HOW TRUSTWORTHY ARE AD EXECS?
Two very different studies released this week revealed some pretty disturbing news about our industry.
The first survey was from Ipsos. They did a poll of about 20,000 people in 22 countries. The results are awful.
Of the 18 professions studied, advertising executives were the lowest of the non-political occupations (government ministers and politicians were lower.) "Ordinary men and women" were rated three times as trustworthy as us. Even lawyers were rated twice as trustworthy. h/t Charlotte Blauer
In some countries we were rated stone cold last, below the politicians. These included Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, and Austria. Here are the results from Great Britain.
The paradox for advertising's so-called leadership to explain: The industry charged with enhancing the reputation and esteem of the world's brands has the lowest reputation and esteem of the world's businesses.
In other disheartening news, a report from the ANA this week stated that sleazy rebate practices among agencies are still a top concern of marketers. Three years ago the ANA said agency rebate hanky-panky was "pervasive." Since then, the industry has gone on a "transparency" binge. But it ain't selling.
According to MediaPost, the report indicates that "...the ANA has found the practice is still a major concern -- the top concern, in fact -- among advertisers...32% of the 188 respondents cited media rebates as 'a big problem.'"
MediaPost goes on to report that the chief trust issues of concern to respondents were:
You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to observe that every one of these trust concerns is related to online advertising. It's a sleaze machine, people.