Today, I gave the opening remarks at the ANA’s 3rd annual Advertising Law and Business Affairs Conference.
This event has become more relevant … more timely … and more urgent than ever before. Indeed Future Shock: Here and Now – our conference theme – is an apt description of the immensely challenging environment that marketers face today.
Not only is our industry undergoing a reinvention driven by the convergence of advertising, technology and new media platforms … but it’s on a collision course with powerful public affairs issues in the marketplace that must be addressed.
The mounting impact of consumerism … the rising decibel-level of issue advocacy groups … and the growing intervention of activist policymakers are collectively threatening the free speech and open market conditions that are the hallmark of the advertising industry and our society.
The advertising community is under attack on multiple fronts:
1. Food marketing – in fact all marketing – to children
2. Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising
3. Online privacy
4. Global warming
For sure, there are legitimate concerns regarding each of these issues. But a growing ‘hysteria’ – fueled by special interests and fanned by the media – is threatening our ability to efficiently and effectively conduct business. And it’s overshadowing the responsible business practices and many public service initiatives we undertake on a daily basis.
As the leader of the marketing community, the ANA intends to take the following actions.
- Defend our marketing freedoms
- Counter the critics
- Underscore advertising’s positive contributions to society
- Reinforce that marketing is a respected, responsible and economically vital profession
We’ll do this by raising our decibel level as the advertising industry’s chief advocate.
We’ll do it with a proactive campaign that tells our side of the story clearly, compellingly and convincingly.
And we’ll do it by employing the communications disciplines of our profession – with the goal of turning the tide from the largely unfavorable media coverage that now characterizes our industry to a more balanced, positive portrayal of our great profession.
These efforts will be focused on four key issues that ANA government relations and public affairs experts have identified as paramount:
1. Food marketing to children
2. DTC pharmaceutical advertising
3. Consumer privacy
4. Ad taxes
For each, we will identify the core criticisms and threats, as well as frame our industry’s most powerful and positive messages.
For example, on the issue of food marketing to children, we will point to the responsible, self-regulatory actions our industry has taken, including:
- Introducing – and marketing – thousands of healthier food products
- Working voluntarily through NARC to substantially revise the children’s advertising guidelines
- Introducing the Food Initiative, under which ten major food advertisers have agreed to commit half their advertising directed to children to healthy foods and healthy lifestyles
- And, of course, utilizing the vast resources and proven effectiveness of the Ad Council to promote positive social change. By the way, the Ad Council is poised to announce an exciting new initiative focused on healthy lifestyle changes.
On the issue of DTC pharmaceutical advertising, we will make these compelling points:
- We’re helping people become more knowledgeable, proactive consumers of healthcare
- We’re educating people about treatment options available for many health conditions
- We’re encouraging people to go to their doctors to discuss medical issues they may never have addressed otherwise
- We’re getting invaluable health information to minority populations that may have less frequent contact with medical professionals
- Ultimately, we’re enabling people to live healthier, longer lives
Regarding online consumer privacy, we’ll stress these points:
- Personal information enables online advertising to get the right message to the right person at the right time – a service to consumers
- Our industry has established strong privacy guidelines that state that online marketers should provide opt-out mechanisms that are easy for consumers to see and use
- These industry guidelines also specify that marketers should establish high levels of information security to protect consumer privacy
- Finally, we believe that illegitimate online operators are engaging in criminal activity that should be discouraged and punished by federal legislation and regulation – not by a patchwork of state initiatives.
When ad taxation rears its ugly head, we will make these arguments:
- A tax on advertising is an anti-business tax that will drive business away from the taxing authority’s location
- Ad taxes are inherently unfair. They disadvantage certain industries more than others
- Ad taxes reduce the ability to sell, thereby diminishing competition
- And reduced competition drives up prices for consumers Finally, every chance we get, we will underscore the positive economic contributions of advertising to this nation
Last year, a coalition of trade associations came together to produce the most disciplined and focused study ever completed of advertising’s economic impact. The results are absolutely startling. Here are the incredible headlines:
- Advertising accounts for almost 2.5% of the U.S. economy
- The $300 billion spent annually on advertising generates an estimated economic impact of more than $5.2 trillion
- Directly and indirectly, advertising influences about 21 million jobs – or about 15% of all employment in the U.S.
In addition to these facts, advertising delivers many other benefits to society:
- It enables people to make educated choices by putting useful information into the marketplace.
- It subsidizes – and thereby makes affordable – most media forms
For example, a study conducted by the Magazine Publishers of America documented that advertising accounts for 54 percent of magazine revenues. And, arguably, it’s advertising that’s fueled the growth of the Internet – and the amazing amount of free content it makes available to the consumer. Without advertising, we’d have far fewer media choices – at a far higher cost to the public.
- Finally, advertising is a strong force for stimulating positive social change, as typified by the Advertising Council, the public service arm of our industry.
Thanks to the pro bono work of agencies, clients and media partners, the Ad Council places more than $1.7 billion in donated media to educate the public and influence positive social change on more than 50 issues, including drunk driving, seat belt usage and, of course, the well-being of children.
Another great example of using advertising to promote positive social change is the terrific work of the Partnership for Drug Free America. The Partnership leverages the incredible power of advertising to deter illicit drug usage and to put useful information in the hands of parents, teens, teachers and friends.
Overall drug use is down by more than 30% since the Partnership started – equaling some nine million fewer Americans using drugs. That says something about the power of advertising at work. Advertising delivers so many benefits to society. And, as we will continuously stress, it is protected under the First Amendment!
We will communicate all of these powerful messages to key audiences, including policymakers, business leaders, consumers and, of course, our colleagues throughout the marketing community.
Dan Jaffe and I plan to spend a lot of time in the coming year tactically executing this plan. We’ll participate in interviews, send letters to the editor, place op-ed articles, and speak at important conferences and events.
In addition, the ANA will establish a rapid response mechanism to alert us instantly whenever we need to jump-in and convey the industry’s point of view in response to a challenge.
And we’ll employ our own consumer-generated media – blogs and podcasts – to actively engage in the dialogue that’s swirling around our industry in the blogosphere.
Finally, to bolster our points-of-view, we will field new research with consumers that documents their attitudes on these issues, as opposed to what some advocates claim is best for the consumer.
So stay tuned! You’ll be hearing a lot more from the ANA – as we lead the marketing community and advocate its strong positions in addressing the ‘future shock’ issues of today and tomorrow.
Furthermore, as we elevate the voice of the industry, we look forward to the active help of the advertising legal community in effectively carrying out many of these endeavors.
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