Magazine advertising ranks fourth on a list of "most truthful" advertising sources, according to a new report commissioned by Advertising Standards Canada.

But advertising in all traditional media — newspapers, out-of-home, radio, magazines and television — vastly outranks the perceived truthfulness of online advertising, according to the survey released last week.

The Gandalf Group undertook the study for ASC, polling 1,378 Canadians and 800 Americans for attitudes towards advertising. In the Canadian results, newspapers ranked the highest on the question, "How truthful is the content of advertising in each of the following media…". The rankings:

Advertising Media Most Truthful:

Newspapers: 74%
Out-of-home (billboards, etc): 69%
Radio: 69%
Magazines: 65%
TV: 64%
Online: 47%

"Online faces a higher degree of skepticism among consumers," noted David Herle of the Gandalf Group, presenting the findings to an audience of media and advertising executives in Toronto last week.

When consumers find advertising unacceptable, the most cited reason is misleading advertising (32%). The next-highest reason was advertising deemed offensive in some way, including sexist, sensational, degrading, vulgar, or stereotypical (22%).

The report concluded, however, that the vast majority of Canadians believe advertising provides them with value (79%). Interestingly, Americans believe even more that advertising provides them with value (85%). But advertising deemed unacceptable has serious consequences: 89% of Canadians will stop buying from a company if its ads are unacceptable, according to the survey.

Advertising Standards Canada is the industry body that maintains the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards. The full press release on the new study, entitled Canadian Perspectives on Advertising, can be found here.