- Mark Dolliver

Let's call it a backhanded tribute to the advertising industry that relatively few respondents to an AdweekMedia/Harris Poll said ads "never" sway them to switch brands of a product they usually use.

A pliant 1 percent said ads motivate them to do so "most of the time," and another 30 percent said ads have this effect "some of the time." Fifty-three percent said ads "rarely" move them to switch brands, and 11 percent said it "never" happens. Four percent weren't sure. (The total doesn't equal 100 percent due to rounding.)

The ad-resistant vote was highest in the poll's 55-and-older cohort, with 16 percent saying they're never motivated by ads to switch brands and 57 percent saying they "rarely" are. Twenty-four percent of the 55-plusers said this happens "some of the time," with zero percent saying it happens more often than that.

Though often seen as a tough audience for advertisers, the 18-34-year-olds were the most likely to say ads move them to switch brands sometimes (36 percent) or even most of the time (2 percent).