Our Story
A Long History of Rigorous Development
The history began with the work of Wally Snyder who joined with the University of Missouri‘s Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Advertising Federation (AAF) to incubate a collaboration. This collaboration yielded a comprehensive body of knowledge on advertising ethics including the codification of Practices and Principles and the publication of the principal textbook in the field: “Ethics in Advertising: Making the Case for Doing the Right Thing.” This textbook promoted a national dialogue led by Thomas Brooks and Snyder on campuses and in corporate board rooms.
In March of 2017, Susman and Michael Donahue, co-founded The Advertising Trust & Transparency Forum, which focused on ethical issues within the advertising industry itself. The Advertising Trust & Transparency Forum was focused on industry issues and naturally complemented the IAE’s focus on consumer issues. Susman and Donahue envisioned an organization that would bring together the work of the Advertising Contract Exchange built by Ken Zinn, CMO of the American Bar Association, the Advertising Trust & Transparency Forum and the Institute for Advertising Ethics. They joined forces as the Institute for Advertising Ethics.
The Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE) is a 501c3 non-profit built to address the urgent and complex issues of ethical standards and practices across all aspects of advertising communications. It incorporates the vision of Wally Snyder, a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame, Andrew Susman, an entrepreneurial advertising executive and Linda Thomas Brooks, the CEO of the Public Relations Society of America. Its advisory board is an intentionally diverse and exceptional group of market participants, educators, and government officials. To actualize its vision, the IAE spearheaded the idea of certification and launched the Certified Ethical Advertising Executive (CEAE) in 2022 with the University of Texas at Austin. The CEAE is intended to empower a generation of ethical advertising executives who can identify and mitigate ethical risks, build trust in the marketplace, and lead out with ethics in their careers, companies, and communities.