AdWeek: Gary Ruskin

AdWeek interviewed Commercial Alert's Gary Ruskin, which is sort of like Guns & Ammo interviewing Sarah Brady, or The Nation interviewing Dick Cheney. Ruskin is the man behind the various lawsuits against online and offline media outlets that forced them to show more disclosure as to what is a paid advertisement, listing or placement. In the interview, Ruskin is shown as having a much more personal dislike of advertising than has come out in previous statements. When asked what advice he would give a young creative, Ruskin replied:

You're a talented person. Go do something more constructive with your life. You want a life more meaningful than selling trinkets. Ad people are talented—put your talents to work. The world needs your help. There's social services, nonprofit organizations, government. But until you get a better job, please leak us documents.

Ruskin and Commercial Alert have done a decent job so far of appearing to have limited, some might say reasonable, objectives, but this interview shows a contempt for commercialism that goes down to an ideological level. He said at one point that commercial interests should not be protected by free speech rights.