Polls: 44% Normally Disbelieve Any And All Company Statements

Thanks to copyranter for the tip on this piece. Wow, 44% of people surveyed don't believe anything a company says! If ever there was a reason to understand the value of compelling, authentic and relevant brand experiences, this could be it! If this many people don't believe what you say, you better give them a good reason to believe what you do! There's not an industry on the list that cracks 40% trust and that's pretty sad. Some interesting numbers:

HMO's and health insurance companies are at 4 & 7% respectively, but hospitals are at 28%. And while that's much better then HMO's and health insurance companies, you would think that people would trust a hospital much more then that!

Oil companies & tobacco are at the bottom of the list, no surprise there.

I'm surprised that packaged goods companies scored so low, I mean, all of the information has to be right there on the box!

Guess it's a good thing they didn't ask about the advertising industry!

A recent survey found that 44% of Americans don't trust a damn thing that comes out of the mouths of companies. The poll asked, "Which of these industries do you think are generally honest and trustworthy - so that you normally believe a statement by a company in that industry?" and then posed a variety of industries, from supermarkets, airlines, to tobacco companies. Since the poll began in 2003, the amount of people answering, "none of these," increased 7 percentage points. Either companies are getting more deceitful, or somehow, Americans are getting smarter. When queried about the poll, Big Business, Inc. told The Consumerist, "We're aware of the results, and we're taking them very seriously."

Link: Polls: 44% Normally Disbelieve Any And All Company Statements