GARM vs. X: It’s not just ethics, it’s economics

The news that the Global Alliance for Responsible Marketing (GARM) shut its doors following legal pressure from X has touched off a fiery debate around the ethics of how our industry supports and encourages responsible media buying. 

But we need to talk about the economics of responsible media, not just the ethics. 

These days, it’s tempting to strip every issue down to its bare bones and wage a war of outrage based on perceptions of right and wrong. But with the shuttering of GARM, we need to have a serious conversation about what it takes to build successful brands and businesses. 

The real issue—and what is now in jeopardy with the loss of GARM—is that responsible media has been proven over and over again to make good business sense. It must be encouraged, supported and safeguarded as we build for the future of digital advertising. 

Advertisers serve many stakeholders

The majority of the world’s largest advertisers are public companies, with a responsibility to their shareholders to grow revenue. To do this, they need customers, and they need talent. 

If they’re not doing what it takes to appeal to and build strong relationships with both groups, they’re letting down their investors. That’s where responsible media and organisations like GARM become so important. 

Building sustainable customer relationships requires a deeper commitment from brands than it once did. Consumers still want quality products and reliable customer service—but that’s not enough. 

As the customers of the future, brands must acknowledge that Gen Z seek relationships with brands that care about their impact on people and the planet. In fact, they are 27% more likely to purchase from these brands than older generations. 

Beyond customer relationships, today’s brands must also ensure they’re supporting a modern workforce to drive their business growth. Today, about nine out of 10 Gen Zers (86%) and Millennials (89%) say having a sense of purpose in their work is very or somewhat important to their overall job satisfaction and well-being. 

As employees, Gen Z and Millennials are increasingly likely to turn down an assignment or employers that doesn’t align with their values. This new workforce wants their employers to take a stand and act responsibly.

Authenticity builds trust

The modern brand landscape—and the discussion around responsible media—all boils down to trust. The free and open sharing of information that Elon Musk claims to be fighting for in his moves against GARM and others is important. The ideal of the open internet is to be a place where advertising revenue enables free access to news, entertainment and content. 

However, the fact that information can be shared on platforms like X can open brands up to the risk of bad ad placements. These incidents erode consumer trust, hurt business and talent prospects and undermine brand sustainability. 

Marketers have a responsibility as brand stewards. They need to understand their brand identity, how their customers and employees expect them to show up and then apply those same values to their advertising strategies. That’s what we mean when we say authenticity—and it’s at the heart of how brands like Nike and Dove are connecting (and resonating) with members of Gen Z on both a product and identity level. 

Just as brands have an obligation—not just an ethical, but an economic one—to make responsible creative and media-buying decisions, so too do their technology and ecosystem partners. We need to build the capabilities and controls that allow brands to live their ethos within their media strategies, driving greater stakeholder value for all participants.

GARM was never about telling advertisers where they should and shouldn’t show up. It was about creating the frameworks to help them understand how their media buys align with the core values they want to reflect back to their customers. That work remains critically important. It’s not collusion, but collaboration that is the driving force behind organizations like GARM. 

As an industry, we must continue to empower brands to buy media in a way that serves all of their stakeholders—customers, employees and shareholders alike. 

Johanna Bauman is CMO at PubMatic.