The National Union of Students (NUS) has agreed to support ethical advertising by becoming the latest organisation to join the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN). The NUS joins the likes of Accenture Interactive, The Body Shop, VaynerMedia, Stop Funding Hate, Show Racism the Red Card, and Jicwebs as part of the 30-plus strong voluntary coalition.

The CAN aims to stop advertising abuse by ensuring that industry ethics catch up to the technology of modern advertising. In order to achieve this, the coalition has laid out a manifesto with its ambitions to eradicate ad fraud, bring more diversity to the industry and the content it produces, see that all consent is informed, stop funding hate speech and fake news, and make sure that advertising to children is age appropriate while safeguarding their wellbeing.

“We aim to create an environment in which students can thrive, and right now many are affected by online advertising abuse, whether it’s falling victim to ad fraud, fake news or being subject to hate speech,” said Ali Milani, VP of union development at NUS. “Initiatives like CAN are crucial to calling out industry bad practice and ensuring we establish a code of ethics going forward, and we’re proud to show our support.

“We want the online advertising industry and the content it produces to be as diverse as our union of students, so that it is an inclusive environment for all. It’s also important to us that students feel safe online and are able to make appropriate, informed choices. CAN share these values and have the collective expertise and industry clout to make a difference.”