Using our collective power and influence to support the work of the Conscious Advertising Network

By Kerry Glazer

The advertising industry is not alone in facing into uncertainty and daunting challenges as we step into 2023, with deepening conflict in Europe, economic shocks, retreating democracy, growing polarisation and the biggest of them all, climate change. While these huge issues are not unique to the industry, the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) is outspoken in its belief about the advertising industry’s ability to collaborate to influence and drive impact, with advertising shaping culture, funding the media ecosystem and, at its best, tackling some of the biggest problems we face.

CAN has set out over the last five years to build a big tent to bring people together to work on these problems, helping both the industry and wider society.

During the last 12 months CAN has published their seventh manifesto – Climate and Sustainability - co-authored by Havas Media, Virgin Media O2, Friends of the Earth, IPSOS, Purpose Disruptors and SSE. They have also collaborated with the UN Human Rights team in Asia Pacific alongside Diageo India, Accenture, Amnesty and Myanmar human rights activists at the UN Forum for Responsible Business and Human Rights, and they have worked in partnership with both Google and Pinterest, co-authoring industryleading global climate policies.

This is hugely important work and there will be more collaborations like this in 2023. To learn more, and to support and join in with these initiatives, please take a look at the CAN website and get in touch with the team. ●