   #copyright

Advertising

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Business; Everyday life

                                                   Marketing
                                                  Key concepts

                                               Product / Price / Promotion
                                              Placement / Service / Retail
                                                        Marketing research
                                                        Marketing strategy
                                                      Marketing management
                                                   Promotion

                                                    Advertising / Branding
                                         Direct marketing / Personal Sales
                                      Product placement / Public relations
                                               Publicity / Sales promotion
                                               Promotional media

                                                  Billboard / Broadcasting
                                             Computer games / Online media
                                                    Newspapers / Magazines

   Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005)
   Enlarge
   Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005)

   Advertising is drawing public attention to goods and services by
   promois performed through a variety of media. It is an important part
   of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional
   mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling, and sales
   promotion.

History

   In ancient times the most common form of advertising was by word of
   mouth; however, commercial messages and political campaign displays
   have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. Egyptians used papyrus to
   create sales messages and wall posters, while lost-and-found
   advertising on papyrus was common in Greece and Rome. Wall or rock
   painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an
   ancient media advertising form, which is present to this day in many
   parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. For instance, the tradition
   of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock-art paintings that
   goes back to 4000 BC. As printing developed in the 15th and 16th
   century, advertising expanded to include handbills. In the 17th century
   advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England.

   These early print ads were used mainly to promote books,and newspapers
   which became increasingly affordable thanks to the printing press, and
   medicines, which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged
   Europe. However, false advertising and so-called " quack" ads became a
   problem, which ushered in regulation of advertising content.
   A print advertisement for the 1913 issue of the Encyclopædia Britannica
   Enlarge
   A print advertisement for the 1913 issue of the Encyclopædia Britannica
   Edo period advertising flier from 1806 for a traditional medicine
   called Kinseitan
   Enlarge
   Edo period advertising flier from 1806 for a traditional medicine
   called Kinseitan

   As the economy was expanding during the 19th century, the need for
   advertising grew at the same pace. In the United States, classified ads
   became popular, filling pages of newspapers with small print messages
   promoting all kinds of goods. The success of this advertising format
   led to the growth of mail-order advertising such as the Sears Catalog,
   at one time referred to as the "Farmer's Bible". In 1843 the first
   advertising agency was established by Volney Palmer in Philadelphia. At
   first the agencies were just brokers for ad space in newspapers, but by
   the 20th century, advertising agencies started to take over
   responsibility for the content as well.

   The 1960s saw advertising transform into a modern, more scientific
   approach in which creativity was allowed to shine, producing unexpected
   messages that made advertisements more tempting to consumers' eyes. The
   Volkswagen ad campaign featuring such headlines as "Think Small" and
   "Lemon" ushered in the era of modern advertising by promoting a
   "position" or "unique selling proposition" designed to associate each
   brand with a specific idea in the reader or viewer's mind.

   The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television
   and particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV
   ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the
   advertisement, rather than it being a byproduct or afterthought. As
   cable (and later satellite) television became increasingly prevalent,
   "specialty" channels began to emerge, and eventually entire channels,
   such as QVC and Home Shopping Network and ShopTV, devoted to
   advertising merchandise, where again the consumer tuned in for the ads.

   Marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers and
   led to the " dot-com" boom of the 1990s. Entire corporations operated
   solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free
   Internet access. At the turn of the 21st century, the search engine
   Google revolutionized online advertising by emphasizing contextually
   relevant, unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate,
   users. This has led to a plethora of similar efforts and an increasing
   trend of interactive advertising.

   The share of advertising spending relative to total economic output (
   GDP) has changed little across large changes in media. For example, in
   the U.S. in 1925, the main advertising media were newspapers,
   magazines, signs on streetcars, and outdoor posters. Advertising
   spending as a share of U.S. GDP was about 2.6% in 1925. By 1998,
   television and radio had become major advertising media. Nonetheless,
   advertising spending as a share of GDP was slightly lower -- about
   2.4%.

   A recent advertising innovation is " guerrilla promotions", which
   involve unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public places,
   giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand
   messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to
   become part of the advertising message. This reflects an increasing
   trend of interactive and "embedded" ads, such as via product placement,
   having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations
   utilizing social networking sites (e.g. Myspace).

Public service advertising

   The same advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and
   services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about
   non-commercial issues, such as AIDS, political ideology, energy
   conservation, religious recruitment, and deforestation.

   Advertising, in its non-commercial guise, is a powerful educational
   tool capable of reaching and motivating large audiences. "Advertising
   justifies its existence when used in the public interest - it is much
   too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes." -
   Attributed to Howard Gossage by David Ogilvy

   Public service advertising, non-commercial advertising, public interest
   advertising, cause marketing, and social marketing are different terms
   for (or aspects of) the use of sophisticated advertising and marketing
   communications techniques (generally associated with commercial
   enterprise) on behalf of non-commercial, public interest issues and
   initiatives.

   In the United States, the granting of television and radio licenses by
   the FCC is contingent upon the station broadcasting a certain amount of
   public service advertising. To meet these requirements, many broadcast
   stations in America air the bulk of their required Public Service
   Announcements during the late night or early morning when the smallest
   percentage of viewers are watching, leaving more day and prime time
   commercial slots available for high-paying advertisers.

   Public service advertising reached its height during World Wars I and
   II under the direction of several governments. Famous comments on
   advertising include: "Don't tell my mother I work in an advertising
   agency - she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse." ~ Jacques Seguela

Type

Impact

          "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble
          is, I don't know which half." - John Wanamaker, father of modern
          advertising.

   Billboard, New York City, (2005)
   Enlarge
   Billboard, New York City, (2005)

   The impact of advertising has been a matter of considerable debate and
   many different claims have been made in different contexts. During
   debates about the banning of cigarette advertising, a common claim from
   cigarette manufacturers was that cigarette advertising does not
   encourage people to smoke who would not otherwise. The (eventually
   successful) opponents of advertising, on the other hand, claim that
   advertising does in fact increase consumption.

   According to many media sources, the past experience and state of mind
   of the person subjected to advertising may determine the impact that
   advertising has. Children under the age of four may be unable to
   distinguish advertising from other television programs, whilst the
   ability to determine the truthfulness of the message may not be
   developed until the age of 8.

Public perception of the medium

   As advertising and marketing efforts become increasingly ubiquitous in
   modern Western societies, the industry has come under criticism of
   groups such as AdBusters via culture jamming which criticizes the media
   and consumerism using advertising's own techniques. The industry is
   accused of being one of the engines powering a convoluted economic mass
   production system which promotes consumption. Recognizing the social
   impact of advertising, Mediawatch-uk, a British special interest group,
   works to educate consumers about how they can register their concerns
   with advertisers and regulators. It has developed educational materials
   for use in schools. The award-winning book, Made You Look How
   Advertising Works and Why You Should Know, by former Mediawatch (a
   feminist organisation founded by Ann Simonton not linked to
   mediawatch-uk) president Shari Graydon, provides context for these
   issues for young readers.
   iPod advertisement wrapped around a train. Minneapolis, Minnesota, US,
   (2005)
   Enlarge
   iPod advertisement wrapped around a train. Minneapolis, Minnesota, US,
   (2005)

   Public interest groups are increasingly suggesting that access to the
   mental space targeted by advertisers should be taxed, in that at the
   present moment that space is being freely taken advantage of by
   advertisers with no compensation paid to the members of the public who
   are thus being intruded upon. This kind of tax would be a Pigovian tax
   in that it would act to reduce what is now increasingly seen as a
   public nuisance. Efforts to that end are gathering momentum, with
   Arkansas and Maine considering bills to implement such taxation.
   Florida enacted such a tax in 1987 but was forced to repeal it after
   six months, as a result of a concerted effort by national commercial
   interests, which withdrew planned conventions, causing major losses to
   the tourism industry, and cancelled advertising, causing a loss of 12
   million dollars to the broadcast industry alone.
   Billboard in Lund, Sweden, saying "One Night Stand?" (2005)
   Enlarge
   Billboard in Lund, Sweden, saying "One Night Stand?" (2005)

Regulation

   There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by
   regulating the content and the reach of advertising. Some examples are
   the ban on television tobacco advertising imposed in many countries,
   and the total ban on advertising to children under twelve imposed by
   the Swedish government in 1991. Though that regulation continues in
   effect for broadcasts originating within the country, it has been
   weakened by the European Court of Justice, which has found that Sweden
   was obliged to accept whatever programming was targeted at it from
   neighboring countries or via satellite.

   In Europe and elsewhere there is a vigorous debate on whether and how
   much advertising to children should be regulated. This debate was
   exacerbated by a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in
   February 2004 which suggested that food advertising targeting children
   was an important factor in the epidemic of childhood obesity in the
   United States.

   In many countries - namely New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and many
   European countries - the advertising industry operates a system of
   self-regulation. Advertisers, advertising agencies and the media agree
   on a code of advertising standards that they attempt to uphold. The
   general aim of such codes is to ensure that any advertising is 'legal,
   decent, honest and truthful'. Some self-regulatory organizations are
   funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent of
   upholding the standards or codes (like the Advertising Standards
   Authority in the UK).

   Naturally, many advertisers view governmental regulation or even
   self-regulation as intrusion of their freedom of speech or a necessary
   evil. Therefore, they employ a wide-variety of linguistic devices to
   bypass regulatory laws (e.g. giving English words in bold and French
   translations in fine print to deal with the Article 12 of the 1994
   Toubon Law limiting the use of English in French advertising); see
   Bhatia and Ritchie 2006:542. The advertising of controversial products
   such as cigarettes and condoms is subject to government regulation in
   many countries. For instance, the tobacco industry is required by law
   in India and Pakistan to display warnings cautioning consumers about
   the health hazards of their products. Linguistic variation is often
   used by advertising as a creative device to reduce the impact of such
   requirement.

Future

   With the dawn of the Internet have come many new advertising
   opportunities. Popup, Flash, banner, advergaming, and email
   advertisements (the last often being a form of spam) abound.

   Each year, greater sums are paid to obtain a commercial spot during the
   Super Bowl, which is by most measures considered to be the most
   important football game of the year. Companies attempt to make these
   commercials sufficiently entertaining that members of the public will
   actually want to watch them.

   Another problem is people recording shows on DVRs (ex. TiVo). These
   devices allow users to record the programs for later viewing enabling
   them to fast forward through commercials. Additionally, as more seasons
   or “Boxed Sets” come out of Television shows; fewer people are watching
   their shows on TV. However, the fact that these sets are sold, means
   that the company will additionally receive profits from the sales of
   these sets. To counter this effect, many advertisers have opted for
   product placement on TV shows like Survivor.

   Particularly since the rise of "entertaining" advertising, some people
   may like an advert enough that they wish to watch it later or show a
   friend. In general, the advertising community has not yet made this
   easy, although some have used the Internet to widely distribute their
   adverts to anyone wishing to see or hear them.

   Another significant trend to note for the future of advertising is the
   growing importance of niche or targeted ads. Also brought about by the
   Internet and the theory of The Long Tail, advertisers will have an
   increasing ability to reach narrow audiences. In the past, the most
   efficient way to deliver a message was to blanket the largest mass
   market audience possible. However, usage tracking, customer profiles
   and the growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything
   from blogs to social networking sites, provides advertisers with
   audiences that are smaller but much better defined, leading to ads that
   are more relevant to viewers and more effective for companies marketing
   products. Among others, Comcast Spotlight is one such advertiser
   employing this method in their video on demand menus. These
   advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by
   anyone wishing to find out more about a particular business or practice
   at any time, right from their home. This causes the viewer to become
   proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
