Only Advertisers Can Fix the Digital Ad Industry

In the old analog days, a newspaper or a magazine knew what it was running and where. Mix-ups still happened; 16 years ago, an airline boycotted a paper I edited because its ad had run next to a story about that same airline's pilots flying under the influence. Today, the massive digital platforms filled with user-generated content don't even know what's out there, let alone whether it should be paired with specific ad campaigns. Trying to control the content would be prohibitively expensive.

That, of course, is the root of the problem with online advertising, and why it's unlikely to be solved by the companies that led the industry to this sorry state of affairs. But advertisers can start leveling the playing field by making specific demands of the tech giants.