Digital advertising watchdog Check My Ads has appointed former UM chief privacy and responsibility officer Arielle Garcia as its new director of intelligence after she spectacularly quit the holdco via an op-ed in Ad Exchanger.
“When I saw just how broken the system was, I publicly quit my job… to shine a light on the industry’s dodgy data practices and corruption, and how it hurts people, brands, society, and democracy,” said Garcia.
“In my new role, I’ll be leading research, campaigns, and programs that advance our mission of bringing transparency and accountability to the digital ad industry, ending surveillance advertising, and reclaiming our rights to make informed choices for ourselves.”
In September, Garcia quit her job at UM after a decade there, because of the “dysfunctional interdependencies” and agency model “rife with competing interests and conflicting loyalties.”
“At the intersection of technology and society, agencies sit in a powerful position between the advertisers whose brands they are charged with stewarding and cultivating and the platforms that control the information economy,” she continued.
“I saw an immense opportunity to contribute to a more responsible future, driving toward new standards that contemplate the interests of all stakeholders, and the impacts on people, democracy and society.”
