Because privacy and loyalty are kind of like the yin and yang of marketing, we decided to ask our senior-level marketer readership how they feel about their privacy — but as consumers, not marketers.

The result: A slim majority of 53 percent said there is no difference between their outlook on privacy as marketers versus as consumers. However, many of the respondents acknowledged feeling conflicted.

“As a marketer, I want to use all the information I have … As a consumer, I want privacy,” said one respondent. But others said they had reconciled any discrepancies: “I have high ethical standards and would not deploy any marketing tactics that I didn’t believe in or that compromised my values.”

Even more dramatically, a nearly unanimous 99 percent confided that they were either somewhat (20 percent), very (41 percent) or extremely (39 percent) concerned about their privacy as consumers.

Based on that, it’s perhaps surprising that only 62 percent said they actively take steps to protect their privacy as consumers (another 29 percent said they did so only “sometimes”). Most of these actions involve changing passwords and deleting cookies, although one respondent reported never using credit cards (and we’re pretty sure we know who you are!).

As a group, only 22 percent care that other marketers keep databases of their personal information and purchase history, but 42 percent don’t like having their online behavior tracked. Forty percent said they were “okay” with seeing online ads that seemed to know something about them or their online behavior.

When asked to name a favorite loyalty-card program, American Express received the most mentions but there was no clear favorite. As one respondent put it, “My favorite form of loyalty is when I walk into a store and the person there knows my name and uses it.” In short, there does not seem to be much loyalty to loyalty cards.

Sixty-eight percent said they would object to camera-equipped vending machines or digital ads that estimate their age or gender. However, two respondents said they felt differently about vending machines and digital ads: One was uncomfortable about being sized up by machines but not ads; the other felt just the opposite.

We further tested how strongly our respondents felt about such invasions by asking them to submit their ages and gender to us, and more than 99 percent did so. Sixty-eight percent also left their email addresses. Clearly, our readers are extremely trusting … or have simply given up. Either way, your information is safe with us.

Sixty-five percent say they think something can be done to protect their privacy as consumers. However, only 50 percent think new privacy-protection laws should be enacted. And even though we are quite sure that too many marketers know more than they should about us, we don’t really seem to know which ones they are.

On the open-ended question as to which marketers, if any, are the biggest violators of privacy, the leading response was “I don’t know.” Others brushed broadly, citing credit card companies, banks, telemarketers or online retailers.

When it came to naming names, Facebook led the pack (given all the negative publicity it has received about its privacy policies, it was surprising that more respondents didn’t cite it). Facebook was followed by Google, which one respondent referred to as “Darth Vader and the Evil Empire.”

Apparently, “they” know more about “us” than we do about “them,” which may not be surprising. But it is curious, since in many cases “we” are “them.”

Respondent Profile

A total of 285 survey respondents included brand marketers (24%), consulting firms (13%), and agencies (17%). A majority were senior-level executives with 74% reporting more than 10 years of experience in marketing.