We are constantly bombarded with ads. During the breaks in our podcasts, while watching our favorite sporting events, when checking our social media feeds, even while we scroll through blog posts and articles on digital marketing and ethics--we can never seem to escape it.

Let’s consider the material from “Attention Please,” (Links to an external site.) a podcast episode on TED Radio Hour with NPR, for a moment. Maybe the ethical issues go beyond just how marketers get data to create and target ads. Maybe it’s even the discussion of what ads or if any ads are ethical, considering the constant bombardment consumers face every single day and its impact on mental health and capacity.

So the real question is: What pitfalls do we face as marketers, and how can we avoid them in the future?

Three Pitfalls of Frustrating Facebook Ethics (and other Digital Marketing Platforms)

- Easy Data

It can feel faster and that it is less frustrating to get data from big data mining organizations. The choice to get data from these types of organizations can cause issues for ethicality if the consumer willingly and knowingly offered the information or not.

With social media platforms and cookies watching our every move, all of our digital movements leave a bread crumb trail of what our preferences and wants are. Data mining companies often capitalize on this by paying to get our data from these places or by creating incentives or motivation for consumers to hand over their data willingly. These companies can then sell data about purchasing behaviors and preferences to ad agencies for ad creation.

- Power of the few dictate the privacy of many

There are really a select few major corporations that run and dominate the world economy. (Links to an external site.) Even six major corporations run nearly 90% of the media and journalism accessed by the average American in the US. Ownership includes popular outlets such as ABC, ESPN, Fox, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, and many others.

So when users provide their personal information to social media platforms or allow for cookies in websites, large corporations--data mining, media, or otherwise--have the money and power to directly influence the masses. Therefore, advertising on websites for these organizations or with their media outlets provides concerns about the ethics of their own purposes with the data and ads.

- Our phones are our phavorites

We can never be apart from our phones, or at least so it seems. As the NPR podcast episode notes, we are never without exposure to advertisements. Every single notification suggests one more advertising decision that must be made by the consumer.

Because we cannot separate ourselves from our devices, we cannot separate ourselves from the ads that pop up in our daily lives. Digital marketers may see this as an opportunity to reach their audiences at any time and place. But it may not be beneficial for consumers to be bombarded at all times.

Ok...so we know the pitfalls. But now what? Our current models give marketers too much power without consumers having enough knowledge of how their information is being used against them to influence their buying decisions. Sure, we all sign up for the terms and conditions. But that doesn’t mean we know exactly the privacy measures we give up every time we check that little box.

With diminishing privacy, consumers don’t know what personal information is unknowingly being used against them to be used in influencing their purchasing decisions. So much of our lives exist on the internet that the average consumer may not ever know how data and advertising companies use that information against them.

The dangers this structure, at a 5 out of 5, pose aren’t even a one or two level concern--they reach top levels of concern in potential ethical dilemmas for digital marketers. It isn’t just a conversation of how we avoid them. It’s about changing the structures that perpetuate unethical bombardments of ads, whether in content, quantity, or quality.

How do we avoid a disaster later down the road? I mean, they say if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. But how do we make sure that we don’t feel the heat and pressure of poor ethical decision making and instead set the tone for the rest of the industry in finding our own moral voices? A guideline, of course. Not a recipe, not a firm formula to follow for a result, but truly the tips and anti-shortcuts to achieving more ethical advertisements.

Here is a general guide of how to make ethical decisions about digital marketing:

1. Support ads and platforms that consistently ask for each individual app or platform that the consumer consents (Links to an external site.) to their data being collected.
2. Believing in the true benefits of the product or service will be the most beneficial factor in advertisements. Otherwise, the only goal is financial gain and not personal, individual impacts that affect society as a whole.
3. Use data solely to target audiences who will benefit from the ads, not all potential audiences that may be wasting time with the ads otherwise.
4. Effectively outline the benefits within the ad to transparently show consumers what they can or at least should expect in landing pages.
5. Use the word “sponsored” (Links to an external site.) on partnered ads and encourage platform influences to identify when a post is an ad if it relates to your brand and they are being compensated for said sponsorship.
6. Create a genuine network (Links to an external site.) of digital marketing platforms, programs, apps, influencers, etc. that is familiar with and can accurately represent your brand. Without a connection to your brand, you run the risk of bombarding consumers.
7. Only get data from organizations that have gotten consumer information in detailed, transparent methods.
8. Define your value proposition easily--both in content and visual formats--for consumers to quickly, accurately understand what the product or service may offer. This will save consumers time and effort.

There you go. That’s it. You’re a pro now at solving every single ethical issue you face in your career. Ok, fine, that’s not true, but you’ve at least got a sense of what to avoid and how to be successful. At the end of the day, always ask yourself the question of if you would be all right with the information being on the front line of the New York Times tomorrow morning. If so, know you’ve done the right thing, at least to the best of your ability.