I've long said that media changes the world, and we as people in advertising actually have a responsibility to the world with what we put out. And where. When we all began using platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube because "that's where the audience is", we also allowed for the ginormous growth of publication platforms that have absolutely no editorial responsibility, and now has the power to shut out anyone for saying the wrong thing at the drop of a new sentence in their terms of service. We gave them that power. We all moved to a more centralized web, owned by a few large Big Tech companies, which is the exact opposite of how the web should work.

We've put all the eggs in one basket, and Google can yank our ad funding away because we reported on these PETA ads, while Twitter can ban anyone that causes waves from Milo Yiannopoulos to Meghan Murphy. You may not agree with either of them, but if the few platforms we now have won't allow legal speech, why should advertising support these platforms? We spent years pushing for better targeting and filtering, to avoid advertising on ISIS propaganda or child abuse channels, but it wasn't until advertisers walked away en masse that Google tried to clean house in their own properties like Youtube. In an era where the population becomes more polarized due largely to our current media landscape, advertisers may want to consider how it supports this, and if they should.