Procter & Gamble and Unilever are joining forces with Facebook and Google to campaign for better online advertising experiences, and fight against the threat of ad blockers.

The ‘Coalition for Better Ads’ was unveiled at this week’s Dmexco event in Cologne, Germany, with the stated aim to “leverage consumer insights and cross-industry expertise to develop and implement new global standards for online advertising”.

Facebook, Google, GroupM, P&G, Unilever and The Washington Post are among the brands, agencies and media owners to sign up.

The initiative is also backed by industry bodies such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

The Coalition has pledged to create “consumer-based, data-driven standards” that companies in the online advertising industry can use to improve the consumer ad experience, and will encourage awareness of the standards among consumers and businesses.

“Advertising funds the diversity of information, entertainment, and services on the free Internet, but that doesn’t give business a license to abuse the good will of consumers,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. “It is essential that industry create standards to assure that consumers get safe, fast, secure delivery of the sites and services they love.”

“Ads support free content, quality journalism and enable social connections across the Internet,” added Stephan Loerke, CEO of the World Federation of Advertisers. “But people are telling us they are fed up with how ads are being delivered on their favourite sites. We hear that message loud and clear. Today’s announcement is an important step forward in shaping a worldwide response.”

Earlier this week, it was announced that leading ad blocking software provider Adblock Plus is to launch its own ad tech solution for “non-intrusive” ads.