Canadians Don't Fall for Political Ads

Poll of the Day: Compared to Americans, Canadians put a premium on truth in advertising.

Less than a third of Canadian respondents told a survey that they thought political advertising was truthful, a full 14 percentage points lower than their American counterparts. The survey, conducted by Advertising Standards Canada, looked at how Canadians and Americans view different kinds of advertising. Seventy per cent of Canadian respondents said they didn't think that political advertising was truthful, while just 56 per cent of Americans responded as such. Likewise, 86 per cent of Canadians said they felt that the advertising industry needed nationally mandated standards, compared to just 64 per cent of Americans. On the flipside, Canadians were also much more likely to purchase a product if they felt the company's ads were truthful. That one ... doesn't really seem to be the case in federal politics, let's just say.