How do we feel about advertising? Not that great

Maybe we just don't value advertising. Turns out,when it comes to rating their overall benefits to society,marketers score even lower than politicians.

InOctober 2014,Jerry Seinfeld acceptedan honorary CLIO Award forhis work as alongtime spokesperson for American Express. TheCLIOshonourthe years best advertising, and theyre handed out in New York City in front of amostly ad industry audience.

You have to admire Seinfelds genius in getting this crowd to cheer such acynical view of advertising. But it turns out cynicism within the ad industry isnt allthat rare.

In a 2012 survey of 1,000 consumers and marketing professionals inthe U.S., China and Japan, only 35 per centof marketers thought theirs was a valuableprofession.

But the really low ratings came from consumers, with only 13 per centratingmarketing as a profession that benefits society. That was lower than bankers andlawyers and even lower than politicians,who managed 18 per cent.

Marketers cynicism about their own industry even seeps into ads. This 2011Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions commercial exposed what it saw as thedysfunctional relationship between traditional advertisers and consumers,symbolized by a man and a woman.

Or theres this 2012 commercial from Adobe which is meant to convince mediabuyers that Adobes social media measurement tools can help them make betterpurchase decisions. We see marketers getting zapped with electric shocks everytime they use words that a technician dislikes.

At the end, type says, Buzzwords are painful. Get real results. Adobe. Metrics,not myths.

In some ways, its refreshing to see marketing people admit how proneadvertising is to obfuscation and fibbing, just as Jerry Seinfeld did last month.

While marketers may be guilty of many sins, theyre refreshinglygood-naturedin their guilt and genuinely seem to enjoy laughing at themselves. Wouldnt it benice if consumers could see through ads equally well, so we didnt end up buyingso much stuff we dont need?