Blaming the Agencies.

It’s a tough time for the advertising business.

eMarketer estimates that total media spending will fall by 8.2% percent in 2009 and 3% in 2010. And a Gallup survey found that in 2008 only 10% of US residents felt that ad practitioners were honest.

On top of that, a Harris Interactive poll found that 66% of US Internet users said that advertising agencies were at least partly to blame for the current economic crisis—because they influence people to buy things they cannot afford.

Of the media considered responsible by Internet users, advertising agencies were assigned blame more than traditional media, such as radio, TV, print and cable news shows, and the respondents’ own friends and family.

Blaming the agencies crossed over age divides, but older respondents were more likely to blame the media in some form.

Agencies were also most likely to be assigned the burden of “complete responsibility” or “a great deal of responsibility,” with 33% of respondents placing such heavy blame.

Those least likely to be considered responsible? Twenty-five percent said that friends and family held no responsibility whatsoever.

So much for spending to keep up with the Joneses.

For more information at http://www.emarketer.com