m-cause

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It seems that the American public is experiencing an acute case of advertising exhaustion.

A recent Harris interactive poll highlighted that Two-thirds of Americans (66%) believe advertising agencies have at least some responsibility for the current economic crisis because they caused people to buy things they couldn’t afford.  One-third (33%) believe they have complete or a great deal of responsibility.

I can understand this–especially as advertising agencies are more visible to the public through shows like Mad Men.  As this post points out, one could assume that much of the anger is directed at the financial services industry and the banks that created loan products which made it look as if we could actually afford over-priced homes (click here for a Great rant on the topic).

What I also found interesting about this survey was the group found least to blame were friends and family.  Note:  I’m not sure if Harris placed companies into the survey though obviously they are responsible for designing the products, paying for ad agency creative & funding the marketing campaigns.

But Back to Friends and Family

So friends a family didn’t get as much blame as everyone else in the Harris survey?  That’s pretty obvious I think…no one wants to blame those they love for a crisis or for influencing them to buy stuff they don’t need.  This is an obvious opportunity social media…people continue to be more cynical about push messaging.  Advice on purchasing decisions from friends & family is, however, more than welcome.

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• Advertising: An Industry That Sells Takes a Look in the Mirror (nytimes.com)
• Media World: Why today’s Mad Men are just plain mad (dailyfinance.com)
• The Dramatic Shift In Marketing Reality (viralblog.com)
• Revenge of the Nerds? Why Madison Avenue Is Going Tech (bostonvcblog.typepad.com)

• Revenge of the Nerds? Why Madison Avenue Is Going Tech (bostonvcblog.typepad.com)