South Africa, Sept. 9 -- Trust and marketing

When you work in advertising regulation, the word "trust" is not a new one. It is the underpinning of everything that we do. So it is not surprising that I often read, speak, and think about the role of trust in marketing.

In advertising self-regulation, trust is important because it is the very underpinning of why we do what we do. The argument is that if you want the claims that you make to fall on receptive minds, those minds have to trust that the claims are true. And the only way that they can trust that the claims are true is if the consumer knows that there is somewhere that they can go when they feel aggrieved, and that will react efficiently and effectively.

That argument has become...