Advertising industry wants to improve tarnished image
The advertising industry is concerned about its tarnished public image. A recent study from the United Kingdom is a key factor in this concern; according to the study, less than 15 percent of the adult population today has «general trust in advertising.».
In order to improve its tarnished image, the British Advertising Association (AA) is now even planning to set up its own foundation to dispel widespread negative prejudices, according to the press release.
"The time has come for the advertising industry to restore its own reputation and faith in what we do," explains Tim Lefroy, Chief Executive of the AA, at the Media Guardian Changing Advertising Summit in London. If the industry does not seriously address its growing image problem, there is a risk that in a few years there will be more people against advertising than in favor of it for the first time.
"As far as the public image of advertising is concerned, a distinction must be made between the image of the advertisers themselves and that of the actual advertising content," Volker Nickel, spokesman for the Central Association of the German Advertising Industry (ZAW), told Pressetext. At least with regard to the first point, the expert agrees with the current AA concerns. "Advertising professions generally have a very poor image in Germany and are only just behind politicians on the popularity scale," explains Nickel.
Increased reputation of advertising content
The image of what advertisers produce, on the other hand, looks quite different. "The latest data from the consumer analysis in Germany shows that the public image of advertising content has risen sensationally in recent years," emphasizes Nickel. According to this, in 2009 around 59 percent of German citizens agreed that advertising can be helpful for consumers. According to the ZAW spokesperson, the corresponding figure in 2004 was only 44 percent. In view of the miserable image values, the AA chairman fears that the call for a stronger legal framework for advertising could become ever louder. "The loss of public trust opens the door to those politicians who take the rather arrogant view that consumers lack their own judgment and therefore need to be protected from what we do to them," Lefroy is quoted as saying by the Guardian. "Although the situation in the UK is very different to that in Germany, I see this danger in principle in this country too. As far as the corset of guidelines into which advertising is forced is concerned, however, the problem from Germany's point of view clearly lies in Brussels, where the strongest interventions are taking place," says Nickel.
"The time has come for the advertising industry to restore its own reputation and faith in what we do," explains Tim Lefroy, Chief Executive of the AA, at the Media Guardian Changing Advertising Summit in London. If the industry does not seriously address its growing image problem, there is a risk that in a few years there will be more people against advertising than in favor of it for the first time.
"As far as the public image of advertising is concerned, a distinction must be made between the image of the advertisers themselves and that of the actual advertising content," Volker Nickel, spokesman for the Central Association of the German Advertising Industry (ZAW), told Pressetext. At least with regard to the first point, the expert agrees with the current AA concerns. "Advertising professions generally have a very poor image in Germany and are only just behind politicians on the popularity scale," explains Nickel.
Increased reputation of advertising content
The image of what advertisers produce, on the other hand, looks quite different. "The latest data from the consumer analysis in Germany shows that the public image of advertising content has risen sensationally in recent years," emphasizes Nickel. According to this, in 2009 around 59 percent of German citizens agreed that advertising can be helpful for consumers. According to the ZAW spokesperson, the corresponding figure in 2004 was only 44 percent. In view of the miserable image values, the AA chairman fears that the call for a stronger legal framework for advertising could become ever louder. "The loss of public trust opens the door to those politicians who take the rather arrogant view that consumers lack their own judgment and therefore need to be protected from what we do to them," Lefroy is quoted as saying by the Guardian. "Although the situation in the UK is very different to that in Germany, I see this danger in principle in this country too. As far as the corset of guidelines into which advertising is forced is concerned, however, the problem from Germany's point of view clearly lies in Brussels, where the strongest interventions are taking place," says Nickel.
