ANA urges Members to comply with industry-wide self-regulatory Privacy Program.

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) strongly urged its 400 member companies to fully embrace the self-regulatory online behavioral advertising (OBA) program developed by a coalition of the nation’s largest media and marketing trade associations. To facilitate compliance, the ANA distributed a comprehensive toolkit that provides members with a thorough understanding of OBA, as well as details on how to meet and implement all terms of the industry-wide effort regarding OBA activities across the Internet.

“The industry-wide self-regulatory program is an exceptional initiative that protects consumers’ privacy and gives them the ability to exercise choice and control over the data used by marketers to create online behavioral advertising,” said Bob Liodice, President and CEO of the ANA. “We strongly urge all of our members to fully comply with the privacy principles and implementation practices specified by this important program, one of the largest and most significant undertakings ever launched by the advertising community.”

The OBA program includes specific implementation practices in support of the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, which the industry released in July 2009. Together, the Principles and practices represent the industry’s response to the Federal Trade Commission’s call for more robust and effective self-regulation of online behavioral advertising practices that would foster transparency, knowledge and choice for consumers.

The effort behind the self-regulatory program was led by a coalition of the nation’s largest media and marketing trade associations, including the ANA, 4As, the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and supported by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB).