Advertising Matters 10.05.19

A 360 degree view on Trust

This morning our Chief Executive Stephen Woodford, Director of Credos Karen Fraser and Front Foot Chair Mark Evans took part in a panel session, along with Tracy De Groose of Newsworks and Nick Baughan of Facebook, on the theme of “Building trust in advertising – the good the bad and the troublesome”.

During the session, which was moderated by Campaign’s Gideon Spanier, Karen outlined Credos’ latest research, which shows that over the last 25 years public trust in advertising has been in decline. It uncovers the reasons behind this fall and areas of concern for consumers, such as excessive advertising frequency and feelings of bombardment. The panel also discussed next steps and the action plan for brands, agencies and media owners to help rebuild and restore public trust in advertising.

Ahead of the session Karen said: “Public favourability towards advertising is at an all-time low, and trust is top of the Advertising Association’s members’ priorities. The entire industry is beginning to work together to address the issues.”

Media360 is an annual gathering of companies that are driving media forward. Hosted at The Grand, Brighton, and powered by Campaign, 300 industry professionals come together for two days of thought-provoking content, inspiring insights and outstanding networking.

Food for thought on childhood obesity

AA Public Affairs Director Sue Eustace spoke yesterday at a Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum event on the theme of tackling childhood obesity in England, with a particular focus on policy options, implementation practicalities, local approaches and the role of schools.

The forum included speakers from across the food & drink, media and health sectors, discussing the issue of obesity among children. Sue raised the willingness of the advertising sector to play an active role in combatting childhood obesity, highlighting initiatives such as the recent ‘Eat them to defeat them’ campaign on ITV, and Outsmart’s brand new ‘Get smart outside’ campaign.

Sue also stressed that regulatory responses to this issue should be proportionate and evidence-based. The event was chaired by Baroness Jenkin of Kennington and also featured Shahriar Coupal of the ASA from a regulatory perspective.