Publications

November 17, 2009
Article

The Dark Underbelly of Online Advertising

By: Benjamin Edelman

The Internet is sold to advertisers as a highly measurable medium that is the most efficient way to target exactly the right customers. But online advertising is also easily subverted—letting fraudsters claim advertising fees for work they did not actually do. The... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Advertising Industry

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December 2009
Article

Who Owns Metrics?: Building a Bill of Rights for Online Advertisers

By: Benjamin Edelman

I offer five rights to protect advertisers from increasingly powerful ad networks-avoiding fraudulent charges for services not rendered, guaranteeing data portability so advertisers get the best possible value, and assuring price transparency so advertisers know what... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Price; Measurement and Metrics; Technology Networks; Value; Advertising Industry

2013
Chapter

The Design of Online Advertising Markets

By: Benjamin Edelman

Because the market for online advertising is both new and fast-changing, participants experiment with all manner of variations. Should an advertiser's payment reflect the number of times an ad was shown, the number of times it was clicked, the number of sales that... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Price; Market Design; Measurement and Metrics; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web

24 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Reducing Risk with Online Advertising

How can online advertising fraud be detected and prevented? What should we look at, where should we look, and what methods and tools should we... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Video Game; Web Services

June 2010
Article

The Pathologies of Online Display Advertising Marketplaces

By: Benjamin Edelman

Display advertising marketplaces place "banner" ads on all manner of popular sites. While these services are widely used, they suffer significant challenges, including weak user response and low accountability for both advertisers and web site publishers. I survey a... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Cost; Corporate Accountability; Information Publishing; Consumer Behavior; Relationships; Web Sites

September 2009
Article

Deterring Online Advertising Fraud Through Optimal Payment in Arrears

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertisers face substantial difficulty in selecting and supervising small advertising partners. Fraud can be well hidden, and limited reputation systems reduce accountability. But partners are not paid until after their work is complete, and advertisers can... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Profit; Online Advertising; Advertising Industry

2008
Working Paper

Deterring Online Advertising Fraud Through Optimal Payment in Arrears

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertisers face substantial difficulty in selecting and supervising small advertising partners. Fraud can be well-hidden, and limited reputation systems reduce accountability. But partners are not paid until after their work is complete, and advertisers can... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Profit; Corporate Accountability; Partners and Partnerships; Mathematical Methods

18 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Advertisers Get Serious About Playing With Their Brands

company's recruitment costs took a dive. "That's advertising and HR resources that they don't have to use anymore," Kornfeld says. Types Of Play The researchers categorize several types of play engaged in by... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising

2008
Working Paper

Securing Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West

By: Benjamin Edelman

Read the news of recent computer security guffaws, and it's striking how many problems stem from online advertising. Advertising is the bedrock of web sites that are provided without charge to end users, so advertising is everywhere. But advertising security gaps... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Ethics

2009
Chapter

Securing Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West

By: Benjamin Edelman

Read the news of recent computer security guffaws, and it's striking how many problems stem from online advertising. Advertising is the bedrock of web sites that are provided without charge to end users, so advertising is everywhere. But advertising security gaps... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Digital Marketing; Crime and Corruption; Ethics

April 1978
Case

FTC and Listerine Antiseptic

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Pharmaceutical Industry

February 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Theranos: The Unicorn That Wasn't

By: Joseph B. Fuller and John Masko

In 2003, 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes founded a startup dedicated to making blood testing easier and more affordable. By 2015, her company, Theranos, was worth $9 billion. It boasted a star-studded board and contracts with national pharmacy and supermarket chains... View Details

Keywords: Theranos; Blood; Lab Testing; Fraud; Holmes; Balwani; Shultz; Carreyrou; Securities And Exchange Commission; Food And Drug Administration; FDA; SEC; Health Testing and Trials; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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17 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

The Reputation Risks of Sharing Fake News

not just to share anything that would benefit your political party if it were true.” The findings provide a key lesson for companies that advertise and share content on social media to gain a following:... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

20 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting the Marketing Mix Right

firms; and by using direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). First, they employed the complex mathematical formulas of traditional models to study different marketing strategies used by the drug companies.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2023
Case

The Rise and Fall of FTX

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and Max Hancock

In November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried's multi-billion-dollar crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed, wiping out investors and throwing the crypto industry into disarray. As FTX's founder and CEO, Bankman-Fried developed a reputation for his unerring business sense and... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Crime and Corruption; Financial Statements; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Failure; Restructuring; United States; Hong Kong; Bahamas

Educators

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February 2020
Teaching Note

Theranos: Who Has Blood on Their Hands? (A) and (B)

By: Nien-he Hsieh and Christina R. Wing

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 619-039 and 320-091. View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Lawsuits and Litigation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; California; United States

Purchase

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

transforming an entrepreneurial company into an institutionalized firm, Çavuşoğlu established adjacent businesses such as movie advertising and ticket sales. The most recent step in transforming Mars was to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

December 2009
Article

How to Combat Online Ad Fraud

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertisers frequently fall victim to dishonest, tech-savvy publishers. Here's a sampling of common scams with some advice on how to outwit their perpetrators. View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Ethics; Marketing; Behavior