Can you really believe ads?

We buy way more stuff than we need. Advertising plays a big role in that. I reckon they're quite tricky, and sometimes more than a bit manipulative, in getting us to buy more stuff.

So I was stunned to see these survey results on Planet America.

Only 1 in 9 Americans trust Census data while the majority are happy to swallow what they are told in an advertisement. That should, at least, be the other way around.

By definition advertisers have every reason to give a biased view of the whatever it is they are advertising.

I'm struggling to think of any information source LESS trustworthy than an ad.

What do you think? How would you rank these information sources?

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