By Lou Mastria
Big idea: Federal, state and local governments are using the AdChoices Icon to offer transparency and access to consumer control mechanisms. Why? Because DAA Principles keep consumers’ privacy interests front-forward -- right in the ad.
Big idea (in full): Federal, state and local governments are using the AdChoices Icon to offer transparency and access to consumer control mechanisms. Why? Because DAA Principles keep consumers’ privacy interests front-forward, right in the ad, while enabling advertising relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.
Throughout American history, government agencies and institutions have used powerful advertising campaigns to drive civic engagement and education.
Iconic Government-to-Consumer (G2C) campaigns over the decades have included Rosie the Riveter’s WWII effort (“We Can Do It!”), Smokey Bear protecting our forests (“Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires”), and Larry the crash test dummy reminding viewers to buckle up (“You can learn a lot from a dummy.”)
In recent years, government agencies have followed their constituents online, using effective digital campaigns to deliver relevant ads to the American people.
As that shift continues, it’s deeply gratifying to see many state and federal government agencies and their adtech partners using the AdChoices Icon to provide consumers with information and control around interest-based advertising (IBA) through the digital advertising campaigns they run.
Like more familiar B2C advertising, the objectives of G2C ads are as diverse as the agencies that run them, from tourism to military recruiting, public safety, public health, higher education, and employment.
Government advertising is more effective -- and advances the public interest better – when it reaches people who find it relevant. Ads for local tourism will be more impactful if they reach people who are interested in travel. Ads to prevent drunk driving will be more effective if they are seen by car owners, rather than avid bicycle enthusiasts.
That’s why interest-based advertising can help G2C advertisers find the right groups of people to achieve their public mission, and AdChoices ensures that IBA ads offer consumers information and control over the types of ads they receive, directly from the ads themselves. That’s a double win for government institutions and industry self-regulation.
These images – screenshots, so pardon the fuzziness – show AdChoices hard at work in the public sector.
The use of AdChoices by government agencies and their adtech partners also reinforces the real-world benefits of the Digital Advertising Alliance’s broader self-regulatory program, including the DAA Principles that establish responsible privacy practices for IBA and the independent enforcement of those Principles by BBB National Programs and the ANA.
Put simply, G2C advertisers know that trust is engendered when a brand -- public or private -- offers consumers privacy information and choices in real-time from their ads itself, sites, apps, or even platforms.
The adoption of IBA by government entities shows the power of “data for good” across both the public and private spheres -- efficiency, relevance, accountability -- and the use of the AdChoices Icon in many of those ads highlights the clear benefits of the DAA’s self-regulatory model for both private companies and public institutions.
