| Welcome to The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) newsletter for March 2026. Here's what we're covering in this month's newsletter: If you've got news related to CAN and our Guiding Principles, please do get in touch with us at hello@consciousadnetwork.org. #TogetherWeCAN | | | New Resource
UNICEF Industry Toolkit on Children's Rights and Digital Marketing | | | UNICEF has released their Industry Toolkit on Children's Rights and Digital Marketing (2026). It puts forward recommendations for brands, agencies, ad tech providers and platforms on how to embed respect for children's rights across digital marketing activities. CAN is proud to have contributed to the piece, which works in tandem with our Guiding Principles and Guides.
The toolkit is designed as a step-by-step guide to support businesses to develop responsible digital marketing practices that respect children's rights. It offers key recommendations that all companies should consider when developing or reviewing their digital marketing practices.
The toolkit explains why taking a child rights-based approach to digital marketing is vital – not only for protecting children, but also for building responsible and sustainable businesses. The recommendations focus on a child rights due diligence approach, helping businesses prepare for new trends and technologies while aligning with international standards on responsible business conduct. | | | What We Are Reading
Molly vs the Machines showed us that advertising choices aren't neutral – Campaign | | | Writing in Campaign, Channel 4 Chief Commercial Officer Rak Patel reflects on the Molly Vs THE MACHINES film and makes the case for responsible advertising choices and how they can align with effectiveness.
Molly Vs THE MACHINES released on Channel 4 on March 5th, and can still be watched back here. The film presents the link between advertising, harmful content and recommendation algorithms as they continue to shape, influence and infiltrate our lives. Research from the Molly Rose Foundation found last year that 1 in 10 pieces of self-harm and suicide content was still monetised across TikTok and Instagram Reels, eight years after Molly's death.
Rak Patel, shares why advertisers should watch Molly Vs THE MACHINES: "The film clearly sets out how decisions about what was suitable for a child to view on social media were being made remotely in Silicon Valley and examines whether those decisions put corporate growth above duty of care. In short, it investigates the consequences of putting profit before people in a digital world without effective oversight. [...] Advertising choices aren't neutral: where budgets flow can reinforce either regulated, accountable ecosystems or incentivise models that reward harmful content. Responsibility and effectiveness can align." | | | B-Corp Month  B Corp Month is an annual March campaign where B Lab and the global B Corp community come together to celebrate certified businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, raise awareness about the movement, and promote transforming the economic system for the benefit of all stakeholders.
The 2024 B Lab Global Annual Report captures the movement's scale: 3,000+ participants across four global gatherings, 850+ speakers from 40+ countries, and 319,000+ users accessing B Lab's standards. At COP16, B Corps highlighted a $700 billion biodiversity funding gap, reinforcing that business leadership remains essential.
As this year's B Corp Month comes to a close, there's fresh news for certified businesses in the UK: Channel 4 and B Lab UK have launched a showcase offering five B Corps free TV advertising slots. Entries opened March 3rd and close April 9th , 2026, and ads will air in Q3 2026. Eligible businesses must be UK-based, never have advertised on TV before, and generate £500k+ annual revenue.
Whether applying for Channel 4's showcase or reviewing your media partnerships, B Corp Month is a reminder that transparency and accountability aren't just ethical - they're commercially effective.
Interested in the Channel 4 opportunity? Check eligibility here.
International Women's Day 2026
Photo credit: UN women UK
As March draws to a close, here at CAN, we are reflecting on this year's International Women's Day theme from the 8th of March - "Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls." Gender inequality rarely exists in isolation; it is inherently intersectional, and advertising must account for that.
Through recent member exclusive CAN explainers and partner collaborations, we've explored some of the inequalities that affect gendered experiences in advertising and the media:
CAN's inclusion Guide offers practical steps to bridge these gaps, ensuring campaigns truly reflect society. We encourage our members to look beyond on-screen representation, honouring the full lived experiences of women across every stage of the creative process. | | | Upcoming Event
The Future of Brands | | | The Future of Brands, the UK's leading event dedicated to connecting and inspiring brand marketers about the future of media and advertising, is back this year. Taking place on April 29th in London, at 180 Studios, you can expect an event that shines a light on what's possible when human creativity and technologies converge and help you to prove that marketing is an investment, not a cost.
From the impact of AI to media effectiveness, measurement and big idea creativity, The Future of Brands is packed with insights and case studies that will transform the way you think about media and advertising.
Our friends at AdWanted have kindly offered a 30% discount code to all CAN members. Simply enter the code CAN30 at checkout to receive 30% off of your tickets to the event. | | | What We Are Reading
AI push outpaces carbon transparency in advertising - The Media Leader Investigation | | | This piece in The Media Leader explores how in an advertising industry that is scaling AI fast, and despite measurement tools evolving, supply-chain opacity and cloud non-disclosure mean the industry still lacks a full picture of its carbon impact.
They reveal how the absence of transparent, workload-level emissions data from cloud providers is now one of the biggest structural barriers to quantifying and understanding AI's true environmental impact.
CAN Co-Founder Jake Dubbins is quoted in the piece highlighting the concerning and growing convergence between big tech and the fossil fuel industry. He says:
"If the US is building a fossil fuel energy mix, then that is terrifying. For the advertising industry, the carbon in the supply chain will go through the roof, and initiatives like Ad Net Zero will either be blown up or totally blind. As far as I know, there is no transparency on the energy mix used by the big LLMs."
There are urgent issues to be addressed and without greater transparency and disclosure from cloud providers and AI vendors, the industry is at risk of further entrenching higher-carbon systems into its workflows and further conflating its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
| | | New Report
Identifying solutions to protect information integrity on private messaging platforms – Forum on Information and Democracy | | | As AI and advertising integrate into private messaging services, transparency and accountability are becoming increasingly important. Many messaging platforms now combine private communication with broadcast-style features, raising questions about how regulation can protect privacy while addressing risks to information integrity.
A new report from the Forum on Information and Democracy argues that regulation should focus on platform features rather than categories to better reflect how modern platforms operate.
Key recommendations include:
Traditionally, platforms have been regulated by category, leaving private messaging apps inconsistently governed and creating uncertainty around obligations while broadcast-style features remain exposed to information integrity risks. The governments of Luxembourg and Ukraine emphasise that feature-focused regulation, alongside stronger media literacy, is key to protecting information ecosystems long term.
| | | What We Are Listening To
Are Algorithms Quietly Rigged Against You? - Data Malarkey podcast | | | In the first episode of season 10 of the podcast Data Malarkey, CAN Co-Founder Harriet Kingaby joined host Sam Knowles to break down how advertising incentives can distort the information ecosystem - and what "information integrity" actually means in practice.
In the podcast episode, Harriet highlights: -
Content alone doesn't shape belief, distribution does too: Recommendation algorithms determine what we see, how often we see it, and whose voices are amplified or suppressed. | | | What We Are Reading
Can we talk about whether fraudulent ads are the tech platforms' biggest problem? - Campaign | |  | | Photo Credit: Unsplash+ | | | For anyone in advertising, Maisie McCabe's recent article demands your attention. It tackles a growing crisis that is undermining trust in the entire digital ecosystem: fraudulent ads on tech platforms. The UK editor of Campaign tells us that:
But her main argument cuts deeper: brands should be equally concerned about the content appearing alongside their ads as they are about competing advertisers. The piece references the devastating Molly vs the Machines documentary that was released at the beginning of this month, reminding us of the human cost when algorithms prioritise engagement over safety.
For anyone involved in the future of digital advertising, this is an essential read. The industry needs to make sharp changes to fix these systemic issues, that are a problem for us all.
| | | New Opportunity
NABS Next Gen Board | | | Are you under 30, work in the advertising industry, and care about improving workplace wellbeing? This voluntary Next Gen Board opportunity - designed to bring early-career voices into NABS' mission to advance mental wellness in the industry - could be for you.
NABS is an independent charity set on advancing mental wellness within the advertising industry's culture. The Next Gen Board is a low commitment, dedicated space for young professionals to shape how the ad industry supports its workforce. You'll bring lived experience into strategic conversations and help guide projects that strengthen wellbeing across the sector.
You will gain:
Conscious advertising means moving beyond performative wellbeing initiatives and instead, actively shaping structural change. This opportunity lets you contribute to building the infrastructure, not just advocating for it.
The deadline for applications is Friday 27th March 2026.
| | | New Opportunity
The Outvertising Mentoring Programme | | | Outvertising, the LGBTQIA+ advocacy group for UK advertising and marketing, has opened their mentoring programme. The programme exists to support and champion LGBTQIA+ talent at any level or looking to enter the industry, thrive. The programme's mentors are all Outvertising volunteers, senior leaders in the industry with a wealth of knowledge and lived experience, who are either from the LGBTQIA+ community themselves or strong allies.
Applications are open for both Mentors and Mentees. All mentors will go through mentor training in preparation for the programme's launch. Mentors and Mentees will be matched as best as possible to complement each other's skills and ambitions.
The application deadline is Friday April 10th. This is a great opportunity to support and champion a new generation of talent, bringing with them enormous value, diversity and creativity to an industry where senior LGBTQIA+ visibility is low. | | | Watch out for more news on all things CAN related via LinkedIn. For any other questions or concerns, or if you would like to know more about joining, please feel free to contact us at hello@consciousadnetwork.org.
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Thank you for your ongoing support, The Conscious Advertising Network | | | | |
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