Some very unusual survey results were released by Harris Interactive. Conducted in April, it surveyed people as to ‘who was to blame for the recession’, the results are reproduced below:
| Total | 18-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | |
| Advertising Agencies | 66 | 60 | 59 | 65 | 75 |
| Print media | 59 | 51 | 57 | 61 | 67 |
| Other News Media | 56 | 51 | 55 | 54 | 62 |
| Talk shows on TV or radio | 55 | 48 | 56 | 53 | 59 |
| Cable news programs | 54 | 51 | 52 | 54 | 58 |
| Network and local news programs | 53 | 48 | 53 | 52 | 59 |
| Friends and family | 46 | 47 | 50 | 46 | 42 |
Two out of three Americans believe that advertising agencies have some responsibility for the current economic crisis (euphemism for “Recession”), wait for it:
because they caused people to buy things they couldn’t afford
I always knew advertising was persuasive, but I never thought it was able to bully consumers into retail outlets. The older theage group, the more of them laid the recessions squarely at the fee of the advertising fraternity. I would love to see the same survey conducted here to see where exactly we vent our spleens.