• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, October 12, 2023

There is no adequate way to address the horrific, senseless violence perpetrated by Hamas in Israel this past weekend. The atrocities perpetrated on the people of Israel are pure evil and must be condemned by all, particularly by those in the ad industry.

So many of us are hurting. So many of us have friends, family, colleagues and industry contacts impacted by the atrocities. In times like these, we must raise our voices in support of freedom and its protections and against tyranny, and call for the eradication of terrorism.

Some may worry that taking public stands on issues like Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel breaks some unwritten moral code of neutrality in the advertising and media industries. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our work in support of economic trade does not make us neutral players, or excuse myopia when it comes to addressing fundamental issues facing humanity.

In 1926, in an address to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, then U.S. President Calvin Coolidge challenged ad industry leaders to accept responsibilities to society beyond the simple conduct of their businesses. “Advertising creates and changes [the] foundation of all popular action, public sentiment, or public opinion," he said. "It is the most potent influence in adopting and changing the habits and modes of life, affecting what we eat, what we wear, and the work and play of the whole Nation.”

An industry that shapes the minds of hundreds of millions of people can’t just sit it out when the issues become heavy. We bear a greater responsibility to inform, educate and preserve the well-being of society.

As Coolidge said: “Advertising ministers to the spiritual side of trade. It is a great power that has been entrusted to your keeping which charges you with the high responsibility of inspiring and ennobling the commercial world. It is all part of the greater work of regeneration and redemption of mankind.”

This is the time to stand with Israel. No disagreements or disputes over politics, religion or the direction of a democratically executed state can ever justify what happened there, ever.