TRENDSETTERS: Hall of Famer Wally Snyder Talks Advertising Ethics

The Internationalist Trendsetters is written by Deborah Malone, founder of The Internationalist.

Wally Snyder has devoted his entire professional career to working on advertising development, regulation and ethics. He served as a trial lawyer and as Assistant Director for Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) before joining the American Advertising Federation (AAF) where he served as president and CEO, from 1992–2008. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame® in 2009. Currently, he serves as Executive Director for the Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE), which is now part of the AAF. 

Ethics is an immense topic, especially now, and essentially refers to the moral principles that govern our behavior in society. Advertising ethics are more specific to practices between the industry and consumers, especially at a time when people have learned the difference between privacy and security– and are ready to hold brands accountable.   

Without question, Wally Snyder has been a dedicated champion of the need to better understand issues of advertising ethics and is particularly excited that the IAE is offering its inaugural virtual symposium  later today—June 8th at 2pm Eastern time.  The topic is "Matters of Trust" and discusses the how and why of enabling the industry to build trust and transparency with consumers and business partners. The symposium will begin with a data and ethics roundtable with executives from MasterCard, sparks & honey, Microsoft and the American Advertising Federation, and then be followed by specialized leadership conversations.

According to Snyder, "This topic is now critical in the competitive digital marketplace where consumers expect to be treated truthfully and fairly and have the online power to respond positively and negatively. The ethical and legal cases for building trust through transparency merge and both are essential."

Additionally, the IAE plans to introduce a new advertising ethics certification program early next year called the CEAE, or the Certified Ethical Advertising Executive. Today's symposium will also serve as an outline of that certification process, which is open to anyone interested in helping to define and develop ethics standards for the industry.

In our conversation, we discuss the following:

• The need for the Institute for Advertising Ethics.
• How notions of advertising ethics have changed over time.
• Today's largest digital and legislative concerns in regard to ethics.
• Who in the marketing organization is most concerned with issues of advertising ethics?  Who should be?
• What is the future of trust in advertising?

The purpose of the Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE) is to inspire advertising, public relations and marketing communications professionals to practice the highest personal ethics in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.

The Institute for Advertising Ethics is governed by Independent Council consisting of the following professionals:

• Wally Snyder, IAE Executive Director and President Emeritus, AAF; Professor and Senior Advisor, Advertising Ethics, Michigan State University
• Linda Thomas Brooks, President and CEO, MPA–The Association of Magazine Media
• David Bell, Chairman Emeritus, Interpublic Group; Senior Advisor, AOL
• Robert Burnside, Partner, Chief Learning Officer, Ketchum
• Margaret Duffy, Executive Director, Novak Leadership Institute
• Linda Eatherton, Partner, Director Global Food & Nutrition Practice, Ketchum
• Tim Love, Retired Former Vice-Chairman Omnicom Group
• Carla Michelotti, Esq., Carla Michelotti LLC
• Andy Narrai, Chief Marketing Officer, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, s.c.
• Sheryl Johnson, Assistant Professor, Department of Strategic, Legal and Management Communication, Howard University
• Lee Peeler, President, Advertising Self Regulatory Council
• William Price, Chair Emeritus, Empower MediaMarketing
• Jef Richards, Professor, Department of Advertising + Public Relations, Michigan State University
• Andrew Susman, New Value Associates
• Tiffany R. Warren, SVP, Chief Diversity Officer, Omnicom Group
• Bob Wehling, Retired Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble