The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has called for companies in the advertising industry to work together to develop safeguards against advertisement placements that support illegal activity or harm brand reputation.
The ICC recommends that businesses should use commercially reasonable efforts and measures to reduce the risk of adverts being placed on sites engaging in or facilitating illegal activity, or on sites that the brand identifies as undesirable for its products or services.
Brent Sanders, Chair of the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising and Associate General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation said that the ICC's statement "acknowledges the importance of a collective solution and encourages cooperation to set up effective, feasible self-regulatory solutions."
David Fares, Chair of the Working Group that developed the statement and Senior Vice President, Government Relations, 21st Century Fox raised the issue that advert misplacements "can also lead consumers to mistakenly believe that a site is legitimate".
The ICC would also like businesses to develop commercially reasonable policies and processes for removing or excluding sites dedicated to illegal activity, together with the development of an industry-wide standard for the speedy removal of advert placements that fall foul of compliancy.
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