Advertising’s Past and Present

1. Advertising’s Past and Present An Overview And Chapter 1 Preview

2. Root of the Word • The word “advertising” is of Latin origin • It’s derived from “advertere” which means “to pay attention to” • Further broken down “ad” means “toward” and “vertere” means “to turn.” • So advertising attempts to turn our attention toward something– the announcement of some product or service • This jives with the first rule of advertising: to attract attention • If people aren’t paying attention to a print, TV or radio ad, you can’t persuade them to do anything!

3. Advertising’s Origins • The Industrial Revolution spanning the 18th and 19th centuries– starting in the United Kingdom and spreading to Europe and North America– gave rise to advertising as we think of it today • Manufacturers of products wanted to better control their prices, profits and market share in their desire to reach distant people and markets • Manufacturers wanted to better cut out or control the middle men, distributors of “jobbers” who before advertising called the shots to the manufacturers • “The purpose of national advertising today, as it was originally, is to create product differentiation, a degree of monopoly, and barriers to entry. These enable the manufacturer to force distribution and engage in pricing discretion, pricing discrimination, and market domination.”(Vince Norris, Journal of Advertising, 1980)

4. America & AdvertisingMatch Made in Heaven? • The U.S. would really become the world leader and innovator in advertising • Our free enterprise system, market economy, entrepreneurial spirit, pro-business governments, rapid Westward expansion– among reasons why advertising, promoting, selling (and buying) would become a big part of our system

5. A Nod to Sears • Richard Warren Sears and his Sears Roebuck stores deserve recognition for their role in getting new products to people in remote parts of America • Starting in the 1890s the annual Sears Catalog would become a much anticipated mail delivery to rural and urban people across the land Go to link • Sears Catalog Pages • What the Sears Catalog Meant to One Woman • Background of Richard Sears

6. Ads that Define America? • As the Sears Catalog would increase the material wants of Americans, so would advertising across all print media back then • Big colorful ads in publications such as Life magazine- popular in the early-to-mid 1900s– would tell, in a way, what Americans should want and want to be • Life magazine advertisements

7. Advertising TodayA Puzzlement? • Advertising is a $200 billion a year industry in the U.S. • Our text’s author relates how one advertising executive told him that “half of the money people spend on advertising is wasted…but we don’t know which half.” • The situation, according to Berger, is that although nobody in the business world is certain how advertising works, there is a consensus that is it necessary and that campaigns are worth the enormous amount of money they often cost.

8. Commercial Costs

9. Advertising Overload • Advertising has helped make America what it is today– for better or worse • Many Americans resent the advertising clutter and overload • 2004 survey done for the American Association of Advertising Agencies reported: • 69% of those surveyed expressed interest in products that would block advertising • Felt they are constantly bombarded by advertising • Described the amount of advertising to which they are exposed as out of control • Felt their opinion of advertising is more negative than before • Said they avoid buying products that advertise too much

10. Let’s Get Psychological… • Sigmund Freud suggested that the human psyche is composed of three elements: • Id– represents drives and says “I want it now” • Superego- reps moral sensibilities and conscience and says “Don’t do it” • Ego- has the task of perceiving and adapting to reality and mediating between the id and superego Thus, advertising appeals to our id elements, our desires for gratifications of all kinds (“I want it now”) and seeks to avoid the strictures of the superego (“You can’t afford it and you don’t need it”) and the mediating efforts of the ego (“Maybe you ought to think a bit before buying it”).

11. Television’s Influence • Our book’s author suggests, and many would agree, that our culture is, to a large degree, shaped by television • The notion is that TV does not merely reflect the culture in which it is found but rather it affects culture • It does this by focusing attention on certain aspects of culture and not paying attention to others • Berger says TV, led by its influential commercials that he calls “teleculture” is, in fact, the most powerful socializing and enculturating force in society. It instructs us as well as entertains us. • Thus, he contends, television has usurped the roles formerly played by others actors who used to be dominant figures in the socialization process such as: parents; priests, ministers, and rabbis; teachers and professors; peers; and pop culture • I (PJH) would suggest that television among today’s youth has been usurped by the Internet, by online social networking and gaming– and that this poses some/many troubling challenges! ##