Apple releases privacy update that clamps down on data tracking

Apr 27, 2021
Apple’s privacy feature requires apps that track users’ web activities to get their express permission before doing so.
Apple has been talking about this change for seven months, and companies reliant on online advertising, like Facebook, have said their profitability could take a hit.
Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

Empty arenas not a game for sports and entertainment sponsors

Feb 15, 2021
Brands are having to rethink how to get home viewers' attention.
Attendance restrictions pose a problem for brands trying to reach fans.
Tim Smith/Getty Images

Coke, Audi and Budweiser will sit out the Super Bowl

Jan 25, 2021
Between chaos in Washington and coronavirus anxiety, advertisers are worried about tone.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Will millions spent on ads sway voters in Georgia runoffs?

Jan 4, 2021
Political ads have been relentless on Georgia airwaves leading up to the Jan. 5 Senate elections.
Family and supporters hold runoff signs as Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks during an Election Night event on Nov. 3 in Atlanta.
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Why multimillion-dollar Super Bowl ad slots are slower to sell out this year

Dec 18, 2020
Many companies are wary of investing that kind of money in an event during a pandemic for multiple reasons.
Fans react while watching the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, 2020. The next Super Bowl will be much different, and advertisers know it.
Philip Pacheco/Getty Images

Ikea ditches its catalog, but other retailers are hanging on to them

Dec 8, 2020
Catalogs can grab people’s attention, if only for a moment.
Catalogs placed at the entrance of an Ikea on Dec. 7, 2020, in Jarfalla, Sweden.
Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

How American government propaganda was born

A new book sees the roots of modern government persuasion in a World War I-era agency.
The media during the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. A new book by John Maxwell Hamilton sees the origins of modern government persuasion in a World War I-era office set up by the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1917.
Keystone/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Nobel laureate Robert Wilson says auctions pervade our everyday life

Oct 13, 2020
Many products are now sold using "package auctions" for a more efficient allocation of goods.
It's not just art sales. Auctions are instrumental in advertising sales, electricity prices, property purchases and more.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How to sell the future

Sep 7, 2020
A look at how advertising execs sold computers before any of us knew what they were.
Courtesy Mungia

Local governments and companies encourage masks in absence of federal policy

Jul 13, 2020
New York, California and Oregon have put out public service ads to get people to wear masks.
A person walks by graffiti encouraging mask wearing in April in San Francisco.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images