Only one in eight of us believe what we see on the small screen. No, nothing to do with Big Brother or Melvyn Bragg's hair, but TV adverts. Most of us trust them about as far as we could throw our personal video recorder.
This may not come as a complete surprise. After all, commercials are solely concerned with selling us things we didn't know we wanted.
But it must come as something of a disappointment for an industry which spends £3.4bn a year on TV advertising that so few of us give them any credibility.
What ITV's research doesn't reveal is how many of us go out and buy the product, whether we trust the ad or not. My hunch is that it is probably a lot more.
But in an age of the personal video recorder, haven't adverts gone out with the ark? Sponsorship is where it's at. I barely watch any ads anymore, but I am reminded of the joys of Herbal Essence shower gel about six times every Wednesday, because it sponsors Desperate Housewives and it's the point where I stop fast forwarding Sky Plus.
But does it make me go out and buy Herbal Essence? No, but I might not be their target market. It might make me buy a new TV, though. If I hear that woman's voice once more, I'm going to put my foot through the screen.
But does this matter? At least I've heard of it, so from that point of view it's done it's job. Why do those highly-paid creatives come up with so many irritating ads? Because they are the ones that stick in our memory.
