Generations of Consumers Keeping Their Trust in Tradition

Nielsen recently released its newest study on “Global Trust in Advertising”. This study breaks down who trusts which type of advertisements. Nielsen created the graph below that shows 19 different mediums along with the percentage of trust held by each generation. In this study, 30,000 consumers in 60 countries were surveyed.

It could be considered common knowledge that typically younger consumers are more “up to date” with today’s technology and trends. For that reason, it is no surprise that the younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials) trust advertisements from newer vehicles (online, mobile, movies) more than older generations (Boomers and Silent Gen).

What is interesting is the trend of trusting more traditional advertisements above digital ads. Personal recommendations, television ads, and print ads are all within the top ten most trusted advertising methods while more “trendy” advertisements like online video ads, TV program product placements, mobile ads, social media ads, and text ads to mobile phones are amongst the least trusted types of advertisement.

With more and more advertisers taking advantage of these new advertising opportunities, it will be interesting to review an updated survey in a few years to see if customers have placed their trust in new formats or if they continue to be creatures of habit.