Ethical Marketing is committed to advancing an ethical marketing ecosystem. Our mission is clear: to promote accountability, protect advertising and marketing freedoms, and build consumer trust. This ethics alert focuses on the need for companies and organizations to instill consumer trust and meet the consumers where they are by honoring their marketing preferences.

As concerns over data security and consumer privacy continue to grow, marketers are confronted with a unique challenge: how to engage audiences effectively while respecting their privacy and remaining in compliance with regulatory legislation across geographies.

Consumers are likely to believe that the texts received are legitimate and from a trusted source. Unfortunately, consumers have been inundated with so-called unwanted “robocalls” and “robotexts” over many years.

Facebook, Instagram, and the other traditional social media giants are past the apex of their popularity. To move forward effectively, marketers need to understand how we ended up here, and what people are seeking from their digital lives in 2024.

Experimenting with generative AI should be controlled and guided by clear and transparent policies, which are sorely lacking. Only 22 percent of companies have generative AI policies, and only 21 percent have an AI ethics policy or responsible AI principles, according to a recent survey.

The ANA’s Chris Oswald discussed the ethical and legal aspects that revolve around artificial intelligence, and what to consider when applying the technology into content and business processes.

The ANA's latest report on ethics compliance reviews the types of consumer marketing ethical inquiries involving direct and digital advertising, including privacy, that were processed by our ethics team and Committees in 2023.

In this session, get an update on a range of things ANA is working on in the ethics space including an Ethics Code, which covers how to ethically market in 2024; DMAchoice, ANA’s data hygiene tool; and ANA’s cross-border compliance mediation service, ANA DPF Dispute Resolution.