Australians have the least trust in advertising executives: Ipsos Trustworthiness Index

The latest Ipsos Trustworthiness Index reveals that advertising executives are the least trusted profession in Australia, with only 14% of Australians rating them as trustworthy. Social media influencers (15%) and politicians (15%) are similarly viewed with low levels of trust.

In contrast, doctors are seen as Australia’s most trustworthy profession, with 66% of respondents rating them positively. Teachers (60%) and scientists (58%) also rank high in trustworthiness, followed by restaurant staff (49%), police officers (48%), and members of the armed forces (47%).

When it comes to untrustworthy professions, Australians most frequently cite social media influencers (61%), politicians (56%), advertising executives (49%), and government ministers (48%). Other professions with notable distrust include journalists (40%), bankers and clergy/priests (38%), and business leaders (36%).

Globally, similar trends emerge. Doctors are the most trusted profession worldwide, with 58% of people rating them as trustworthy, followed by scientists (56%) and teachers (54%). Across the 32 countries surveyed, politicians and social media influencers remain the least trusted professions, with only 15% of respondents expressing trust in these roles.

Australia is among 17 countries that received a positive score on the global Trustworthiness Index, which measures net trust by comparing trustworthy and untrustworthy ratings. This indicates that Australians generally hold a favorable view of most professions.

Commenting on the findings, David Elliott, deputy managing director, Ipsos Public Affairs Australia, said: “While there continues to be debate that society is losing faith in experts, our data again shows that in fact, scientists, doctors and teachers are held in high esteem both here and globally.

“The high levels of trust placed in many professions of crucial importance to our society are encouraging as they indicate that we don’t think society is completely broken. We still have a lot of trust in many important professions, like doctors, teachers, the armed forces and the police. What is perhaps more concerning for us as a society are the low levels of trust in politicians, government ministers, bankers, journalists, clergy/priests and business leaders.

“Encouragingly for my colleagues and industry, while pollsters sit close to the bottom on trustworthiness, this looks to be more a result of many being undecided rather than a strong sense of untrustworthiness. When we look at the proportions indicating a profession is untrustworthy, pollsters soar to equal 10th position - alongside TV news readers -as the most untrustworthy, well behind social media influencers, politicians, government ministers, advertising executives, bankers, clergy/priests, business leaders and journalists.”