In a joint statement, executives at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) argued that "Google’s decision to block third-party cookies in Chrome could have major competitive impacts for digital businesses, consumer services, and technological innovation."

They went on, "It would threaten to substantially disrupt much of the infrastructure of today's Internet without providing any viable alternative, and it may choke off the economic oxygen from advertising that startups and emerging companies need to survive."

Those are strong words and to be sure, given Chrome's share of the browser market, which currently stands at 66%, Google's plan, if seen through, will indeed have an impact on the digital economy.

But the cookie apocalypse has been a long time coming, raising questions about why the industry appears to be claiming it's ill-prepared to deal with the effects.

So what alternatives are on the table for the ad industry?