Regulation builds trust in advertising

When people are aware that advertising is regulated, they are more likely to trust and have favourable views towards the industry generally, as well as displaying higher levels of trust across individual media channels.

That’s the main takeaway from research by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) into the effectiveness of a recent campaign that ran on TV, print, online, cinema and OOH channels, backed with advertising inventory from media owners.

Key findings 

• Those who saw or heard ads for the ASA were more than twice as likely to say they trust the ad industry (33% vs 14% for those who didn’t see/hear the ads). 
• The biggest positive shifts came in online ads, where trust jumped from 15% to 36%, and magazines, where trust increased a similar amount from 18% to 39%.
• But all channels showed significant uplifts in trust: cinema from 27% to 44%; direct mail from 19% to 36%; newspapers from 20% to 36%; posters from 21% to 37%; radio from 31% to 43%; and TV from 31% to 46%.

Why trust in the ASA matters 

Driving trust in the regulator drives trust in the industry. “Awareness and buy-in of the ASA system is a key strand in our new five-year strategy, and our ad campaign plays a crucial role in helping achieve our ambitious targets,” explains Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA.

Sourced from ASA