Ethics Certified Spotlight: Andy Soriano

Institute for Advertising Ethics • April 9, 2025

Meet Andy! A member of our Ethics Certified community.

Andy recently earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from California State University, Northridge. Andy has gained hands-on experience as the IAE's first Digital Marketing Intern and is now an Assistant Media Planner for Digital Media Strategy at RPA Advertising.


How have the IAE's certifications impacted you, your educational career, and your approach to ethical advertising?

IAE’s certifications have been instrumental in refining my skills as both a student and a marketer. These courses have allowed me to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world application, enhancing my understanding of marketing’s ethical landscape. More than just educational tools, they serve as powerful reminders of the ethical standards that uphold industry integrity and protect consumer rights, critical principles for any marketing professional.


What was the most valuable lesson you learned from the certification(s)?

IAE Principle 6 delivers a powerful message about the importance of privacy and transparency—two cornerstones of ethical marketing. Transparency isn’t just a best practice; it’s the foundation of trust, and trust is what builds truly great brands. This principle challenges industries to uphold high ethical standards, and allows consumers to have a choice while highlighting the immense influence advertising has over consumers. Rather than exploiting that power, marketers should harness it with integrity, ensuring transparency remains a top priority for the benefit of all.


Principle 6.

Advertisers should never compromise consumers’ personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their information should be transparent and easily made.


Why is ethics important for advertising?

Ethics in advertising is essential because no one wants to be misled, especially when placing their trust in a product, service, or brand. Honesty and integrity should be the foundation of any marketing strategy, setting clear standards for what’s right from the very start. A strong ethical compass not only protects consumers but also safeguards a brand’s reputation. When companies prioritize transparency and fairness, they cultivate trust, build lasting relationships, and create a stronger, more responsible industry.



What are some of the biggest ethical challenges you see in advertising today and how do you think these challenges can be overcome?

One of the biggest ethical challenges in advertising today is the tendency of some companies to invest more effort in deceiving consumers rather than choosing the ethical path. While cutting corners may seem like the easier route in the short term, it often leads to bigger problems down the road, such as damaged trust, lost customer loyalty, and the costly task of rebuilding a tarnished reputation. The key to overcoming these challenges lies in proactive education and strong ethical standards from the start.

We want to highlight you too! Fill out this form to be featured on our Ethics Certified Spotlight.

Join our growing Ethics Certified community!

Click the shields below to learn

more & get certified.

Share

Bulletin #9: Momentum Grows: Leaders Unite to Build Trust in Advertising

By Logan Chrisinske • November 20, 2025
Building Trust at Every Touchpoint The Institute for Advertising Ethics is gaining momentum, propelled by the success of our October Global Ethics Day in New York. Across participants and panelists alike, IAE’s Ethics Day affirmed a growing consensus that trust is now becoming operational, measurable, teachable, and scalable throughout the advertising and media ecosystem. Global Ethics Day 2025: Building Trust at Every Touchpoint The Liberty Room at Frankfurt Kurnit was filled on October 15 as leaders from industry, government, civil society and academia united for IAE Ethics Day 2025. Delegates from the U.S. Government, ANA Ethics Center, Microsoft, Kenvue, Uber, LinkedIn, Google LLC, Yahoo Inc., Accenture, Dentsu, Paul Weiss, Mastercard, and many others came together around a single, urgent theme: advancing the creation of scalable ethics standards to restore trust across the $1.5 trillion advertising and media industry, especially amid the rise of AI. The work is well underway, led by leaders shaping an open, validated, multi-stakeholder standard, one that delivers transparency, interoperability, verifiability, and broad adoption. Highlights included: “The future of advertising depends not only on innovation but on trust. Ethics shouldn't be understood as a constraint on innovation, rather as a catalyst for it." -Dr. Juan Mundel, Editor, Journal of Advertising Education. Dr. Juan Mundel speaks about rebuilding trust in Advertisin g “We need to create a culture where people can ask questions and where we prioritize ethics.” -Dr. Anna McAlister, Director of Curriculum and Assessment, IAE Experts highlight the role of ethics education and self-regulation in the Advertising Industry “Trust is the new currency in our industry. Without it, even the most creative campaigns can’t sustain real impact.” -Ty Heath, Director and co-founder of the B2B Institute, LinkedIn Fireside Trust Performance and Ethics in Action “People tend to believe computers are smarter than we are, which makes us less likely to question their output.” -Dr. Dana LaFon, U.S. Government Panel Explores Global Ethical Frameworks Guiding AI and Advertising “AI knows, but AI doesn’t think and AI doesn’t feel. That’s a line that’s helpful for me.” -Esther Uhalte Cisneros, Head of eCommerce & Retail Sales, Germany, Google Experts Debate “Where to Draw the Line” in Advertising Ethics, AI and Authenticity “Legal is [...] the floor and ethics is the ceiling. Even if something is legally correct, it may not be ethically right to do.” -Peri Fluger, General Counsel, Ruder Finn Building a Culture of Compliance: From Policy to Practice

Building a Culture of Compliance: From Policy to Practice

By Logan Chrisinske • November 3, 2025
At the Global Ethics Day session hosted by the Institute for Advertising Ethics, legal and communications leaders from Uber, LinkedIn and Ruder Finn joined attorney Jeffrey Greenbaum of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz to discuss how companies can translate ethical principles into practice. Greenbaum opened by noting that ethical advertising often goes beyond legal compliance. “Even if you communicate truthful information to consumers, but you communicate it in a way that’s misleading, that in and of itself can be false advertising,” he said. Jess Smith, associate general counsel at Uber, said ethics should be embedded in company culture, not just policy. “It’s not just who the brand is — it’s what actions they take out in the world,” she said.

Panel Explores Global Ethical Frameworks Guiding AI and Advertising

By Logan Chrisinske • October 31, 2025
At the Global Ethics Day session hosted by the Institute for Advertising Ethics, panelists explored how ethical frameworks—Western and non-Western alike—shape the future of artificial intelligence and advertising. John C. Havens, a leading AI ethics expert and author, opened the discussion by contrasting Western “dualism” with indigenous and collective ethical traditions. “In the West, binary code—1 and 0—is based on dualism,” he said. “But traditions like Ubuntu ethics remind us, ‘I am because we are.’ When you take the best of Western thinking and apply what it means to be in community, you get the best of both worlds.” Alayna Kennedy, a data scientist and AI governance leader at MasterCard, emphasized the importance of turning abstract ethics into practical systems. “The real challenge is how to make fairness real—how to take a word on a page and turn it into a change in your product that impacts a real person,” she said. She added that MasterCard takes a “risk-based” approach to AI governance, focusing on identifying and mitigating potential harms while enabling innovation.