Delta, Kellogg join IBM pledge to fight bias in online ad targeting
Reuters
Published Jun 20, 2022 14:16
Updated Jun 20, 2022 14:46
By Paresh Dave
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL), Kellogg Co and several big ad agencies on Monday pledged to counteract unwanted biases in the algorithms that power their online advertising.
The action, announced as part of an ad industry conference in Cannes, France, is one of the biggest steps taken to ensure stereotypes related to gender, race and other characteristics are not unfairly deciding to whom an ad is shown.
Growing use of automated software to buy ads, greater attention on diversity and the looming risk of scrutiny from consumer protection regulators has brought urgency to the issue.
The advertisers and agencies will use algorithms and guidance from IBM (NYSE:IBM) Corp to identify skews in audiences for ads and balance them out. IBM began testing the tools internally a year ago. They are free, but likely will require added staffing to deploy.
Advertisers acknowledge that tweaks could mean fewer clicks for some time, but that being more inclusive eventually will increase sales.
"Anything we can do to champion greater equity has huge business impact," said Shannon Womack, director of U.S. brand marketing at Delta.
In a test, WPP Plc (LON:WPP)'s Mindshare agency found an unnamed goods company would direct online ads to mostly women because female buyers were more common. Mindshare determined fairness could be improved by six times on a measure of disparate impact by including more male viewers, with the margin of error on predictions related to buyers widening by under two percentage points.
"We can start to break the cycle of some long-held beliefs," said Adam Gerhart, global chief executive of Mindshare, which counts IBM as a client. "The biggest determinate [of becoming a buyer] may not be your gender but your role in a household or other characteristics."
Agencies Dentsu Group Inc and Publicis Groupe SA (EPA:PUBP) and ad tech companies Criteo SA and Magnite Inc also signed the pledge, IBM said.
Get The App
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.