Ads Aren’t Dead. They’re Just Not Enough. | SPECIAL EDITION

The Misunderstood State of Ads in 2025

If you skim recent survey data, you might conclude that digital ads have lost their mojo. Shoppers scroll past sponsored posts, ignore banner ads, and say most advertising is not useful. It is easy to say “ads aren’t working,” but that shallow read misses a bigger point.

Yes, consumers are tuning out a lot of advertising. No, that does not mean advertising is obsolete. It means we need to rethink how and when we engage shoppers.

The latest Caddle survey of 8,387 Canadian shoppers from December 2025 includes five revealing charts that, taken together, tell a more nuanced story. Ads can work, but only as part of a larger ecosystem that aligns with customer intent.

Let’s look at what the data actually says and why smart Canadian retailers are quietly evolving their retail media approach in response.

Where do you notice ads most when you are shopping online?

The top response in Caddle’s survey was social media at 31 percent. That is not surprising. We are glued to our feeds, and that is where ads most often catch our eye.

What is more interesting is the second most common answer. “I do not really notice ads” came in at 26 percent. More than a quarter of shoppers essentially claim to tune ads out entirely.

Far fewer said they primarily notice ads on retailer websites or apps at 16 percent, through email promotions at 15 percent, or on Google search results at 13 percent.

This tells us two things about modern shopping behavior. First, social platforms are still prime real estate for attention. Second, a significant portion of consumers have developed strong ad blindness and ignore anything that feels like traditional advertising.

If you stopped at this chart alone, you might conclude that most digital ads go unnoticed. Many do. But that is only the beginning of the story.

How often do the ads you see while shopping online actually feel useful to you?

If you are a marketer, the answers sting a bit. One in three shoppers said ads almost never feel useful. Another 27 percent said only occasionally. Roughly 60 percent of Canadians find ads valuable infrequently at best.

Only about one in four shoppers feel ads are useful more than half the time.

This seems to support the cynical headline that consumers think most ads are bad. But the data does not say ads cannot be useful. It says most ads so far are not useful to the shopper.

That distinction matters.

Modern shoppers have high expectations and very little patience. An ad that is not relevant, timely, or helpful becomes background noise or worse, an irritant.

The easy reaction is to ask why invest in ads at all. The smarter conclusion is different. Make the ads more useful.

Relevance is now the baseline. When an ad aligns with what a shopper actually cares about in that moment, it stops feeling like an ad and starts feeling like part of the shopping experience.

Advertising itself is not broken. Too much of it is simply off target.

Shoppers are telling us clearly, earn my attention or do not expect it.

When you see a product marked as “Sponsored” on a retail site, how do you feel about it?

Shoppers did not hold back. Thirty six percent said they ignore sponsored products outright. Another 22 percent said they trust them slightly less than other listings.

More than half of shoppers treat the sponsored label as a red flag. It signals “this may not be what I am looking for” or “someone paid to put this here.”

Only 14 percent trust sponsored items as much as other products. Just 5 percent trust them more, usually when they are on a site they already like.

This reflects how savvy today’s shoppers have become. They know when they are being sold to. Their instinct is to scroll past anything that feels forced or paid placement.

But here is the contradiction.

Even as shoppers say they distrust sponsored placements, those placements are not going away. And they still influence purchases when done well.

Retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Canadian Tire have built massive media businesses on sponsored listings because they work often enough to justify the investment.

The same shoppers who say they ignore sponsored ads will click one when it perfectly matches their intent.

The issue is not the sponsored label itself. The issue is relevance.

When sponsored content consistently delivers value, trust builds. When it does not, the label becomes a liability.

Being sponsored is not the problem. Being irrelevant is.

What matters most to you when brands advertise to you while you shop online?

The top answer should make every marketer pause. Thirty percent of shoppers said they try to avoid ads altogether.

That alone tells you how high the bar has become.

For the remaining 70 percent, the message is clear. Value and relevance matter most.

Twenty four percent said a good deal is the most important factor. Nineteen and a half percent said the product truly needs to fit their needs.

Only 14 percent prioritized a simple and clear message. Just 12 percent said brand familiarity mattered most.

Notice what sits at the bottom. Brand recognition.

Shoppers are not automatically swayed by big brands anymore. Many are desensitized to brand presence alone.

They also do not need clever creative for the sake of it. They want usefulness.

A timely offer or a relevant recommendation cuts through far more effectively than generic brand messaging.

In simple terms, ads that help are welcomed. Ads that just sell are skipped.

When an online ad does have a positive impact, which format works best?

The answer is surprisingly simple.

Forty four percent of shoppers said a single image works best. Short videos under 15 seconds followed at 24 percent. Plain text ads came in at 19 percent.

Long form video and carousel ads trailed far behind.

This challenges a long held belief that richer and more immersive formats alway

better. In commerce environments, simplicity wins.

When an ad works, it works because it delivers information quickly and clearly without effort.

A single image with the product, price, or promotion often outperforms complex interactive formats. Short video can help, but only when it respects time and context.

Shoppers browsing a retailer site or scrolling social feeds are not looking for a story. They are looking for clarity.

The best performing formats fit seamlessly into the experience and get out of the way.

Taken together, these five charts tell a consistent story.

Shoppers are in control. They notice ads selectively. They reward relevance and usefulness. They distrust forced promotion but respond to well timed help. They prefer simple formats that respect their time.

The question for brands is not whether to advertise. It is how advertising fits into a broader discovery ecosystem.

Ads cannot exist in isolation.

The future of retail media is not about volume. It is about integration.

A sponsored recipe inside a grocery app that helps solve dinner tonight feels useful. A promoted winter jacket that matches a shopper’s search and budget feels helpful. A random banner ad that interrupts the moment feels annoying.

Retail media works best when it behaves like service, not interruption.

That is why retail media remains essential.

Canadian retail media spending continues to grow because when it is done right, it delivers results. It reaches shoppers at moments of real intent. But it only works when relevance leads the strategy.

Smart marketers are shifting away from ad centric thinking toward discovery centric thinking. They are asking how to help customers find what they need, when they need it.

That shift requires better timing, better use of first party data, and closer collaboration with retailers.

We need to challenge the idea that ads are not working.

The truth is ads alone are not working.

What is emerging instead is contextual commerce, where advertising, content, search, and shopping blend together.

Retail media networks sit at the center of this shift. They have the data and proximity to influence decisions, but only if used with restraint.

Knowing when not to serve an ad is as important as knowing when to serve one.

The brands that win are not asking how to get seen. They are asking how to help.

When marketing starts behaving like assistance instead of pressure, shoppers stop avoiding it.

Shoppers have not gone anti ad. They have become selective.

If your ads are not relevant, they are invisible. If they are relevant, they stop feeling like ads and become part of the shopping journey.

Retail media is not about adding noise. It is about showing up in the right moments with the right intent.

Brands that understand this are turning perceived ad fatigue into a growth opportunity. They are reshaping discovery and rebuilding trust at the same time.

My bold view is simple.

The future of shopping will not be ad free. It will be filled with ads we do not think of as ads because they genuinely help us.

Smart marketers in Canada are not walking away from advertising. They are rethinking it.

Ads are not going away. The irrelevant ones are.