This month Adweek-Harris Interactive released its results from a survey assessing U.S. adult perceptions on the trustworthiness of advertising. The survey looked at advertising by five industry sectors: auto, drink, food, financial services, and pharmaceutical. Among these, drink advertising ranked as the most trusted; financial services, the least.
The implication is that if an industry’s ads are not viewed as trustworthy, an individual company’s advertising may be negatively impacted across the board. They will have a tougher task developing an effective message, with the credibility of their communication tainted by consumer perception of the category overall.
We couldn’t agree more. Credible advertising by companies and industries should, unquestionably, serve as the standard. Noral, however, would like to remind that the bar needs to be set even higher: We need advertising that is socially responsible.
Last year Noral conducted the National Media Survey and looked at the question of social responsibility for the same advertising sectors as
Adweek-Harris Interactive. We, however, had posed our questions to Television Media Directors, or those people who understand and assess the needs of community, for the sake of programming and PSA’s. Who better to appreciate that advertising has a responsibility to be even more than just truthful and credible when it comes to their viewers?
Looking at the results, side-by-side, and bearing in mind the very different research approaches and time periods, the surveys are mutually reinforcing on a couple of points. The food category performed strongly on trustworthiness and social responsibility in both surveys. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the financial sector did poorly.
The many issues that the financial sector has had to assess this year suggests that the standards for their advertising should be added to the industry’s priority list.
And for all of us in the advertising industry, when we’re assessing our own advertising, let’s strive for the triumvirate: advertising that can be effective because it is also trustworthy and socially responsible.
