The document defines advertising and discusses its key aspects. Advertising involves spending large amounts of money to promote brands through media like TV, newspapers, radio and the internet. The goal is to create and strengthen consumer impressions of brands to help sell products. Effective advertising uses the 6M approach - focusing on the merchandise benefits, target markets, consumer motives, media channels, measurements of effectiveness, and key messaging. Advertising is one part of overall brand communications and can play both leading and supporting roles in marketing campaigns.