A Face Your Mother Can Trust

When it comes to spending, people are more easily influenced by business leaders than celebrities.

An AdWeek Media/Harris poll examining which public figures are most persuasive in advertising found that as spokespeople, celebrities may be losing their influence, while business leaders may be more persuasive.

Generational gaps also determine who finds which public figures most persuasive. Almost half of those aged 55 and older (46%) say business leaders are most persuasive compared to only 28% of those who are 18-34 years old. One quarter of those aged 18-34 (23%) say television or movie stars are most persuasive while only 15% of those aged 55 and older feel the same way.  

There is also a difference among those who are seen as least influential. Almost half of those aged 35-44 (45%) say they feel former political figures are least persuasive when they endorse a product compared to one-third of those aged 18-34 years old (33%).

What do these results say about who our society values, and which groups value different public figures?  “Well let's see what has happened while Gen Y is coming to age: a war based on untruths, the collapse of our financial system, and greed, greed, and more greed,” says Dwayne Waite Jr., principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, in Charlotte, NC.

As a member of Generation Y and a marketer, Waite says that he sees firsthand the “shift away from olds folks.”  

“We are focusing on two different groups of people, those who came of age during the "trust no one over 40,” [era] and those who have never seen a working typewriter,” he notes, adding that he has never seen one himself.  

Who will the 18 to 35 year old set trust? “Themselves and those few older people who reflect them, [such as] Christopher Hitchens, Obama, Steve Jobs, Colbert Report, Hillary Clinton,”
Waite contends.  

Why are these people and sources most trusted for this cohort? “This group supports rapid progress, breaking into new things, and an open, large government,” he explains. “Businessmen, unfortunately, lost this group's trust.” 

The 35 to 50 year old group will also trust themselves and people their own age, as well as people like “who reflect their values” like John McCain, Katie Couric, Christopher Wallace, and supporters of the late Ted Kennedy, Waite adds. 

Older Boomers, 55 and up, Waite says, trusts “anybody who quotes bringing America back to what it used to be.”  

Marketers, he advises, should “divide and conquer.” 

“These stats prove the adage that ‘mass media is dead,” Waite maintains. “Cause marketing and mobile marketing is catching fire amongst the 18 to 35 and the 35 to 50 age groups. The ‘progressive, yet grounded’ line attracts the 35 to 50 and 55 and up crowd. Messaging and the channel is becoming more important than ever.” 

Celebrities, Waite says, are indeed losing their influence. “With celebrities like Paris Hilton, Jesse McCartney, and Lindsay Lohan...wouldn't you be surprised if they weren't?”