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As I write, the digital advertising industry is disporting itself on the beaches of Cannes for the Cannes Lions ad festival, celebrating its increasing influence throughout the week's events. But while the industry may be booming, it's the nuts and bolts that can cause some of the most friction.

It's almost a year ago to the day that NMA first raised the issue of online ads appearing against inappropriate content, followed some months later by the furore of brands appearing...

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... on the BNP's Facebook profile page. When we heard rumours the problem had raised its ugly head again, we took a look. Our News Analysis highlight, brands are once again appearing on some deeply offensive websites.

The first thing to point out is that NMA realises, of course, these ads are far in the minority. And the last thing we want to do is over-hype an issue beyond its importance. However, almost everyone we spoke to in the industry agreed this issue is indeed important and needed to be raised.

Because this is all about transparency and fulfilling our promises. The online industry has long sold itself on its accountability and its effectiveness. The ING Direct or Orange marketing director, discovering their brand's ads appearing alongside hardcore pornography and graphic fighting videos, will be well within their rights to consider those promises broken.

There's a lot of blustering denial going on this week as to where the blame lies. Ad exchanges, affiliates and blind network buying have all been put in the frame. The truth is that the ever-increasing complexity of online ad buying means there are many levels at which the process can break down.

A marketing director really doesn't care about any of that, though. He just cares about his brand and all those promises we made to him. That's why NMA believes it's important to continue to raise these issues. Luckily the self-regulatory framework of the industry is becoming robust enough to deal with them. Maybe the return of James Aitken to head IASH, which he founded to clean up the industry, couldn't have come at a better time.


Justin Pearse, Editor, NMA justin.pearse@centaur.co.uk