POPAI’s (Privacy) Code Of Conduct

Chris Sheldrake

The Digital Signage Group, the advocacy and standards arm of Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) focusing on the digital signage industry published on Monday the industry’s first code of conduct for the utilization and deployment of consumer tracking research and technology.

More than 18 months in development, the code of conduct provides recommendations to marketers on maintaining ethical boundaries with consumer data and suggestions on how consumer observations and marketing insights should be collected and used.

Richard Winter, POPAI President told us “While the code of conduct is voluntary, it is an important first step in creating an industry-wide consensus about how to address the concerns that come along with the exploratory use of observed tracking data,”

He added “Countless hours were spent meeting with and interviewing digital marketers, consumer privacy groups, members of Congress, and the Federal Trade Commission to develop guidelines that are ethically sound but do not diminish the technological advances being made in the industry.”

Whilst the digital signage industry’s present level of privacy infringement is not especially high because only a small percentage of digital signage units have audience measurement, identification or interactive capabilities, the privacy issue is of course very real.

Bill Gerba, POPAI Digital Group advocacy chair and CEO of WireSpring Technologies did a fantastic job in driving this initiative and told us “As digital out-of-home (DOOH) media continues to trend towards greater identification and surveillance capability, it is important that our industry regulate itself,”

He continued “It is very likely that DOOH media will one day regularly identify individual consumers, putting our industry on a direct collision course with consumer privacy. These guidelines serve everybody’s best interests, including the consumer’s, by establishing credible and transparent standards before the problem hits center-stage.”

The code of conduct can be downloaded by clicking here

About POPAI

Since 1936, POPAI has served as the leading international advocate and voice of the marketing at retail industry. Comprised of 20 chapters worldwide and serving more than 1,700 members internationally, POPAI promotes, protects and advances the broader interests of the marketing at retail community through original research, certified education, showcasing industry excellence, trade forums and protecting intellectual and legislative rights.


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