In the last 15 months each and every one of us has been asked some very deep and searching questions.

It is fair to say that everyone in our industry has been personally and professionally deeply affected by the pandemic and the impact it has had on our families, friends and communities. Covid 19 has been a generational event. We had nothing like it to deal with when we were growing up. It is not over yet and will define our lives in the coming months and years.

The global pandemic is not alone in terms of rocking the foundations of our societies. The racism that some of us were smug enough to think was a thing of the past is not just back, but back writ large, turbo charged by algorithms. Climate change is no longer something that is going to have an impact in 100 years. It is now. Right in front of us. Our responsibility.

So what is the responsibility of the advertising industry? At the Conscious Advertising Network we think that responsibility is huge. Our industry literally funds the internet, to the tune of $330 billion dollars last year.

For every ad made through the pandemic that has helped protect the NHS and saved lives, our advertising spend has funded content that denies the very existence of the Covid 19 or content that spreads conspiracy theories that 5G caused Coronavirus. For every brand that supports the Black Lives Matter movement, the advertising spend of some of those brands has funded white supremacist content, anti-migrant content and racist abuse.

For every brand with a sustainability strategy, some of those same brands fund content saying that climate change is a hoax. One of the themes of RISE this year is how to have brave conversations. At the Conscious Advertising Network we know a thing or two about difficult and brave conversations. We have a lot of them. We think it starts with asking the right questions. Asking questions of yourself, your colleagues, your boss, your agencies, your partners, of everyone.

Is my brand funding anti-vax content? Is my work funding white supremacist conspiracy theories? Is the advertising I produce inclusive or exclusive? Is the culture of my organisation inclusive or exclusive? Are the publishers I spend money with denying the existence of climate change? What or who am I actually doing this job for?

Another theme for the network this year is ‘what makes an outstanding leader?’ We think the most critical thing for a leader in 2021 is to be really clear about your values as a human being. Not as an employee. As a person. As a mum, a dad, a daughter, a son, a friend. Do you care about the questions we ask above? Do you really care? Then do something about it.

Over the last three years volunteers at the Conscious Advertising Network have collaborated with brands, agencies and civil society to fight for a response to advertising’s problematic role in funding content that divides us and makes us distrust each other. We have written 6 manifestos on Misinformation, Children’s Wellbeing, Hate Speech, D&I, Informed Consent and Ad Fraud. Everything we have done is open source and free. Please feel free to use the manifestos and all of our work to start asking the right questions of yourselves, colleagues and partners.

The advertising we produce and the internet and media we fund matters. We have an enormous responsibility in shaping the stories that we tell ourselves as human beings. The hard truths we tell ourselves. Or the lies.

One of the things that keeps me up at night is answering the questions of my kids in the future. ‘Dad what did you do.’

I want to be able to look them in the eye.

This article first appeared in Creative Equals’ RISE trend report, created by Creativebrief. This free trend report wraps up key insights and learnings from the Creative Equals RISE 2021 conference.To download it please click here