It’s official – advertising doesn’t work

It’s official – advertising doesn’t work, and marketers are insane.

On BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on Monday 5th February, Eddie Mair interviews Fiona Dawson, Managing Director of Masterfoods UK, on its move to stop advertising targeted at under 12’s. Masterfoods makes Mars bars and other sweeties.

In explaining the impact of the decision on Masterfoods’ market, Ms Dawson states that, “There is very little evidence to show that advertising has any effect, despite the amount of money that we spend on it, in term of driving purchasing behaviour.”

You can almost hear Eddie Mair’s jaw hits the table. “You don’t think that advertising affects buying behaviour?!” he asks.

“Well, there’s very little evidence to show it…” repeats Ms Dawson, adding, “We still spend quite a considerable amount…”

Indeed they do. Advertising Age estimates MasterFoods’ global advertising expenditure of $939m in 2005, on annual sales estimated at $18bn. That’s roughly 5% of sales, with no evidence to support its effectiveness.

I recorded my thoughts on this type of insanity in a white paper recently. MasterFoods is another example of marketers doing what they have always done, despite any measurement of its effectiveness.