It’s complicated: Trust in all ads rises but there’s a snag

The public’s trust in advertising has reached a five-year high across all media channels, however, beneath the surface, consumers have an increasingly complex relationship with advertising – especially online – with the fear of being scammed or hacked meaning many are on high alert.

That is the key finding of new research presented today in Westminster by Dan Wilks, director of industry think tank Credos, at advertising industry summit LEAD.

The Credos Trust Tracker showed that public trust in ads continued to grow throughout 2025, reaching the highest level recorded over the past 5 years (40%), up from 31% in 2021. Just over one in ten (11%) people are very trusting of ads and 29% are fairly trusting compared to a quarter (25%) who distrust ads and a third (33%) who are neither trusting nor distrusting.

The enjoyment of ads remained the number one driver of trust in ads and bombardment remained the number one driver of distrust.

In fact, trust has increased across all media channels since 2021, with TV (46%) leading the way, followed by cinema and radio (both on 42%), outdoor (38%), magazines (37%) and news brands and direct mail (both on 35%). However, according to a separate study by Royal Mail Marketreach – backed by the Advertising Association and released in October – direct mail and door drops are more than twice as trustworthy as TV, OOH, press, email or radio ads.

Even so, at the other end of the Credos Trust Tracker table are online (31%), social media (27%) and influencer (25%).

And it would appear that these last three channels are where the contradictions lie, with negative elements of the online world often unrelated to ads, such as scams, cyber-attacks and harmful content, meaning many people now move through online spaces in a state of low-level vigilance.

Moreover, the importance of ‘suspicious advertising’ in driving distrust increased significantly in 2025. This includes issues such as misleading ads, undisclosed ads, greenwashing, and the manipulation of images.

The Credos research also dug under the surface of who people thought should be responsible for tackling the negative impact issues such as scams and misleading ads are having on trust in online advertising.

Participants attribute joint responsibility for managing these issues to platforms, to individual responsibility, regulatory bodies and government, though the role of the platforms was considered the most important.

Wilks said: “It is fantastic to see public trust in ads reach the highest levels we’ve seen in five years. This should be celebrated – but there is still much for the industry to work on.

“Our latest research found that people’s day to day relationship with advertising, particularly online, is becoming increasingly complex, contradictory and sometimes concerning. Hopefully, this latest evidence showing what drives as well as what limits trust, will enable brands, media owners and agencies alike to focus on measures to improve trust further.”

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