What does it mean to practice advertising ethically in today’s new advertising ecosystem?

Abstract: I argue that a constellation of activities–among them: technological innovation; the emergence of a thriving adtech industry; and increase in behavioral targeting to facilitate monetization of the Internet; and consumers increasing ability to control their exposure to advertising messages–signals an opportunity, indeed, an urgency to begin a fundamental re-visioning of advertising professional culture. This re-visioning acknowledges the many roles advertising plays and the tremendous power the institution wields not only in the marketplace, but also in social and cultural life, in the very economic structure of the media ecosystem, in the maintenance or dilution of our democratic processes. Ad-blocking provides an illustrative case example.