Definition of word advertising

Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are wide range of uses, the most common being the commercial advertisement.

Commercial advertisements often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through «branding», which associates a product name or image with certain qualities in the minds of consumers. On the other hand, ads that intend to elicit an immediate sale are known as direct-response advertising. Non-commercial entities that advertise more than consumer products or services include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Non-profit organizations may use free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement. Advertising may also help to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful.

In the 19th century, soap businesses were among the first to employ large-scale advertising campaigns. Thomas J. Barratt was hired by Pears to be its brand manager—the first of its kind—and in addition to creating slogans and images he recruited West End stage actress and socialite Lillie Langtry to become the poster-girl for Pears, making her the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product.^[1] Modern advertising originated with the techniques introduced with tobacco advertising in the 1920s, most significantly with the campaigns of Edward Bernays, considered the founder of modern, «Madison Avenue» advertising.^[2][3]

Worldwide spending on advertising in 2015 amounted to an estimated US$529.43 billion.^[4] Advertising’s projected distribution for 2017 was 40.4% on TV, 33.3% on digital, 9% on newspapers, 6.9% on magazines, 5.8% on outdoor and 4.3% on radio.^[5] Internationally, the largest («Big Five») advertising agency groups are Omnicom, WPP, Publicis, Interpublic, and Dentsu.^[6]

In Latin, advertere means «to turn towards».^[7]

History

Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters.^[8] Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia. Lost and found advertising on papyrus was common in ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock art paintings that date back to 4000 BC.^[9]

In ancient China, the earliest advertising known was oral, as recorded in the Classic of Poetry (11th to 7th centuries BC) of bamboo flutes played to sell confectionery. Advertisement usually takes in the form of calligraphic signboards and inked papers. A copper printing plate dated back to the Song dynasty used to print posters in the form of a square sheet of paper with a rabbit logo with «Jinan Liu’s Fine Needle Shop» and «We buy high-quality steel rods and make fine-quality needles, to be ready for use at home in no time» written above and below^[10] is considered the world’s earliest identified printed advertising medium.^[11]

In Europe, as the towns and cities of the Middle Ages began to grow, and the general population was unable to read, instead of signs that read «cobbler», «miller», «tailor», or «blacksmith», images associated with their trade would be used such as a boot, a suit, a hat, a clock, a diamond, a horseshoe, a candle or even a bag of flour. Fruits and vegetables were sold in the city square from the backs of carts and wagons and their proprietors used street callers (town criers) to announce their whereabouts. The first compilation of such advertisements was gathered in «Les Crieries de Paris», a thirteenth-century poem by Guillaume de la Villeneuve.^[12]

In the 18th century advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines, which were increasingly sought after. However, false advertising and so-called «quack» advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the regulation of advertising content.

19th century

Thomas J. Barratt of London has been called «the father of modern advertising».^[13][14][15] Working for the Pears soap company, Barratt created an effective advertising campaign for the company products, which involved the use of targeted slogans, images and phrases. One of his slogans, «Good morning. Have you used Pears’ soap?» was famous in its day and into the 20th century.^[16][17] In 1882, Barratt recruited English actress and socialite Lillie Langtry to become the poster-girl for Pears, making her the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product.^[1][18]

Becoming the company’s brand manager in 1865, listed as the first of its kind by the Guinness Book of Records, Barratt introduced many of the crucial ideas that lie behind successful advertising and these were widely circulated in his day. He constantly stressed the importance of a strong and exclusive brand image for Pears and of emphasizing the product’s availability through saturation campaigns. He also understood the importance of constantly reevaluating the market for changing tastes and mores, stating in 1907 that «tastes change, fashions change, and the advertiser has to change with them. An idea that was effective a generation ago would fall flat, stale, and unprofitable if presented to the public today. Not that the idea of today is always better than the older idea, but it is different – it hits the present taste.»^[14]

Enhanced advertising revenues was one effect of the Industrial Revolution in Britain.^[19] Thanks to the revolution and the consumers it created, by the mid-19th century biscuits and chocolate became products for the masses, and British biscuit manufacturers were among the first to introduce branding to distinguish grocery products.^[20][21] One the world’s first global brands, Huntley & Palmers biscuits were sold in 172 countries in 1900, and their global reach was reflected in their advertisements.^[20]

In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the formula was soon copied by all titles. Around 1840, Volney B. Palmer established the roots of the modern day advertising agency in Philadelphia. In 1842 Palmer bought large amounts of space in various newspapers at a discounted rate then resold the space at higher rates to advertisers. The actual ad – the copy, layout, and artwork – was still prepared by the company wishing to advertise; in effect, Palmer was a space broker. The situation changed when the first full-service advertising agency of N.W. Ayer & Son was founded in 1869 in Philadelphia. Ayer & Son offered to plan, create, and execute complete advertising campaigns for its customers. By 1900 the advertising agency had become the focal point of creative planning, and advertising was firmly established as a profession.
^[22] Around the same time, in France, Charles-Louis Havas extended the services of his news agency, Havas to include advertisement brokerage, making it the first French group to organize. At first, agencies were brokers for advertisement space in newspapers.^[22]

20th century

As a result of massive industrialization, advertising increased dramatically in the United States. In 1919 it was 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the US, and it averaged 2.2 percent of GDP between then and at least 2007, though it may have declined dramatically since the Great Recession.

Industry could not benefit from its increased productivity without a substantial increase in consumer spending. This contributed to the development of mass marketing designed to influence the population’s economic behavior on a larger scale.^[24] In the 1910s and 1920s, advertisers in the U.S. adopted the doctrine that human instincts could be targeted and harnessed – «sublimated» into the desire to purchase commodities.^[25] Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, became associated with the method and is sometimes called the founder of modern advertising and public relations.^[26] Bernays claimed that:

«[The] general principle, that men are very largely actuated by motives which they conceal from themselves, is as true of mass as of individual psychology. It is evident that the successful propagandist must understand the true motives and not be content to accept the reasons which men give for what they do.»^[27]

In other words, selling products by appealing to the rational minds of customers (the main method used prior to Bernays) was much less effective than selling products based on the unconscious desires that Bernays felt were the true motivators of human action. «Sex sells» became a controversial issue, with techniques for titillating and enlarging the audience posing a challenge to conventional morality.^[28][29]

In the 1920s, under Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, the American government promoted advertising. Hoover himself delivered an address to the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World in 1925 called ‘Advertising Is a Vital Force in Our National Life.»^[30] In October 1929, the head of the U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Julius Klein, stated «Advertising is the key to world prosperity.»^[31] This was part of the «unparalleled» collaboration between business and government in the 1920s, according to a 1933 European economic journal.^[32]

The tobacco companies became major advertisers in order to sell packaged cigarettes.^[33] The tobacco companies pioneered the new advertising techniques when they hired Bernays to create positive associations with tobacco smoking.^[2][3]

Advertising was also used as a vehicle for cultural assimilation, encouraging workers to exchange their traditional habits and community structure in favor of a shared «modern» lifestyle.^[34] An important tool for influencing immigrant workers was the American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers (AAFLN). The AAFLN was primarily an advertising agency but also gained heavily centralized control over much of the immigrant press.^[35][36]

At the turn of the 20th century, advertising was one of the few career choices for women. Since women were responsible for most household purchasing done, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women’s insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today’s standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message «A skin you love to touch».^[37]

In the 1920s psychologists Walter D. Scott and John B. Watson contributed applied psychological theory to the field of advertising. Scott said, «Man has been called the reasoning animal but he could with greater truthfulness be called the creature of suggestion. He is reasonable, but he is to a greater extent suggestible».^[38] He demonstrated this through his advertising technique of a direct command to the consumer.

Radio from the 1920s

In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers, followed by non-profit organizations such as schools, clubs and civic groups who also set up their own stations.^[39] Retailer and consumer goods manufacturers quickly recognized radio’s potential to reach consumers in their home and soon adopted advertising techniques that would allow their messages to stand out; slogans, mascots, and jingles began to appear on radio in the 1920s and early television in the 1930s.^[40]

The rise of mass media communications allowed manufacturers of branded goods to bypass retailers by advertising directly to consumers. This was a major paradigm shift which forced manufacturers to focus on the brand and stimulated the need for superior insights into consumer purchasing, consumption and usage behaviour; their needs, wants and aspirations.^[41] The earliest radio drama series were sponsored by soap manufacturers and the genre became known as a soap opera.^[42] Before long, radio station owners realized they could increase advertising revenue by selling ‘air-time’ in small time allocations which could be sold to multiple businesses. By the 1930s, these advertising spots, as the packets of time became known, were being sold by the station’s geographical sales representatives, ushering in an era of national radio advertising.^[43]

By the 1940s, manufacturers began to recognize the way in which consumers were developing personal relationships with their brands in a social/psychological/anthropological sense.^[44] Advertisers began to use motivational research and consumer research to gather insights into consumer purchasing. Strong branded campaigns for Chrysler and Exxon/Esso, using insights drawn research methods from psychology and cultural anthropology, led to some of the most enduring campaigns of the 20th century.^[45]

Commercial television in the 1950s

In the early 1950s, the DuMont Television Network began the modern practice of selling advertisement time to multiple sponsors. Previously, DuMont had trouble finding sponsors for many of their programs and compensated by selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses. This eventually became the standard for the commercial television industry in the United States. However, it was still a common practice to have single sponsor shows, such as The United States Steel Hour. In some instances the sponsors exercised great control over the content of the show – up to and including having one’s advertising agency actually writing the show.^[46] The single sponsor model is much less prevalent now, a notable exception being the Hallmark Hall of Fame.^{[citation needed]}

Cable television from the 1980s

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 advertising message, rather than it being a by-product or afterthought. As cable and satellite television became increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels entirely devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, and ShopTV Canada.^[47]

Internet from the 1990s

With the advent of the ad server, online advertising grew, contributing to the «dot-com» boom of the 1990s.^[48] Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free Internet access. At the turn of the 21st century, some websites, including the search engine Google, changed online advertising by personalizing ads based on web browsing behavior. This has led to other similar efforts and an increase in interactive advertising.^[49]

The share of advertising spending relative to GDP has changed little across large changes in media since 1925. In 1925, the main advertising media in America were newspapers, magazines, signs on streetcars, and outdoor posters. Advertising spending as a share of GDP was about 2.9 percent. By 1998, television and radio had become major advertising media; by 2017, the balance between broadcast and online advertising had shifted, with online spending exceeding broadcast.^[50] Nonetheless, advertising spending as a share of GDP was slightly lower – about 2.4 percent.^[51]

Guerrilla marketing involves 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 type of advertising is unpredictable, which causes consumers to buy the product or idea.^[52] This reflects an increasing trend of interactive and «embedded» ads, such as via product placement, having consumers vote through text messages, and various campaigns utilizing social network services such as Facebook or Twitter.^[53]

The advertising business model has also been adapted in recent years.^{[when?][clarification needed]} In media for equity, advertising is not sold, but provided to start-up companies in return for equity. If the company grows and is sold, the media companies receive cash for their shares.

Domain name registrants (usually those who register and renew domains as an investment) sometimes «park» their domains and allow advertising companies to place ads on their sites in return for per-click payments. These ads are typically driven by pay per click search engines like Google or Yahoo, but ads can sometimes be placed directly on targeted domain names through a domain lease or by making contact with the registrant of a domain name that describes a product. Domain name registrants are generally easy to identify through WHOIS records that are publicly available at registrar websites.^[54]

Classification

Advertising may be categorized in a variety of ways, including by style, target audience, geographic scope, medium, or purpose.^{[55]: 9–15} For example, in print advertising, classification by style can include display advertising (ads with design elements sold by size) vs. classified advertising (ads without design elements sold by the word or line). Advertising may be local, national or global. An ad campaign may be directed toward consumers or to businesses. The purpose of an ad may be to raise awareness (brand advertising), or to elicit an immediate sale (direct response advertising). The term above the line (ATL) is used for advertising involving mass media; more targeted forms of advertising and promotion are referred to as below the line (BTL).^[56][57] The two terms date back to 1954 when Procter & Gamble began paying their advertising agencies differently from other promotional agencies.^[58] In the 2010s, as advertising technology developed, a new term, through the line (TTL) began to come into use, referring to integrated advertising campaigns.^[59][60]

Traditional media

Virtually any medium can be used for advertising. Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television adverts, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, human billboards and forehead advertising, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of buses, banners attached to or sides of airplanes («logojets»), in-flight advertisements on seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, doors of bathroom stalls, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles (grabertising), the opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any situation in which an «identified» sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising.^[61]

Television

Television advertising is one of the most expensive types of advertising; networks charge large amounts for commercial airtime during popular events. The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising event on television – with an audience of over 108 million and studies showing that 50% of those only tuned in to see the advertisements.^[63][64] During the 2014 edition of this game, the average thirty-second ad cost US$4 million, and $8 million was charged for a 60-second spot.^[63] Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops^[65] or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience.^[66] Virtual billboards may be inserted into the background where none exist in real-life. This technique is especially used in televised sporting events. Virtual product placement is also possible.^[67][68] An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The name blends the words «information» and «commercial». The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the target sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe and often demonstrate products, and commonly have testimonials from customers and industry professionals.^[69]

Radio

Radio advertisements are broadcast as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the limitation of being restricted to sound, proponents of radio advertising often cite this as an advantage. Radio is an expanding medium that can be found on air, and also online. According to Arbitron, radio has approximately 241.6 million weekly listeners, or more than 93 percent of the U.S. population.^[70]

Online

Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Online ads are delivered by an ad server. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads that appear on search engine results pages, banner ads, in pay per click text ads, rich media ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.^[71] A newer form of online advertising is Native Ads; they go in a website’s news feed and are supposed to improve user experience by being less intrusive. However, some people argue this practice is deceptive.^[72]

Domain names

Domain name advertising is most commonly done through pay per click web search engines, however, advertisers often lease space directly on domain names that generically describe their products. When an Internet user visits a website by typing a domain name directly into their web browser, this is known as «direct navigation», or «type in» web traffic. Although many Internet users search for ideas and products using search engines and mobile phones, a large number of users around the world still use the address bar. They will type a keyword into the address bar such as «geraniums» and add «.com» to the end of it. Sometimes they will do the same with «.org» or a country-code Top Level Domain (TLD such as «.co.uk» for the United Kingdom or «.ca» for Canada). When Internet users type in a generic keyword and add .com or another top-level domain (TLD) ending, it produces a targeted sales lead.^[73] Domain name advertising was originally developed by Oingo (later known as Applied Semantics), one of Google’s early acquisitions.^[74]

Product placements

Covert advertising is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise’s character John Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times, calling them «classics», because the film is set far in the future. I, Robot and Spaceballs also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie The Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes in which Cadillac cars were used. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, VAIO, BMW and Aston Martin cars are featured in recent James Bond films, most notably Casino Royale. In «Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer», the main transport vehicle shows a large Dodge logo on the front. Blade Runner includes some of the most obvious product placement; the whole film stops to show a Coca-Cola billboard.^{[citation needed]}

Print

Print advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine, or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade journals on very specialized topics. One form of print advertising is classified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad paid by the word or line. Another form of print advertising is the display ad, which is generally a larger ad with design elements that typically run in an article section of a newspaper.^[55]: 14

Outdoor

Billboards, also known as hoardings in some parts of the world, are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large numbers of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums. The form known as street advertising first came to prominence in the UK by Street Advertising Services to create outdoor advertising on street furniture and pavements. Working with products such as Reverse Graffiti, air dancers and 3D pavement advertising, for getting brand messages out into public spaces.^[75] Sheltered outdoor advertising combines outdoor with indoor advertisement by placing large mobile, structures (tents) in public places on temporary bases. The large outer advertising space aims to exert a strong pull on the observer, the product is promoted indoors, where the creative decor can intensify the impression.^[75] Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be on dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients, they can also be specially equipped cargo trucks or, in some cases, large banners strewn from planes. The billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change; for example, continuously or periodically rotating among a set of advertisements. Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including: target advertising, one-day and long-term campaigns, conventions, sporting events, store openings and similar promotional events, and big advertisements from smaller companies.^[75]

Point-of-sale

In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters (a.k.a. POP – point of purchase display), eye-catching displays promoting a specific product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store video displays.^[76]

Novelties

Advertising printed on small tangible items such as coffee mugs, T-shirts, pens, bags, and such is known as novelty advertising. Some printers specialize in printing novelty items, which can then be distributed directly by the advertiser, or items may be distributed as part of a cross-promotion, such as ads on fast food containers.^{[citation needed]}

Celebrity endorsements

Advertising in which a celebrity endorses a product or brand leverages celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products or to promote specific stores’ or products. Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear clothes by specific brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products. The use of celebrities to endorse a brand can have its downsides, however; one mistake by a celebrity can be detrimental to the public relations of a brand. For example, following his performance of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, swimmer Michael Phelps’ contract with Kellogg’s was terminated, as Kellogg’s did not want to associate with him after he was photographed smoking marijuana.^[77] Celebrities such as Britney Spears have advertised for multiple products including Pepsi, Candies from Kohl’s, Twister, NASCAR, and Toyota.^[78]

Aerial

Using aircraft, balloons or airships to create or display advertising media. Skywriting is a notable example.^{[citation needed]}

New media approaches

A new advertising approach is known as advanced advertising, which is data-driven advertising, using large quantities of data, precise measuring tools and precise targeting.^[79] Advanced advertising also makes it easier for companies which sell ad-space to attribute customer purchases to the ads they display or broadcast.^[80]

Increasingly, other media are overtaking many of the «traditional» media such as television, radio and newspaper because of a shift toward the usage of the Internet for news and music as well as devices like digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo.^[81]

Online advertising began with unsolicited bulk e-mail advertising known as «e-mail spam». Spam has been a problem for e-mail users since 1978.^[82] As new online communication channels became available, advertising followed. The first banner ad appeared on the World Wide Web in 1994.^[83] Prices of Web-based advertising space are dependent on the «relevance» of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives.^{[citation needed]}

In online display advertising, display ads generate awareness quickly. Unlike search, which requires someone to be aware of a need, display advertising can drive awareness of something new and without previous knowledge. Display works well for direct response. Display is not only used for generating awareness, it’s used for direct response campaigns that link to a landing page with a clear ‘call to action’.^{[citation needed]}

As the mobile phone became a new mass medium in 1998 when the first paid downloadable content appeared on mobile phones in Finland,^{[84][citation needed]} mobile advertising followed, also first launched in Finland in 2000.^{[citation needed]} By 2007 the value of mobile advertising had reached $2 billion and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile ads.^{[citation needed]}

More advanced mobile ads include banner ads, coupons, Multimedia Messaging Service picture and video messages, advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns. A particular feature driving mobile ads is the 2D barcode, which replaces the need to do any typing of web addresses, and uses the camera feature of modern phones to gain immediate access to web content. 83 percent of Japanese mobile phone users already are active users of 2D barcodes.^{[citation needed]}

Some companies have proposed placing messages or corporate logos on the side of booster rockets and the International Space Station.^[85]

Unpaid advertising (also called «publicity advertising»), can include personal recommendations («bring a friend», «sell it»), spreading buzz, or achieving the feat of equating a brand with a common noun (in the United States, «Xerox» = «photocopier», «Kleenex» = tissue, «Vaseline» = petroleum jelly, «Hoover» = vacuum cleaner, and «Band-Aid» = adhesive bandage). However, some companies^[which?] oppose the use of their brand name to label an object. Equating a brand with a common noun also risks turning that brand into a generic trademark – turning it into a generic term which means that its legal protection as a trademark is lost.^{[86][disputed – discuss]}

Early in its life, The CW aired short programming breaks called «Content Wraps», to advertise one company’s product during an entire commercial break. The CW pioneered «content wraps» and some products featured were Herbal Essences, Crest, Guitar Hero II, CoverGirl, and Toyota.^[87][88]

A new promotion concept has appeared, «ARvertising», advertising on augmented reality technology.^[89]

Controversy exists on the effectiveness of subliminal advertising (see mind control), and the pervasiveness of mass messages (propaganda).

Rise in new media

With the Internet came many new advertising opportunities. Pop-up, Flash, banner, pop-under, advergaming, and email advertisements (all of which are often unwanted or spam in the case of email) are now commonplace. Particularly since the rise of «entertaining» advertising, some people may like an advertisement enough to wish to watch it later or show a friend.^{[citation needed]} In general, the advertising community has not yet made this easy, although some have used the Internet to widely distribute their ads to anyone willing to see or hear them. In the last three quarters of 2009, mobile and Internet advertising grew by 18% and 9% respectively, while older media advertising saw declines: −10.1% (TV), −11.7% (radio), −14.8% (magazines) and −18.7% (newspapers).^{[citation needed]} Between 2008 and 2014, U.S. newspapers lost more than half their print advertising revenue.^[91]

Niche marketing

Another significant trend regarding future of advertising is the growing importance of the niche market using 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 specific audiences. In the past, the most efficient way to deliver a message was to blanket the largest mass market audience possible.^{[citation needed]} However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything from blogs to social networking sites, provide advertisers with audiences that are smaller but much better defined,^{[citation needed]} 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, from their home. This causes the viewer to become proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view.^[92]
Niche marketing could also be helped by bringing the issue of colour into advertisements. Different colours play major roles when it comes to marketing strategies, for example, seeing the blue can promote a sense of calmness and gives a sense of security which is why many social networks such as Facebook use blue in their logos.
Google AdSense is an example of niche marketing. Google calculates the primary purpose of a website and adjusts ads accordingly; it uses keywords on the page (or even in emails) to find the general ideas of topics disused and places ads that will most likely be clicked on by viewers of the email account or website visitors.

Crowdsourcing

The concept of crowdsourcing has given way to the trend of user-generated advertisements. User-generated ads are created by people, as opposed to an advertising agency or the company themselves, often resulting from brand sponsored advertising competitions. For the 2007 Super Bowl, the Frito-Lays division of PepsiCo held the «Crash the Super Bowl» contest, allowing people to create their own Doritos commercials.^[93] Chevrolet held a similar competition for their Tahoe line of SUVs.^[93] Due to the success of the Doritos user-generated ads in the 2007 Super Bowl, Frito-Lays relaunched the competition for the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowl. The resulting ads were among the most-watched and most-liked Super Bowl ads. In fact, the winning ad that aired in the 2009 Super Bowl was ranked by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter as the top ad for the year while the winning ads that aired in the 2010 Super Bowl were found by Nielsen’s BuzzMetrics to be the «most buzzed-about».^[94][95] Another example of companies using crowdsourcing successfully is the beverage company Jones Soda that encourages consumers to participate in the label design themselves.^[96]

This trend has given rise to several online platforms that host user-generated advertising competitions on behalf of a company. Founded in 2007, Zooppa has launched ad competitions for brands such as Google, Nike, Hershey’s, General Mills, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Zinio, and Mini Cooper.^[97] Crowdsourcing remains controversial, as the long-term impact on the advertising industry is still unclear.^[98]

Globalization

Advertising has gone through five major stages of development: domestic, export, international, multi-national, and global. For global advertisers, there are four, potentially competing, business objectives that must be balanced when developing worldwide advertising: building a brand while speaking with one voice, developing economies of scale in the creative process, maximising local effectiveness of ads, and increasing the company’s speed of implementation. Born from the evolutionary stages of global marketing are the three primary and fundamentally different approaches to the development of global advertising executions: exporting executions, producing local executions, and importing ideas that travel.^[99]

Advertising research is key to determining the success of an ad in any country or region. The ability to identify which elements and/or moments of an ad contribute to its success is how economies of scale are maximized. Once one knows what works in an ad, that idea or ideas can be imported by any other market. Market research measures, such as Flow of Attention, Flow of Emotion and branding moments provide insight into what is working in an ad in any country or region because the measures are based on the visual, not verbal, elements of the ad.^[100]

Foreign public messaging

Foreign governments,^[which?] particularly those that own marketable commercial products or services, often promote their interests and positions through the advertising of those goods because the target audience is not only largely unaware of the forum as a vehicle for foreign messaging but also willing to receive the message while in a mental state of absorbing information from advertisements during television commercial breaks, while reading a periodical, or while passing by billboards in public spaces. A prime example of this messaging technique is advertising campaigns to promote international travel. While advertising foreign destinations and services may stem from the typical goal of increasing revenue by drawing more tourism, some travel campaigns carry the additional or alternative intended purpose of promoting good sentiments or improving existing ones among the target audience towards a given nation or region. It is common for advertising promoting foreign countries to be produced and distributed by the tourism ministries of those countries, so these ads often carry political statements and/or depictions of the foreign government’s desired international public perception. Additionally, a wide range of foreign airlines and travel-related services which advertise separately from the destinations, themselves, are owned by their respective governments; examples include, though are not limited to, the Emirates airline (Dubai), Singapore Airlines (Singapore), Qatar Airways (Qatar), China Airlines (Taiwan/Republic of China), and Air China (People’s Republic of China). By depicting their destinations, airlines, and other services in a favorable and pleasant light, countries market themselves to populations abroad in a manner that could mitigate prior public impressions.

Diversification

In the realm of advertising agencies, continued industry diversification has seen observers note that «big global clients don’t need big global agencies any more».^[101] This is reflected by the growth of non-traditional agencies in various global markets, such as Canadian business TAXI and SMART in Australia and has been referred to as «a revolution in the ad world».^[102]

New technology

The ability to record shows on digital video recorders (such as TiVo) allow watchers to record the programs for later viewing, enabling them to fast forward through commercials. Additionally, as more seasons of pre-recorded box sets are offered for sale of television programs; fewer people watch the shows on TV. However, the fact that these sets are sold, means the company will receive additional profits from these sets.

To counter this effect, a variety of strategies have been employed. Many advertisers have opted for product placement on TV shows like Survivor. Other strategies include integrating advertising with internet-connected program guidess (EPGs), advertising on companion devices (like smartphones and tablets) during the show, and creating mobile apps for TV programs. Additionally, some like brands have opted for social television sponsorship.^[103]

The emerging technology of drone displays has recently been used for advertising purposes.^[104]

Education

In recent years there have been several media literacy initiatives, and more specifically concerning advertising, that seek to empower citizens in the face of media advertising campaigns.^[105]

Advertising education has become popular with bachelor, master and doctorate degrees becoming available in the emphasis.^{[citation needed]} A surge in advertising interest is typically attributed to the strong relationship advertising plays in cultural and technological changes, such as the advance of online social networking.^{[citation needed]} A unique model for teaching advertising is the student-run advertising agency, where advertising students create campaigns for real companies.^[106] Organizations such as the American Advertising Federation establish companies with students to create these campaigns.^{[citation needed]}

Purposes

Advertising is at the front of delivering the proper message to customers and prospective customers. The purpose of advertising is to inform the consumers about their product and convince customers that a company’s services or products are the best, enhance the image of the company, point out and create a need for products or services, demonstrate new uses for established products, announce new products and programs, reinforce the salespeople’s individual messages, draw customers to the business, and to hold existing customers.^[107]

Sales promotions and brand loyalty

Sales promotions are another way to advertise. Sales promotions are double purposed because they are used to gather information about what type of customers one draws in and where they are, and to jump start sales. Sales promotions include things like contests and games, sweepstakes, product giveaways, samples coupons, loyalty programs, and discounts. The ultimate goal of sales promotions is to stimulate potential customers to action.^[108]

Criticisms

While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth,^[31] it is not without social costs. Unsolicited commercial e-mail and other forms of spam have become so prevalent as to have become a major nuisance to users of these services, as well as being a financial burden on internet service providers.^[109] Advertising is increasingly invading public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child exploitation.^[110] This increasing difficulty in limiting exposure to specific audiences can result in negative backlash for advertisers.^[111] In tandem with these criticisms, the advertising industry has seen low approval rates in surveys and negative cultural portrayals.^[112]

One of the most controversial criticisms of advertisement in the present day is that of the predominance of advertising of foods high in sugar, fat, and salt specifically to children. Critics claim that food advertisements targeting children are exploitive and are not sufficiently balanced with proper nutritional education to help children understand the consequences of their food choices. Additionally, children may not understand that they are being sold something, and are therefore more impressionable.^[113] Michelle Obama has criticized large food companies for advertising unhealthy foods largely towards children and has requested that food companies either limit their advertising to children or advertise foods that are more in line with dietary guidelines.^[114] The other criticisms include the change that are brought by those advertisements on the society and also the deceiving ads that are aired and published by the corporations. Cosmetic and health industry are the ones which exploited the highest and created reasons of concern.^[115]

A 2021 study found that for more than 80% of brands, advertising had a negative return on investment.^[116] Unsolicited ads have been criticized as attention theft.^[117]

Regulation

There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and the influence of advertising. Some examples include restrictions for advertising alcohol, tobacco or gambling imposed in many countries, as well as the bans around advertising to children, which exist in parts of Europe. Advertising regulation focuses heavily on the veracity of the claims and as such, there are often tighter restrictions placed around advertisements for food and healthcare products.^[118]

The advertising industries within some countries rely less on laws and more on systems of self-regulation.^{[118][119][120]} Advertisers 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.^[121]

In the UK, most forms of outdoor advertising such as the display of billboards is regulated by the UK Town and County Planning system. Currently, the display of an advertisement without consent from the Planning Authority is a criminal offense liable to a fine of £2,500 per offense.^[122] In the US, many communities believe that many forms of outdoor advertising blight the public realm.^[123] As long ago as the 1960s in the US, there were attempts to ban billboard advertising in the open countryside.^[124] Cities such as São Paulo have introduced an outright ban^[125] with London also having specific legislation to control unlawful displays.

Some governments restrict the languages that can be used in advertisements, but advertisers may employ tricks to try avoiding them. In France for instance, advertisers sometimes print English words in bold and French translations in fine print to deal with Article 120 of the 1994 Toubon Law limiting the use of English.^[126]

The advertising of pricing information is another topic of concern for governments. In the United States for instance, it is common for businesses to only mention the existence and amount of applicable taxes at a later stage of a transaction.^[127] In Canada and New Zealand, taxes can be listed as separate items, as long as they are quoted up-front.^[128][129] In most other countries, the advertised price must include all applicable taxes, enabling customers to easily know how much it will cost them.^{[130][131][132]}

Theory

Hierarchy-of-effects models

Various competing models of hierarchies of effects attempt to provide a theoretical underpinning to advertising practice.^{[clarification needed][133]}

• The model of Clow and Baack^[134] clarifies the objectives of an advertising campaign and for each individual advertisement. The model postulates six steps a buyer moves through when making a purchase:
  1. Awareness
  2. Knowledge
  3. Liking
  4. Preference
  5. Conviction
  6. Purchase
• Means-end theory suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that leads the consumer to a desired end-state.^[135]
• Leverage points aim to move the consumer from understanding a product’s benefits to linking those benefits with personal values.^[136]

Marketing mix

The marketing mix was proposed by professor E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s.^[137] It consists of four basic elements called the «four Ps«. Product is the first P representing the actual product. Price represents the process of determining the value of a product. Place represents the variables of getting the product to the consumer such as distribution channels, market coverage and movement organization. The last P stands for Promotion which is the process of reaching the target market and convincing them to buy the product.

In the 1990s, the concept of four Cs was introduced as a more customer-driven replacement of four P’s.^[138] There are two theories based on four Cs: Lauterborn’s four Cs (consumer, cost, communication, convenience)
^[139] and Shimizu’s four Cs (commodity, cost, communication, channel) in the 7Cs Compass Model (Co-marketing). Communications can include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, publicity, personal selling, corporate identity, internal communication, SNS, and MIS.^{[140][141][142][143]}

Research

Advertising research is a specialized form of research that works to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of advertising. It entails numerous forms of research which employ different methodologies. Advertising research includes pre-testing (also known as copy testing) and post-testing of ads and/or campaigns.

Pre-testing includes a wide range of qualitative and quantitative techniques, including: focus groups, in-depth target audience interviews (one-on-one interviews), small-scale quantitative studies and physiological measurement. The goal of these investigations is to better understand how different groups respond to various messages and visual prompts, thereby providing an assessment of how well the advertisement meets its communications goals.^[144]

Post-testing employs many of the same techniques as pre-testing, usually with a focus on understanding the change in awareness or attitude attributable to the advertisement. With the emergence of digital advertising technologies, many firms have begun to continuously post-test ads using real-time data. This may take the form of A/B split-testing or multivariate testing.

Continuous ad tracking and the Communicus System are competing examples of post-testing advertising research types.^[145]

Semiotics

Meanings between consumers and marketers depict signs and symbols that are encoded in everyday objects.^[146] Semiotics is the study of signs and how they are interpreted. Advertising has many hidden signs and meanings within brand names, logos, package designs, print advertisements, and television advertisements. Semiotics aims to study and interpret the message being conveyed in (for example) advertisements. Logos and advertisements can be interpreted at two levels – known as the surface level and the underlying level. The surface level uses signs creatively to create an image or personality for a product.^{[citation needed]} These signs can be images, words, fonts, colors, or slogans. The underlying level is made up of hidden meanings. The combination of images, words, colors, and slogans must be interpreted by the audience or consumer.^[147] The «key to advertising analysis» is the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the object and the signified is the mental concept.^[148] A product has a signifier and a signified. The signifier is the color, brand name, logo design, and technology. The signified has two meanings known as denotative and connotative. The denotative meaning is the meaning of the product. A television’s denotative meaning might be that it is high definition. The connotative meaning is the product’s deep and hidden meaning. A connotative meaning of a television would be that it is top-of-the-line.^[149]

Apple’s commercials^[when?] used a black silhouette of a person that was the age of Apple’s target market. They placed the silhouette in front of a blue screen so that the picture behind the silhouette could be constantly changing. However, the one thing that stays the same in these ads is that there is music in the background and the silhouette is listening to that music on a white iPod through white headphones. Through advertising, the white color on a set of earphones now signifies that the music device is an iPod. The white color signifies almost all of Apple’s products.^[150]

The semiotics of gender plays a key influence on the way in which signs are interpreted. When considering gender roles in advertising, individuals are influenced by three categories. Certain characteristics of stimuli may enhance or decrease the elaboration of the message (if the product is perceived as feminine or masculine). Second, the characteristics of individuals can affect attention and elaboration of the message (traditional or non-traditional gender role orientation). Lastly, situational factors may be important to influence the elaboration of the message.^{[citation needed]}

There are two types of marketing communication claims-objective and subjective.^[151] Objective claims stem from the extent to which the claim associates the brand with a tangible product or service feature. For instance, a camera may have auto-focus features. Subjective claims convey emotional, subjective, impressions of intangible aspects of a product or service. They are non-physical features of a product or service that cannot be directly perceived, as they have no physical reality. For instance the brochure has a beautiful design.^[152] Males tend to respond better to objective marketing-communications claims while females tend to respond better to subjective marketing communications claims.^[153]

Voiceovers are commonly used in advertising. Most voiceovers are done by men, with figures of up to 94% having been reported.^[154] There have been more female voiceovers in recent years,^[when?] but mainly for food, household products, and feminine-care products.^[155]

Gender effects on comprehension

According to a 1977 study by David Statt, females process information comprehensively, while males process information through heuristic devices such as procedures, methods or strategies for solving problems, which could have an effect on how they interpret advertising.^{[156][need quotation to verify]} According to this study, men prefer to have available and apparent cues to interpret the message, whereas females engage in more creative, associative, imagery-laced interpretation. Later research by a Danish team^[157] found that advertising attempts to persuade men to improve their appearance or performance, whereas its approach to women aims at transformation toward an impossible ideal of female presentation. In Paul Suggett’s article «The Objectification of Women in Advertising» he discusses the negative impact that these women in advertisements, who are too perfect to be real, have on women, as well as men, in real life.^[158] Advertising’s manipulation of women’s aspiration to these ideal types as portrayed in film, in erotic art, in advertising, on stage, within music videos and through other media exposures requires at least a conditioned rejection of female reality and thereby takes on a highly ideological cast. Studies show that these expectations of women and young girls negatively affect their views about their bodies and appearances. These advertisements are directed towards men. Not everyone agrees: one critic viewed this monologic, gender-specific interpretation of advertising as excessively skewed and politicized.^{[159][need quotation to verify]} There are some companies like Dove and aerie that are creating commercials to portray more natural women, with less post production manipulation, so more women and young girls are able to relate to them.^{[citation needed]}

More recent research by Martin (2003) reveals that males and females differ in how they react to advertising depending on their mood at the time of exposure to the ads and on the affective tone of the advertising. When feeling sad, males prefer happy ads to boost their mood. In contrast, females prefer happy ads when they are feeling happy. The television programs in which ads are embedded influence a viewer’s mood state.^[160] Susan Wojcicki, author of the article «Ads that Empower Women don’t just Break Stereotypes—They’re also Effective» discusses how advertising to women has changed since the first Barbie commercial, where a little girl tells the doll that, she wants to be just like her. Little girls grow up watching advertisements of scantily clad women advertising things from trucks to burgers and Wojcicki states that this shows girls that they are either arm candy or eye candy.^[161]

Alternatives

Other approaches to revenue include donations, paid subscriptions, microtransactions, and data monetization. Websites and applications are «ad-free» when not using advertisements at all for revenue. For example, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia provides free^[162] content by receiving funding from charitable donations.^[163]

«Fathers» of advertising

• Late 1700s — Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)- «father of advertising in America»^[164]
• Late 1800s — Thomas J. Barratt (1841-1914) of London — called «the father of modern advertising» by T.F.G. Coates^[165]
• Early 1900s — J. Henry («Slogan») Smythe, Jr of Philadelphia — «world’s best known slogan writer»^[164]
• Early 1900s — Albert Lasker (1880-1952) — the «father of modern advertising»; defined advertising as «salesmanship in print, driven by a reason why»^[166]
• Mid-1900s — David Ogilvy (1911–1999) — advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, known^{[by whom?]} as the «father of advertising»

Influential thinkers in advertising theory and practice

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

External links

• Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History at Duke University Archived January 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  • Duke University Libraries Digital Collections:
    • Ad*Access, over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements, dated 1911–1955, includes World War II propaganda.
    • Emergence of Advertising in America, 9,000 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1940, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
    • AdViews, vintage television commercials
    • ROAD 2.0, 30,000 outdoor advertising images
    • Medicine & Madison Avenue, documents advertising of medical and pharmaceutical products
• Art & Copy, a 2009 documentary film about the advertising industry

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	advertising — a public promotion of some product or service direct mail — advertising sent directly to prospective customers via the mail preview, prevue, trailer — an advertisement consisting of short scenes from a motion picture that will appear in the near future advertorial — an advertisement that is written and presented in the style of an editorial or journalistic report mailer — an advertisement that is sent by mail teaser — an advertisement that offers something free in order to arouse customers’ interest top billing — the advertisement of a star’s name at the top of a theatrical poster
	2.	advertising — the business of drawing public attention to goods and services business enterprise, commercial enterprise, business — the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects; «computers are now widely used in business» hard sell — forceful and insistent advertising soft sell — suggestive or persuasive advertising

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

advertising

noun promotion, marketing, plugging (informal), hype, publicizing, pushing (informal) money from advertising and sponsorship

Quotations
«You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough» [Joseph E. Levine]
«Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement» [Dr. Johnson]
«Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century» [Marshall McLuhan Interview in Advertising Age]
«Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business» [F.Scott Fitzgerald Letter to his daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

advertising

noun

The act or profession of promoting something, as a product:

The American Heritage® Roget’s Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

Advertising is a communication process that promotes a product, service, or event. According to American Marketing Association (AMA) advertising is “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods, ideas or services by an identified sponsor”.

[toc]

Advertising is said to be a paid form of communication because here an advertiser pays mass media like newspapers, radio, TV, internet for advertising space or time slots.

Definitions of Advertising

AMA defined advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods, and services by an identified sponsor

American Marketing Association

Advertising is to give public notice or to announce publicity.

According to Webstar

Advertising is the means of mass selling that has grown up parallel with and has been made necessary to mass production.

According to Gardner

Functions of Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication that deals with people’s feelings and emotions. It is shaped by the psychology of the buyer, especially in relation to his/her motives and attitudes.

The major aim of advertising is the promotion of a product, brand, or service. The major functions of advertising are that it:

1. Informs
2. Educates
3. Creates Demand
4. Enhances Competition
5. Establishes Brand Identity
6. Promotes Action
7. Improves Customer Base

Informs

A product needs an effective launching to hit the minds of the consumers. It must share the details about the product’s quality, price, unique features, etc.

Consumers obtain information about products from the ads they have read, viewed, and heard. Manufacturers often make changes in prices, and channels of distribution, and improve the quality, size, weight, brand, and packing. These changes must be informed to the public through advertisements.

Eg: SBT’s print advertisement tells the consumers about a new deposit scheme. Here the ad shares information like the name of the deposit scheme, interest rate, benefits, etc.

Educates

Advertisements may carry messages intended for consumer education. They sometimes sell or popularise certain concepts. Government agencies educate the masses with campaigns on a variety of topics like consumer rights, safe driving, literacy, child rights, etc.

Advertising also educates consumers about the price, quality, and availability of a product. Eg: This social service ad advises the public not to consume alcohol while driving. It also cautions them about the after-effects of such an act.

Creates Demand

The main objective of advertising is to create demand for a product in the market. This demand would set a favorable climate and acceptability among potential buyers. Once the product is established, frequent advertising reminds the buyers about its presence in the market.

It may also induce new customers to notice the product. They may be convinced of the merits of the product through constant exposure to advertising. Eg. The advertising of Idea 3G connection with the cutline “No fooling India” creates demand for low-priced smartphones and third-generation networking.

Enhances Competition

Another important objective of the advertisement is to encourage competition. Advertising is unavoidable to compete with or neutralize competitors’ advertising. When competitors are adopting intensive advertising as their promotional strategy, it is reasonable to follow similar practices to neutralize their effects.

In such cases, the manufacturer tries to create a different image for his product.

Establishes Brand Identity

Developing a brand identity is one of the important functions of advertising. Through campaigns and striking messages, advertisers create an impressive image of the company in the minds of the audience. Such images make the audience loyal to the company or brand name.

Thus, brand loyalty helps to build emotional relationships between the audience and the products of such brands. This increases the chances of some consumers preferring a particular brand. Hence the advertising message finds success in winning the minds through brand identity.

Promotes Action

The purpose of advertising is to attract buyers through a call-to-action statement. This encourages the customer to visit a store or website, and to contact the advertiser for more information. Advertising is essentially an active catalyst.

The ultimate aim of advertising is to persuade an audience into action. The AIDA formula of advertising explains this concept.

1. Attention: At first the advertising grabs the attention.
2. Interest: Secondly the person becomes interested in the advertising message.
3. Desire: The person is convinced of the claims and has a desire to purchase.
4. Action: The desire leads the person to purchase the product.

Improves Customer Base

Any business requires a constant customer base in order to remain successful. The business needs to target its products and services to this customer base. The company creates new products that attract existing and new customers alike.

Advertising helps to reinforce the buying motives of customers for a particular brand. It establishes long-term relationships with customers, vendors, and stakeholders.

Powerful and captivating advertisements persuade consumers to purchase a new product, try out services, and fulfill voids they feel are present in their lives. In fact, persuasion is one of the main functions of advertising. So many firms strive to create powerful persuasive messages that influence customers emotionally and rationally.

Features of Advertising

These are some most important features of advertising given below:

1. Communication
2. Information
3. Persuasion
4. Profit Maximisation
5. Non-Personal Presentation
6. Identified Sponsor
7. Consumer Choice
8. Art, Science and Profession
9. Element of Marking Mix
10. Element of Creativity

Communication

Advertising is means of mass communication reaching the masses. It is a non-personal communication because it is addressed to the masses.

Information

Advertising informs the buyers about the benefits they would get when they purchase a particular product. However, the information given should be complete and true.

Persuasion

The advertiser expects to create a favorable attitude which will lead to favorable actions. Any advertising process attempts at converting prospects into customers. It is thus indirect salesmanship and essentially a persuasion technique.

Profit Maximisation

True advertising does not attempt at maximising profits by increasing the cost but by promoting the sales. This way It won‟t lead to an increase in the price of the product. Thus, it has a higher sales approach rather than the higher-cost approach.

Non-Personal Presentation

Salesmanship is personal selling whereas advertising is non-personal in character. Advertising is not meant for any one individual but for all. There is the absence of personal appeal in advertising.

Identified Sponsor

A sponsor may be an individual or a firm that pays for the advertisement. The name of a reputed company may increase sales or products. The product gets a good market because of its identity with the reputed corporate body.

Consumer Choice

Advertising facilitates consumer choice. It enables consumers to purchase goods as per their budget requirements and choice. The right choice makes consumers happy and satisfied.

Art, Science and Profession

Advertising is an art because it represents a field of creativity. Advertising is a science because it has a body of organized knowledge. The advertising profession is now treated as a profession with its professional bodies and code of conduct for members.

Element of Marking Mix

Advertising is an important element of the promotion mix. Advertising has proved to be of great utility to sell goods and services. Large manufacturers spend crores of rupees on advertising.

Element of Creativity

A good advertising campaign involves a lot of creativity and imagination. When the message of the advertiser matches the expectations of consumers, such creativity makes way for a successful campaign.

Objectives of Advertising

The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something – a product, a service or an idea.

In addition to this general objective, advertising is also used by modern business enterprises for certain specific objectives which are listed below:

1. To introduce a new product by creating interest for it among prospective customers.
2. To support the personal selling program. Advertising may be used to open customers’ doors for the salesman.
3. To reach people inaccessible to the salesman.
4. To enter a new market or attract a new group of customers.
5. To light competition in the market and to increase sales as seen in the fierce competition between Coke and Pepsi.
6. To enhance the goodwill of the enterprise by promising better quality products and services.
7. To improve dealer relations. Advertising supports the dealers in selling the product. Dealers are attracted to a product that is advertised effectively.
8. To warn the public against imitation of an enterprise’s products.

Importance of Advertising

Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the modern era of large-scale production and serves competition in the market. It performs the following functions:

1. Promotion of Sales
2. Introduction of New Product
3. Creation of Good Public Image
4. Mass Production
5. Research
6. Education of People
7. Support to Press

Promotion of Sales

It promotes the sale of goods and services by informing and persuading the people to buy them. A good advertising campaign helps in winning new customers both in the national as wet as in the international markets.

Introduction of New Product

It helps the introduction of new products in the market. A business enterprise can introduce itself and its product to the public through advertising. A new enterprise can’t make an impact on prospective customers without the help of advertising. Advertising enables quick publicity in the market.

Creation of Good Public Image

It builds up the reputation of the advertiser. Advertising enables a business firm to communicate its achievements in an effort to satisfy the customers’ needs. This increases the goodwill and reputation of the firm which is necessary to fight against the competition in the market.

Mass Production

Advertising facilitates large-scale production. Advertising encourages the production of goods on a large scale because the business firm knows that it will be able to sell on a large scale with the help of advertising. Mass production reduces the cost of production per unit by the economical use of various factors of production.

Research

Advertising stimulates research and development activities. Advertising has become a competitive marketing activity. Every firm tries to differentiate its product from the substitutes available in the market through advertising.

This compels every business firm to do more and more research to find new products and their new uses. If a firm does not engage in research and development activities, it will be out of the market in the near future.

Education of People

Advertising educates people about new products and their uses. Advertising message about the utility of a product enables people to widen their knowledge. It is advertising which has helped people in adopting new ways of life and giving up old habits.

It has contributed a lot towards the betterment of the standard of living of the society.

Support to Press

Advertising provides an important source of revenue for publishers and magazines. It enables them to increase the circulation of their publication by selling them at lower rates. People are also benefited because they get publications at cheaper rates. Advertising is also a source of revenue for TV networks.

For instance, Doordarshan and ZeeTV insert ads before, in between, and after various programs and earn millions of rupees through ads. Such income could be used for increasing the quality of programs and extending coverage.

Role of Advertising

Following are the basic role of advertising:

1. Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix
2. Role of Advertising in Society

Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix

The marketing mix consists of four important variables of marketing, i.e. 4Ps-Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Apart from the traditional 4 Ps, there are also other variables, i.e. Packaging, Position, and Pace.

Advertising is an element of promotion. However, it not only assists in promoting the product but also affects the other variables of the marketing mix. This can be explained as follows:

1. Advertising and Product
2. Advertising and Price
3. Advertising and Place
4. Advertising and Promotion
5. Advertising and Pace
6. Advertising and Packaging
7. Advertising and Positioning

Role of Advertising in Society

Advertising is an integral part of everyday life. It is a pervasive method of marketing in society. Though the methods by which marketers advertise have changed over the decades, the role and purpose of advertising have changed over the period of time.

Without advertising modern society cannot survive. Advertising is useful to society in the following ways:

1. Encourage Purchasing
2. Reflect Cultural Trends
3. Promotes Economic Growth
4. Improves Standard of Living
5. Advertising and Brand Building

FAQ Related to Advertising

Why would you want to internet marketing advertising your business hare at internet marketing advertising? ❋ Unknown (2005)

«The old saying in advertising is that half of the money you spend is wasted, but you don’t know which half,» said Tracey. ❋ The Huffington Post News Team (2010)

In other states, certain advertising is prohibited. ❋ Unknown (2010)

My main advertising is through local organizations and getting in front of people to explain what I do. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The theory of subliminal messages in advertising is that they can be used to manipulate consumer behavior. ❋ Unknown (2009)

They looked at the district of one member, who had expected an easy race but was now besieged by more than $1 million in advertising from the American Action Network, a Republican third-party group funded by secret money. ❋ Jason Horowitz (2010)

Questionable gender politics in advertising is nothing new, but Vanessa at Feministing highlights a truly absurd example ❋ Unknown (2009)

The message in advertising is irrelevant, new research shows ❋ Unknown (2006)

News that micro parcel advertising and the term advertising needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, has been drastically reduced is good news to most. ❋ Unknown (2008)

All Republic of Ireland football team shirts carry the logo of Irish telecommunications company Eircom across the chest as per terms of a sponsorship agreement, but in tournaments, this advertising is absent. ❋ Azmie Aka Switch Image (2009)

Its come-hither advertising is accompanied by a promise that plot machinations for the series have been laid out for five years. ❋ Yolanda Reid Chassiakos (2010)

But advertisers are evolving in their use of the online medium by going beyond banner and keyword advertising to creating campaigns that leverage social networks and connectivity, while the use of the mobile phone for advertising is still very rudimentary (mostly used for text-based promotional offers). ❋ Unknown (2009)

«[Wait] [hun], you’re advertising» ❋ *aShLEe* (2006)

[Equal opportunity] is a state of [fairness] in which job applicants are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers or prejudices or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified.1 According to this often complex and contested concept,2 the intent is that the important jobs in an organization should go to the people who are most qualified – persons most likely to perform [ably] in a given task – and not go to persons for reasons deemed arbitrary or irrelevant, such as circumstances of birth, upbringing, having well-connected relatives or friends,3 religion, sex,4 ethnicity,4 race, [caste],5 or involuntary personal attributes such as disability, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation.advertising is my job ❋ … Zjdbckdnznsjd (2019)

Hey, this can is dripping with water! BE THIRSTY!
Some celebrity eats [ARSENIC] BURGERS! you want to be like this CELEBRITY don’t you
Wow! This supermodel likes HITTING HER HEAD AGAINST A WALL! Hmm, hitting your head against a wall may be linked to SUPERMODELS! Let’s go try it! [Huzzah]!
[Hey kids]! Making your parents buy EXPENSIVE THINGS from EXPENSE CO. is COOL, because we say so! Now bug your parents into buying these things or EVERYONE WILL HATE YOU ❋ Potatoman (2003)

[Urban Dictionary’s] owner says «How could I affored an [advertisement] free site and 500 [hookers] a month? It’s impossible.» ❋ AdHaterXTREME (2007)

This definition brought to you by [WIRE] [SCREEN] [DOORS]. ❋ B-Drac (2003)

I really like d’em [Budweiser] frog [advertisements]. [Burp]. ❋ Bud E Love (2003)

Advertisers are in [leauge] with [the devil], I [tells] ya! ❋ Rnr (2005)

The [Trojan condom] is as advertised. ❋ DaKing007 (2009)

Drivers wanted, just do it, [fair and balanced], welcome to [flavor country], [i’m loving it]. ❋ Louieman (2004)

Advertising is in your home, roads, cities, home pages, email account, [mmorpg], car, brain, TV, shoes, [kitty], [backyard], stores, bed, school, and it’s also there when you die and go to wherever you are destined to lay. ❋ Dr. Clash (2007)

Advertising is a paid form of communication in which the sponsor or the brand owner has made payments to the media to carry the message through their set of media vehicles.

Advertising Definition

Any paid down non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by business firms identified in the advertising message intended to lead to a sale immediately or eventually. – American Marketing Association

William J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group, a non-personal oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product or service or idea, this message is called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor“.

Richard Buskirk, “Advertising is a paid form of non-person presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor“.

Wheeler, “Advertising is a paid form of non-person‘s presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor“.

According to Jermy Bullmore, Chairman of J. Walter Thompson, “Advertising is any paid form of communication intended to inform and/or influence one or more people“.

Objectives of Advertising

Objectives of advertising are:

1. To inform
2. To persuade
3. To remind

To inform

• Telling the market about a new product.
• Suggesting new uses for a product.
• Informing the market for a price change.
• Explaining how the product works.
• Describing available services.
• Correcting false impressions reducing consumers fears.
• Building the company image to persuade.

To persuade

• Building brand preference
• Encouraging switching to your brand
• Changing customers perception of the product attributes
• Persuading customers to purchase now
• Persuading customers to receive a sales call

To remind

• Reminding consumers that the product may be needed in the near future
• Reminding them where to buy it
• Keeping it in their minds during off-seasons
• Maintaining its top of mind awareness

Media of Advertising

Media of advertisement means any object or any device, which is used to communicate the message, either written or oral, to the potential consumers.

For the convenience of study, means of advertisement may broadly be divided into four parts:

1. Press advertising
2. Outdoor or mural advertising
3. Advertisement by mail
4. Other media

Press Advertising

Press is considered the most popular media of advertisement these days. It is also considered the cheapest and the best media because of its wide circulation.

Press advertising may be divided in two forms;

• Newspapers advertisement: All the advertisements made through newspapers are called Newspapers advertisements. A newspaper may be of national level, state level or district level. It may be daily, weekly or fortnightly and in any language.
• Magazines or journals advertisements: When an advertisement is published in a magazine or a journal, it is called magazine or journal advertisement.

Outdoor or Mural Advertising

Outdoor advertisements are the advertisements, which attract the customers when they are out of their home. These advertisements are displayed on roads or otherwise.

Direct Mail Advertising

Direct mail advertising means the form of advertising, in which the advertiser sends personal message in writing through post to some selected persons.

Salient features of direct mail advertising:

• The advertisement messages are prepared in writing.
• These messages are addressed directly to some selected persons.
• The message may be different for different persons

Other Media of Advertising

Some other forms of advertising may be explained as under:

• Fairs and exhibitions: In India, various fairs and exhibition are organised in different parts at different times. By taking part in this fairs and exhibitions, businessmen and manufacturers can display their goods.
• Cinema: Cinema is considered the cheapest and the most popular medium of entertainment these days. Advertisers get their cinema slides prepared and these slides are played in the beginning and during interval.
• Radio and television: Radio and television have become very common these days. Advertisement through radio and television is becoming more and more popular these days.
• Loudspeakers: Under this form of advertising, a rickshaw or a Tonga or a car, etc. is hired. A loudspeaker is placed on it and the message is announced in different localities of the city.
• Free samples: Under this method, some samples packing are prepared and distributed among consumers. These samples provide an opportunity to the consumers to use these samples and then adopt these products.
• Competition: Some producers announce a competition in it, consumers are required to reply to some questions and to give a slogan about the product. They are also required to send some wrappers or cartoons or cash memo that may prove that they have purchased the product. It increases the sales of the product.

Features of Advertising

Looking into the meaning and definition of advertising we can sum up the following features of advertising.

• Non-personal Presentation of Message: In advertising there is no face-to-face or direct contact with the customers. It is directed to the prospective buyers in general.
• Paid Form of Communication: In advertising the manufacturer communicates with prospective customers through different media like newspapers, hoardings, magazines, radio, television, etc. He has to pay certain amount for using some space or time in these media.
• Promotion of Product, Service or an Idea: Advertisement contains any message regarding any particular product, service or even an idea. It makes people aware of the product and induces them to buy it.
• Sponsor is Always Identified: The identity of the manufacturer, the trader or the service provider who issues an advertisement is always disclosed.
• Communicated through Some Media: Advertisements are always communicated through use of certain media. It is not necessary that there will be just one medium. All the media may also be used like print or electronic media.

Types of Advertising

Since advertising is one of the popular mediums of brand communication, it is used in many forms and for many purposes. It is possible to classify types of advertising into various forms as mentioned below.

Types of Advertising are:

1. Brand Advertising
2. National Advertising
3. Local Advertising
4. Retail Advertising
5. Nation and Destination Advertising
6. Political Advertising
7. Social Advertising
8. Directory Advertising
9. Direct Response Advertising
10. Business to business Advertising
11. Institutional Advertising
12. Public Services Advertising
13. Interactive Advertising
14. Outdoor Advertising
15. Electronic Advertising
16. Film Advertising
17. Unconventional Media

Brand Advertising

This is the most popular form of advertising as all possible media including television is flooded with brand advertising. Brands like Surf Excel, Pepsi, and Coke in India are shown more frequently on Indian televisions. These kinds of advertisements are done to build brands and develop a unique brand identity for the firm.

National Advertising

These advertisements are uniform across the nation and are released through national media covering the nation.

Local Advertising

These advertisements are carried out in local and vernacular media to promote the product in a local region.

Retail Advertising

These advertisements are brought to promote retail outlets and dealer points.

Nation and Destination Advertising

These advertisements are brought out to promote a nation as a tourism destination. These are also used for promoting states, cities and tourist attractions.

Political Advertising

These are done for political parties, politicians and individual candidates during elections and referendums.

These advertisements are brought out for a social cause like against AIDS, sexual exploitation, women trafficking, child labour and other critical issues in a society.

Directory Advertising

These are the advertisements done in directories and yellow pages and followed by people while collecting a telephone number or a home address. People normally refer to these directories to buy products and services.

Direct Response Advertising

These advertisements are used in any medium, which tries to stimulate sales directly. The consumer can respond by mail, telephone or Internet.

Business to business Advertising

These kinds of advertisements are carried out targeting business and organisational marketers. These messages are directed towards retailers, wholesalers and distributors. These advertisements are placed in professional journals and trade association publications.

Institutional Advertising

Institutions like colleges, universities, missionary of charities and large corporates bring out these advertisements. When these are brought out by large corporates we call them corporate advertising.

The purpose of such advertising is to create positive goodwill, which will ultimately contribute towards achieving the overall marketing and brand-building goal of the organisation. Many companies use such advertisements to build a positive image in the eyes of the consumers and general audience at large.

Public Services Advertising

Government and government sponsored institutions bring such advertisements for the benefit of general public. They communicate a message on behalf of some good cause. Advertising professionals create these advertisements for public relations department of large corporates, highlighting a social cause.

Interactive Advertising

These are typical Internet-based advertisement, which is delivered to individual consumers who have access to the World Wide Web. Advertisers use web pages, banner ads, spots; pop-ups and email programs to reach the target audience.

Outdoor Advertising

These are forms of advertising in which the marketer uses out of the home media like wall paintings, hoardings, bulletins, kiosks and mobile vans for communicating with audience.

Electronic Advertising

These forms of advertising use electronic media like television, radio, video and audiocassettes, electronic display boards, CDROMs for promotion of products and services.

Film Advertising

These are new forms of advertising in which brands are placed inside the film and actors are shown using these products during the movie for increasing its usage among the audience.

Unconventional Media

These forms of advertising are of recent origin and use traditional art forms like jatraa, puppet dance and other local dance forms to communicate about products and services to the audience.

Advertising Management Process

As an advertising manager one needs to know how to decide on and design an effective advertising campaign.

1. Overall Promotional Goal
2. Setting Advertising Objective
3. Communication Objective
4. Sales Objective
5. Setting up Advertising Budget
6. Develop Advertising Campaign
7. Evaluate Campaign and Provide Feedback

The advertising management process is shown in Figure

Overall Promotional Goal

The most obvious objective marketers have for promotional activities is to convince customers to make a decision that benefits the marketer.

Setting Advertising Objective

Promotion or brand manager should set objectives for an advertising campaign and also for each ad in each medium used.

Communication Objective

Marketers strive to influence how prospective customers think. To do that, they need to understand how and when to guide them.

• First, they must be aware of to whom they are offering the solutions.
• Then they want to hook customers and engage them as they become interested.
• Next, they need to build understanding and become a credible source of information.
• Finally, should entice customers to take action and purchase the products and services.

Sales Objective

A critical decision is to define the target market for the product or service. This would involve finding and precisely defining those variables that indicate who and where the best prospects are

Consumer research may be needed to find out:

• Who buys the product?
• What do they really buy?
• When do they buy?
• How do they use the product?

Setting up Advertising Budget

The objectives determine what is expected of advertising to accomplish in a defined period of time. The budget controls all proposed expenditures by fixing a limit.

• Affordable method: Promotion budget is set at the level management thinks the company can afford.
• Percentage-of-sales method: Promotion budget is set as a specified percentage of either past or forecasted sales.
• Fixed-sum-per-unit method: Promotion budget is set as a predetermined dollar amount for each unit sold or produced.
• Meeting competition method: Promotion budget is set to match a competitor’s promotion outlays on either an absolute or relative basis.
• Task-objective method: Once marketers determine their specific promotion objectives, the amount (and type) of promotional spending needed to achieve them

Develop Advertising Campaign

Media Decisions: Media planning is quite complex because of the nature of different kind of media. Media plan determines the best way to reach the audience with the advertiser’s message.

Message Decisions: An excellent advertising message is estimated to be ten times or more effective than an average message in influencing consumer attitudes, preferences and purchase decision for the product.

Evaluate Campaign and Provide Feedback

Post-testing is done to evaluate the final results of the campaign. These results are concerned with measuring the effectiveness of the ad.

Post-testing is done at the end of the campaign to determine to what extent the advertising campaign objectives have been accomplished and then to make any appropriate changes. It provides feedback to promotion managers and helps future planning.

Importance of Advertisement

Advertising broadens the knowledge of the consumers. With the aid of advertising, consumers find and buy necessary products without much waste of time. The main benefits of advertising may be narrated as follows:

1. Benefits to Manufacturers
2. Benefits to Wholesalers and Retailers
3. Benefits to Consumers
4. Benefits to Salesmen
5. Benefits to Community or Society

Benefits to Manufacturers

Advertising helps in creating and sustaining demand for existing and new products. It builds brand image and goodwill of the firm.

1. It increases sales volume by creating attraction towards the product.
2. Retail price, maintenance is also possible by advertising where price appeal is the promotional strategy.
3. It helps to establish a direct contact between manufacturers and consumers.
4. It leads to smoothen the demand of the product. It saves the product from seasonal fluctuations by discovering new usage of the product.
5. It creates a highly responsive market and thereby quickens the turnover that results in lower inventory.
6. Selling cost per unit is reduced because of increased sale volume. Consequently, product overheads are also reduced due to mass production and sale.
7. It helps easy introduction of new products into the markets by the same manufacturer.
8. It helps to create an image and reputation not only of the products but also of the producer or advertiser. In this way, it creates goodwill for the manufacturer.
9. Advertising gives the employees a feeling of pride in their jobs and to be in the service of such a concern of repute. It thus inspires the executives and workers to improve their efficiency.
10. Advertising is necessary to meet the competition in the market and to survive.

Benefits to Wholesalers and Retailers

• Easy sale of the products is possible since consumers are aware of the product and its quality.
• It increases the rate of the turnover of the stock because demand is already created by advertisement.
• It ensures more economical selling because selling overheads are reduced.
• It enables them to have product information.
• It supplements the selling activities.
• The reputation created is shared by the wholesalers and retailers alike because they need not spend anything for the advertising of a well advertised product.

Benefits to Consumers

• Advertising helps in eliminating the middlemen by establishing direct contacts between producers and consumers. It results in cheaper goods.
• It helps them to know where and when the products are available. This reduces their shopping time.
• Advertising stresses on quality and very often prices. This forms an indirect guarantee to the consumers of the quality and price. Further large scale production assumed by advertising enables the seller to sell a product at a lower cost.
• It provides an opportunity to the customers to compare the merits and demerits of various substitute products.
• This is perhaps the only medium through which consumers could know the varied and new uses of the product.
• Modern advertisements are highly informative.

Benefits to Salesmen

• Introducing the product becomes quite easy and convenient because the manufacturer has already advertised the goods informing the consumers about the product and its quality.
• Advertising prepares necessary ground for a salesman to begin his work effectively. Hence sales efforts are reduced.
• The contact established with the customer by a salesman is made permanent through effective advertising because a customer is assured of the quality and price of the product.
• The salesman can weigh the effectiveness of advertising when he makes direct contact with the consumers.

1. It helps artists by making available more job opportunities. It also supports the Press.
2. Advertising leads to a large-scale production creating more employment opportunities to the public in various jobs directly or indirectly.
3. It initiates a process of creating more wants and their satisfaction results in higher standard of living. For example, advertising has made more popular and universal the uses of such inventions as the automobiles, radios, and various household appliances.
4. Newspapers would not have become so popular and so cheap if there had been no advertisements. The cheap production of newspapers is possible only through the publication of advertisements in them. It sustains the Press.
5. It assures employment opportunities for the professional personnel and artists.
6. Advertising does provide a glimpse of a country’s way of life. It is, in fact, a running commentary on the way of living and the behaviour of the people and is also an indicator of some of the future in this regard.

Ethics in Advertising

Ethics is the most important feature of the advertising industry. Though there are many benefits of advertising but then there are some points which do not match the ethical norms of advertising.

1. Does Not Make Fake or False Claims
2. Directly Related to the Purpose and Nature of Advertising
3. Ethics also Depend on what we Believe
4. Advertising is Often Criticized for being Offensive and in the Bad Taste
5. Pharmaceutical Advertising
6. Alcohol
7. Cigarettes and Tobacco
8. Ads for Social Causes
9. Children

Does Not Make Fake or False Claims

An ethical ad is the one which does not lie, does not make fake or false claims and is in the limit of decency. The main area of interest for advertisers is to increase their sales, gain more and more customers, and increase the demand for the product by presenting a well decorated, puffed and colourful ad.

Directly Related to the Purpose and Nature of Advertising

Ethics in advertising is directly related to the purpose of advertising and the nature of advertising. Sometimes exaggerating the ad becomes necessary to prove the benefit of the product.

For example a sanitary napkin ad which shows that when the napkin was dropped in a river by some girls, the napkin soaked water of the entire river.

Ethics also Depend on what we Believe

If the advertisers make the ads on the belief that the customers will understand, persuade them to think, and then act on their ads, then this will lead to positive results and the ad may not be called unethical.

Advertising is Often Criticized for being Offensive and in the Bad Taste

There are several grounds for criticism. For example, TV ad of unpleasant products (haemorrhoid treatment, diarrhoea products) or sexual explicitness.

Pharmaceutical Advertising

Such ads help in creating awareness, but one catchy point here is that the advertisers show what the medicine can cure but never talk about the side effects of that same thing or the risks involved in the intake of it.

Alcohol

Cigarettes and Tobacco

These products should never be advertised as consumption of these things is directly responsible for cancer and other severe health issues. Such ads are banned in countries like India, Norway, Thailand, Finland and Singapore.

These types of ads are ethical and are accepted by the people. But ads like condoms and contraceptive pills should be limited, as these are sometimes unethical, and are more likely to loose morality and decency at places where there is no educational knowledge about all these products.

Children

Children are the major sellers of the ads and the product. They have the power to convince the buyers. But when advertisers are using children in their ad, they should remember not to show them alone doing work on their own like brushing teeth, playing with toys.

Reference

• V. S. Ramaswamy, S. Namakumari; 2009; Marketing Management; MacMillan Publishers Pvt Ltd.
• Kotler, Keller, Koshy, Jha; 2009; 13th Edition; Marketing Management: A South Asian Perspective.

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Last Updated:
4 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

Ads in 2018 are anything but straightforward — but that’s kind of the point.

Consider for a minute that this green rainbow is an ad:

McDonald’s «Shambow» light installation, Chicago, St. Patrick’s Day 2018 (Image via Adweek)

And this «Ketchup» jersey is also an ad:

Doritos’ limited edition Ketchup streetwear line (Image via Adweek)

Once easily defined in terms of medium, today’s ads are designed to slip seamlessly into our lives without causing noticeable disruptions (whether or not they always succeed in this area is another story entirely).

With advertisers working harder than ever to create unexpected (and undetected) ad experiences, a clear definition of advertising is more difficult than you might think to pin down. If you’re here, I’m guessing you’re looking for a succinct, simple definition of advertising. Maybe even — and I’m reaching here — in 50 words or less? I won’t delay you further.

To be considered an ad, messages don’t need to specifically mention a product or service. In fact, many of the ads you encounter on a daily basis are more about cultivating a general sense of awareness for a brand than directly influencing buying decisions right away. 

As a general rule of thumb, if you think it’s an ad, then it probably is.  

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