Are We Holding Our Advocates Accountable?

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By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

Before diving into marketing and advertising, this blogger was heavily involved in public relations, and was a part of PRSSA, the student version of PRSA (note: am currently a PRSA member on paper, but not really active). The public relations industry, and PRSA in particular, has been pining for years about the lack of advocacy for the profession, and why PRSA needs to be the organization to lead. Interestingly enough, there is a publication out there called the O'Dwyer Report that believes that PRSA is the last organization to be the voice of public relations professionals. Jack O'Dwyer and his crew have been bustin' PRSA's you-know-what for years, and it seems that PRSA is bringing it on themselves.

But this post isn't about the PRSA, or how good it may or may not be. I was trying to think of PRSA's equivalent in advertising and marketing, and I believe it would be between the American Marketing Association (AMA), and the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Based on the membership and chapter claims, the AAF is a bigger organization. Plus, the AAF has the ADDYs. Enough said.

Are there journalists, bloggers, and disgruntled adpeople holding the AAF accountable for its actions and procedures? Are there activities that the AAF is doing (or not doing) that should require advertising professionals to raise the red flag? After a quick skim of web results, there is no controversy with AAF dealings. Just news and blog posts about ADDY awards, happy hours, promotions, keynote speakers, and articles about multi-cultural ad employees and the organization filing a U.S. brief with the ANA to fight the cigarette label issue.

Color me surprised. There are some explanations for this. Perhaps the AAF is just a clean, mean, advertising-advocating machine. If there is no wrongdoing or unethical behavior, there is no need for outcry, right? Or, maybe advertising professionals pay no real attention to the governance of the AAF, and the AAF gives pros no reason to care. Throw shiny things at them from time to time and make sure the chapters are throwing parties, and no questions asked. Better yet, unlike the public relations industry, the advertising sector has done a great job segmenting its interest groups. With the ANA, 4A's, and AMA, perhaps our attention is so divided that the workings of the AAF simply goes unnoticed.

Now this isn't a call-to-arms and a demand for the AAF to open its doors and records. It is just very interesting to see so much energy in the public relations industry and its professional organization, and I couldn't help but wonder why that demand for transparency, or back-and-forth spatter with a publication, doesn't really exist in the advertising industry, and with its professional organization. If something truly bothers us ad pros, it looks like that we either ignore it, or leave it, rather than change it. It doesn't seem to be a bad thing, if wrong actually exists. If there is truth in advertising, let's continue to hope our professional organizations exemplify it.

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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