Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) are deeply saddened by the death of Professor Jason Arday and send our solidarity to his family, friends, colleagues and everyone mourning his loss.

Jason’s death has also prompted an important and uncomfortable conversation about racism, media scrutiny, online harassment and the responsibilities of the institutions and industries that shape public discourse. 

We should be careful about drawing conclusions about the circumstances of his death while investigations continue. But his family has said that misinformation and harassment played a role in the circumstances surrounding his death, and the intensity of the public scrutiny he experienced has rightly prompted questions about how Black people are treated when they enter spaces where they have historically been underrepresented. 

Whatever view we take on the allegations that surrounded Jason’s career, racism and racialised harassment are never acceptable. Legitimate scrutiny and accountability are essential to a healthy society. But there is a profound difference between asking difficult questions and turning a person into a target for public ridicule, racial stereotyping or abuse.

Recent coverage has demonstrated how quickly an individual story can become a much wider argument about race, diversity and who is entitled to occupy positions of influence. That should concern all of us.

At CAN, we believe advertising should inspire, innovate and drive real results, but not at the expense of our rights and freedoms. That means recognising that advertising does not exist separately from the information environment around it.

Every pound an advertiser spends is a choice.

Those choices determine which publishers, platforms and content environments receive commercial support. They influence which business models thrive. They can help responsible journalism flourish, or inadvertently subsidise environments where outrage, sensationalism, racism and harassment generate attention and revenue.

Advertising has the power to shape the information ecosystem. That creates a responsibility for advertisers.

Our CAN Guiding Principles are built around a simple principle: effective advertising should work for everyone. That means challenging outdated norms, safeguarding society and the environment, improving transparency and using the power of advertiser choice to create better outcomes.

The events surrounding Jason Arday reinforce why that work matters.

Brand safety cannot simply mean protecting a logo from appearing next to a particular category of content.

Advertisers should ask a bigger question: What kind of media ecosystem are we helping to fund?

Review publisher and platform policies around racism, hate speech, harassment and dehumanising content. Understand how complaints are handled and what happens when harmful behaviour is identified.

Audit media investment to understand where advertising spend ultimately goes.

Ask agencies, platforms and media owners for greater transparency around the environments in which your advertising appears and the business models your investment supports.

Where there is a clear pattern of harmful content being monetised, advertisers should be prepared to act.

Responsible journalism is essential to an informed society.

Advertisers can choose to support publishers that invest in rigorous reporting, editorial standards, fact-checking and accountability – particularly at a time when social platforms can reward the most inflammatory version of a story.

The answer to harmful media is not less journalism. It is better journalism and more responsible funding of it.

Inclusion cannot stop with recruitment targets, workplace policies or creative representation. 

Advertisers should consider who receives their investment. Are diverse and independent publishers being fairly supported? Are Black-led media organisations part of your media strategy? Are your commercial decisions reinforcing or challenging structural inequalities?

If advertising is going to work for everyone, then everyone needs to be able to participate in the advertising economy.

Advertisers have influence. Use it. Ask platform and publisher partners:

• What are you doing to tackle racist abuse and harassment? 

• How quickly are harmful posts and accounts acted upon?

• How do you distinguish legitimate criticism from targeted harassment? 

• What transparency do you provide advertisers about these systems?

• How are you protecting people from becoming targets of coordinated abuse?

• What responsibility do you accept when engagement-driven systems amplify harmful content?

These should be normal questions in advertiser-platform relationships.

This is also an opportunity for organisations to review their internal approach: 

• Does your brand-safety policy consider racism and harassment?
• Does your misinformation and information-integrity policy consider the amplification of harmful narratives?
• Do your media-buying guidelines provide clear direction on where investment should and should not go?
• And, importantly, do your teams know what to do when an issue like this emerges?

The advertising industry cannot control everything that happens in the media or online. But we can control where we put our money, what standards we expect from partners and what behaviour we are willing to support commercially.

Choice is powerful. When advertisers choose transparency, they can protect their brands while supporting a healthier information ecosystem. When they choose inclusion, they can help diverse communities participate more fully in the economy.

When they choose responsible media, they can help create an environment where journalism, debate and public conversation can happen without sacrificing people’s dignity and safety.

This is not separate from effective advertising. It is part of it.

CAN will continue to challenge outdated norms and advocate for an advertising industry that safeguards society, champions inclusion and works for everyone.

We stand in solidarity with all those mourning Jason Arday, and with everyone who has experienced racism or harassment. Advertising should work for everyone.

Nafissa Norris is head of membership & engagement at Conscious Advertising Network and president of Bloom UK 

Picture credit: Getty Images