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Published on October 22, 2007

Thus indicates a recent Internet survey by market-information and audience-measurement company ACNielsen.

The survey sought the attitudes of consumers in 47 markets around the world toward 13 types of advertising, from conventional newspaper and television ads to branded web sites and consumer-generated content. It questioned 26,486 Internet users from countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East. In Thailand, 500 Internet users aged 15 and above were interviewed.

ACNielsen (Thailand) managing director Chantira Luesakul said the survey showed a personal recommendation remained the most trusted source of information when consumers were deciding which products and services to buy. "Even though new media technologies are playing a role in globalising society, many purchasing decisions are still based on firmly held national and cultural attitudes," she said.

"Furthermore, reports of bad experiences outnumber good-service reports by five to one, so given that nothing travels faster than bad news, the survey has once again highlighted the importance of responsive, high-quality customer service."

More than half of the Thai respondents (51 per cent) told the survey they believed in advertising. However, the most trusting overall - for all forms of advertising - were Filipinos and Brazilians (67 per cent), while Danes (28 per cent), Italians (32 per cent), Lithuanians (34 per cent) and Germans (35 per cent) showed the least trust.

Categorising trust according to form of advertising, Thai respondents ranked consumer recommendations (word of mouth) first, with 81 per cent saying they trusted what they heard from other consumers the most, followed by traditional media like television (66 per cent), newspapers (62 per cent) and magazines (59 per cent).

Online banner ads (32 per cent) and mobile-phone ads (29 per cent) stood out among Thais as the least trusted form of advertising.

"This will be music to the ears of advertisers that continue to allocate the bulk of their advertising budgets to the traditional media in Thailand," Chantira said.

The Thai response closely reflected the global results of the survey. While new platforms like the Internet are beginning to catch up with older media in terms of ad revenue, traditional advertising channels continue to retain the public's trust around the world.