Trust Paper names Gold Standard as key initiative

The Advertising Association has launched its new report: ‘Arresting The Decline Of Public Trust In UK Advertising’ at the ISBA conference. Among other actions, the report states the industry will take steps to improve the user experience online, helping to build sign-up to the IAB UK Gold Standard.

For the past few months the Advertising Association and its president Keith Weed have made rebuilding public trust in advertising their top priority.

Speaking at LEAD ’19, the industry’s flagship advertising conference, Weed explained that it is now “trust or bust” for the industry.

“Ultimately, advertising does good but with trust in decline, we risk it losing that positive influence. A brand without trust is simply a product and advertising without trust is just noise. The Advertising Association is pioneering a change to rebuild public trust in advertising but success requires collaboration from all industry players. It’s trust or bust and I choose trust.”

The Trust Paper contains research from Credos into the primary reasons why public trust in advertising has fallen over the past few decades, from around 50% favourable in the early ’90s to just 25% in 2018. It identifies six overarching factors affecting public perceptions of advertising, from bombardment to unhealthy advertising.

The report also highlights five actions the advertising industry should undertake in order to arrest that decline, and sets out criteria by which the success of those actions can be measured. Those actions are:

1. To reduce advertising ‘bombardment’
2. To reduce excessive advertising frequency and re-targeting
3. To ensure that the ASA is “best in class”
4. To ensure that data privacy matters
5. To show that advertising can drive social change

For more information or to request a copy of ‘Arresting the Decline of Public Trust in Advertising’, please email [email protected]