CEO Insights

The metaverse is being hailed as the next big technological revolution. Through the lens of advertising and privacy, and the intersection of these with children’s well-being, what are the rules of the road for businesses interested in diving into the metaverse?

For businesses interested in making robust ESG disclosures, not only can the sheer number of frameworks and standards make ESG performance reporting seem overwhelming, the frameworks themselves can be a bit fuzzy on how they define and measure the "S" of ESG.

Many are taking advantage of apps and other technologies to keep better track of our health in some shape or form, but it is not always clear how the personal information we input is collected, safeguarded, and shared online.

As advertising volume increases, so too do people’s expectations of representation in advertising. Unfortunately, advertising collectively is still falling short, and consumer perceptions reflect that. Why answer this call from consumers? And what is being done about it?

What can businesses do to stay out of trouble when making health and wellness claims? It is all about understanding what claims you are making and how to support those claims. To mitigate the risk of an unsupported health-related claim, businesses and nonprofits should avoid making any claims that they cannot support with the appropriate level of scientific evidence.

With copious amounts of content proliferating across a growing number of platforms and websites, it is an ongoing challenge for advertisers and platforms to ensure that digital ads are not placed next to harmful content. In this conversation, there is a key distinction few are making — the difference between ‘self-regulation’ and ‘independent, industry-wide self-regulation.’

A challenge for rapid innovation in any industry is the ability for legal and regulatory requirements to keep pace. In the recruiting and hiring process, company leaders are asking themselves: How can we combine important technological innovation with a proactive approach to employment law requirements?

Today's generation of digital natives might be more comfortable navigating gaming and content platforms, but they face the same cognitive limitations — and vulnerabilities — that children always have. The gap between a child’s needs online and the safeguards in place to protect them in digital spaces has grown to the point where big players like Google and Facebook are making more of an effort to address these gaps.

Although advertising’s platforms, technology, and techniques have changed dramatically, the system of independent industry self-regulation has sustained, and thrived, proving itself as an adaptable model to evolving business environments. Today, that model of responsible businesses allowing themselves to be held publicly accountable by independent self-regulation is timelier than ever.

Recently I wrote about the proliferation of dark patterns and tried to give readers a sense of just how widespread these practices are. But it is not just the pervasiveness of dark patterns that has lawmakers and regulators concerned, it is the intent behind them and their impact on consumers. Nonprofit leaders, in particular, should be aware of this and how to guard against it given that they are well-positioned to garner and enhance consumer trust.