When asked, “Do you think there should be MORE or LESS control over advertising content to meet community standards?” 75% of Australians said ‘More Control,’ compared to 10% saying ‘less control,’ 13% saying ‘It’s the right level now/ About right’ and just 2% saying ‘don’t know.’


‘More Control’ over Advertising Content

	Total all people  aged 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Sep 2009	Men	Women	14-17	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
More control	75	75	75	56	64	64	83	79
Less control	10	13	8	26	16	12	5	10
It’s the right level now/ About right	13	11	14	16	16	22	10	9
Don’t know	2	1	3	2	4	2	2	2
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

TV is the medium most in need of ‘more control’ over its advertising content according to 53% of Australians, well ahead of Radio (19%), the Internet (18%), Direct mail (14%), Newspapers (13%), Magazines (13%), Outdoor (10%) and Cinema (7%). A quarter of Australians (25%) said there were no forms of advertising that needed more control and 6% don’t know or can’t say.


Which forms of advertising need ‘More Control?’

	Total all people  aged 14+	Analysis by Sex and Age
	Sep 2009	Men	Women	14-17	18-24	25-34	35-49	50+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
TV	53	51	54	36	42	44	53	62
Radio	19	17	21	15	15	17	22	20
Internet	18	20	17	12	14	12	24	19
Direct mail	14	14	14	8	7	8	13	20
Newspapers	13	12	14	2	11	9	12	18
Magazines	13	9	16	4	6	10	11	19
Outdoor	10	9	11	3	3	9	10	14
Cinema	7	6	8	4	4	4	7	9
Total named a form	69	67	70	52	58	64	71	74
No/ None of the above	25	26	24	40	36	29	23	19
Don’t know/ Can’t say	6	7	6	8	6	7	6	7
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

Note: Respondents to this question were allowed to nominate more than one form of advertising.


Roy Morgan also asked a series of questions related to Advertising awareness that included the following questions asked previously in 1974, 1979 & 1982:

“Do you Strongly Agree, are inclined to Agree, are Inclined to Disagree, or Strongly Disagree that:”
(THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS)

In general, advertising presents a true picture of the product advertised

Clearly perceptions of the truthfulness of advertising have continued changing since 1974. Now 41% (up 15% since 1982 and up 21% since 1974) of Australians agree that ‘In general, advertising presents a true picture of the product advertised’ – an increase noted each time Roy Morgan has asked this question while 57% (down 13% since 1982 and down 19% since 1974) of Australians now disagree that ‘In general. Advertising presents a true picture of the product advertised.’

	Total all people aged 14+				2009 Analysis by Sex
	1974	1979	1982	2009	Men	Women
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Total Agree	20	22	26	41	40	41
Total Disagree	76	75	70	57	57	57
Don’t know	4	3	4	2	3	2
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Advertising often persuades people to buy things they don’t need

Despite that, an increasing number of Australians (88%, up 8% since 1982 and up 11% since 1974) agree that ‘Advertising often persuades people to buy things they don’t need’ compared to 11% (down 8% since 1982 and down 10% since 1974) of Australians that disagree.

	Total all people aged 14+				2009 Analysis by Sex
	1974	1979	1982	2009	Men	Women
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Total Agree	77	80	80	88	85	92
Total Disagree	21	18	19	11	14	8
Don’t know	2	2	1	1	1	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Advertising is essential

The proportion of Australians saying ‘advertising is essential’ has barely changed over the past 25-35 years with 76% of Australians (up 2% since 1982, but down 1% since 1974) agreeing that ‘advertising is essential’ compared to 23% (down 1% since 1982, but up 2% since 1974) disagreeing the ‘advertising is essential.’

	Total all people aged 14+				2009 Analysis by Sex
	1974	1979	1982	2009	Men	Women
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Total Agree	77	77	74	76	76	75
Total Disagree	21	21	24	23	23	24
Don’t know	2	2	2	1	1	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Advertising is good for keeping you informed about things you can buy

As a source of information, Australians are still very positive about advertising with 87% (up 1% since 1982 and unchanged since 1974) of Australians agreeing that ‘Advertising is good for keeping you informed about things you can buy,’ while 13% (up 1% since 1982 and up 2% since 1974) of Australians disagreeing.

	Total all people aged 14+				2009 Analysis by Sex
	1974	1979	1982	2009	Men	Women
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Total Agree	87	87	86	87	86	87
Total Disagree	11	11	12	13	14	12
Don’t know	2	2	2	0	0	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Michele Levine, Chief Executive, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“This special Roy Morgan study shows that TV remains the advertising channel that Australians have the greatest concern with in terms of advertising content.

“Over half of Australians (53%) say there should be more control over advertising on TV, while other channels including Radio (19%), Internet (18%), Direct mail (14%) and Magazines and Newspapers (both 13%) are well behind.

“Despite these worries about advertising, three-quarters of Australians (76%, up 2% since 1982) say ‘Advertising is essential’ and 87% (up 1 % since 1982) say ‘Advertising is good for keeping you informed about things you can buy.

“In addition and importantly for companies considering the level of their advertising spend, increasing numbers of Australians now (41%, up 15% since 1982 and up 21% since 1974) agree that ‘In general, advertising presents a true picture of the product advertised’ – now at the highest level ever recorded by Roy Morgan.”

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This special Roy Morgan telephone poll on “Advertising awareness” was conducted in September with an Australia-wide cross-section of 679 men and women aged 14+.


For more details contact:

info@roymorganonlinestore.com