Work in Adland – but your parents tell everyone you work at the local Macca’s? Read on to discover the cause of their shame: A new study into the trustworthiness of 30 different professions in Australia paints a bleak picture of the honesty of people working in the advertising industry, with Adland voted the second least trustworthy profession, only slightly ahead of car salesmen.
The annual Roy Morgan Image of Professions Survey asked ordinary Aussies to vote on the perceived ethics and honesty of each profession, according to a report in B&T Australia. Health professions topped the list, with nurses scoring a 94% honesty rating. Sadly, most of the media professions languished in the bottom third.
It follows a report by industry body Think TV, released yesterday, that found Adland greatly overestimated the buying and tech habits of everyday Aussies. Read that report here
For the professions associated with media and advertising, public opinion pollsters were the most highly regarded with 34% of respondents agreeing the industry had “high or very high ethics and honesty.
“They may make a mint, but it appears Aussies don’t trust talk-back radio announcers, either.”
In another blow for journalists, only 20% per cent of respondents said they believed the profession had high ethics (up 1% from 2016’s poll).
But TV reporters ranked even lower than journos, coming in at 17%.
They may make a mint, but it appears we don’t trust talk-back radio announcers, either. Only 14% believed those behind the microphone were trustworthy (a drop of 4% from last year)
And it was all bad news in the ethics stakes for Adland, with only 5% of people agreeing the industry was trustworthy. In more bad news for the perception of the industry, its ethics ratings dropped 4% from last year.
Adland’s rating had it second-last on the honesty charts, only ahead of used-car salesmen who came in at 4%. According to Roy Morgan, car salesmen have come last in the survey every year since its conception back in 1976.
- B&T’s original story contains more figures and graphics – and a complete list of all professions (even lawyers). Read it here
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