Julie Brill also warns publishers and advertisers to make sure native ads are clearly labeled
The Federal Trade Commission had two direct messages for the advertising industry on Thursday: Some advertisers are going overboard tracking consumers across multiple devices without giving them any say in how they are being tracked. And Web publishers and advertisers alike better start clearly labeling content paid for by marketers as “advertising.”
Those messages were delivered by a gentle scolding from FTC Commissioner Julie Brill, who spoke at an AdExchanger conference in New York on Thursday. Ms. Brill started off joking about how the some of the advertising issues that the FTC focuses on had broken out in pop culture, noting references to native advertising in HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” and ad blocking on “South Park.”
“We’re on fleek,” she cracked.
But Ms. Brill’s tone shifted quickly, as she talked about how the organization has been conducting research on the growth of advertisers and publishers targeting the same person across their laptop, phone and tablet—and doesn’t like what it is finding.