• by Joe Mandese , August 15, 2025

It's hard to believe it has been only four years since the Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE) launched. It's even harder for me to believe that many of you may not have heard about it, much less actually participated in one of its professional certification programs.

What's that you say -- "ethics?" Yeah, I know that in the spectrum of nice-to-have, want-to-have and need-to-have, ethics in the ad industry probably falls on the niceness axis, but it probably should be more on the needy part, because as the IAE has demonstrated in its brief history, it is also something you need to have -- not just because it's the right thing to do, but -- because it is something you need to have to mitigate risk.

And every program it has launched to date -- from its foundational Certified Ethical Advertising Executive program to more recent ones certifying the ethics of ad pros to prevent the risky practice of greenwashing and one ensuring integrity in the use of AI in advertising -- has had preventing potential liabilities at its core.

The bonus -- that it would actually make advertising pros better at their jobs -- so far has been more theoretical, or maybe just aspirational. Until now.

This week, the IAE disclosed proof of that via a recent peer-reviewed, award-winning academic paper demonstrating how the certification programs enhance the professionalism of advertising industry executives.

The paper can be read here, but the gist of it is that it recently won The Journal of Advertising Education's prestigious "Best Article of the Year" award, effectively affirming what the IAE has been implying for the past four years -- that it makes you a better advertising pros.

Specifically, the academic researchers found that the certifications "demonstrated significant gains in ethical awareness and confidence across 9 of 12 key indicators."

The academics also found that the program increased the ability to recognize and act on ethical issues in real-world scenarios, and that graduates "gained access to specialized communities on AI ethics, greenwashing, fraud" and other potentially risky ad industry practices.

As the first -- maybe only -- IAE certified ad trade journalist, I can tell you firsthand that the programs expanded the way I think about the ad business, as well as the way I cover it.

A while back, I covered the IAE's AI integrity certification program, but never got to write about my own firsthand experience, and why it is crucial to one of the fastest-moving -- and arguably, most disruptive -- developments for advertising pros. I even asked some ad pros to complete it themselves and tell me what they thought, and a few from Cincinnati-based Brandience did and consented to an interview I recorded and am sharing with you below so you can hear it firsthand.

They include Vice President of Digital & Programmatic Media Danyelle Horrillo, Digital Media Associate Ryan Grant and CEO Brian McHale.