Publicis Groupe did not lobby on its own behalf in 2023.
Publicis has the historical principle of refusing to work for partisan campaigns (political parties, cults or ideological organizations). The Company does not financially or otherwise support such organizations.
The Groupe is active in professional organizations in all countries, and its commitment is always publicly identifiable on the websites of these organizations: for example, the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and its representations in several countries, as well as in the United States, with the 4As (American Association for Advertising Agencies) and the AAF (American Advertising Federation); at European level with the EACA (European Association of Communication Agencies). Other countries include France, where the Groupe is a member of the AACC (Association des Agences de Conseil en Communication) and the UDECAM (Union des Entreprises de Conseil et Achat Media); and the United Kingdom, where the Groupe participates in the Actions not Words industry initiative to combat racism and inequality. However, the Groupe’s entities belong to a very limited number of local organizations for obvious reasons of efficiency and availability. This highly selective approach is used locally and at Groupe level for international commitments. For example, Publicis Groupe is a member of the Unstereotype Alliance (UN Women), and is also a founding member of Ad Net Zero, which promotes the reduction of carbon emissions related to communication activities.
With regard to vulnerable audiences: the Groupe defends and promotes the rules set out in the guide Marketing & Advertising to Children of the lCC (International Chamber of Commerce) on the specific responsibilities that brands and agencies must have with regard to children and adolescents, whether in terms of product categories to be promoted or communication techniques used. This code provides a framework for communication intended for children (under 12 years old) and adolescents (between 13 and 18 years old).
Digital accessibility or e‑accessibility: for more than ten years, teams of digital accessibility experts have been involved in numerous projects, notably within Razorfish and Publicis Sapient. An Accessibility Center of Excellence built around the dedicated team, with experts in many cities, makes it possible to intervene well upstream of projects for clients. Digital platforms designed for clients must meet the universal criteria issued by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) in order to allow equal access to content, including for people with disabilities (visually impaired, blind, deaf, hearing‑impaired, other types of physical difficulties, etc.) or with access difficulties. The key issue is the upstream training of the teams that conceive, design and develop these projects, in order to simplify the indexing of pages, to facilitate the reading of all the elements (video, images, texts, links, navigation, etc.) and lastly, to facilitate technical maintenance or content changes. In addition to compliance issues, these best practices also make the user experience simpler and more enjoyable. These expert teams may also be called upon for certification issues, as several employees are themselves duly qualified to do so.
In France, creative agencies such as Publicis Conseil, Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi have chosen to systematically subtitle films or videos for all media with Prodigious. This approach is an extension of the French Advertising initiative (AACC) to promote the universal subtitling of advertising films, soustitronsnospublicites.aacc.fr. This voluntary approach is applied by other teams around the world, particularly in Europe.
Responsible marketing is based on key principles to be applied in any communication project: truth, decency, respect, honesty, societal responsibility. This must be translated into the form and the substance of the messages, while preserving a maximum amount of creativity. Publicis Groupe’s professional standards in terms of responsible marketing are based on a set of voluntary rules, some of which are specific to the Company and others are defined by professionals in forums open to stakeholders, in a logic of cooperation. Since 2009, Publicis Groupe has taken a position, formalized in an internal note from the CEO, on the fight against greenwashing, in the name of honesty and respect for clients, and to avoid any damage to the brands entrusted to us. Particular attention has been paid in recent years to the use of environmental arguments (green claims) in order to avoid any risk of greenwashing or confusion. With a view to constant improvement, the Groupe reviews its general responsible marketing policy each year, which is a public document available in the "CSR Smart data" section at www.publicisgroupe.com.
In this digital world, another principle is essential: the possibility for everyone to have control of their data and to be able to exercise the rights granted by the applicable regulations. This principle guides the technological choices and solutions offered to clients, so that the end user, client or visitor has real control over their data. All end users must be able to access their own data, to rectify or delete them, and even easily exercise their right to be forgotten, according to applicable legislation.
