2. Plan
The Definition of Advertisement
The History of Advertisement
The Methods of Advertising
The Impact of Advertising
Contemporary Advertising
PowerPoint presentation (pictures &
videos)
3. Definition of Advertisement (AD)
Advertisement or advertising is the activity of attracting public attention to a product or
business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.
Also it’s the profession of planning, designing, and writing advertisements.
Advertising can be looked at from various perspectives; its purpose is to increase the number of
articles or products sold. These are not only things we can buy in different stores, for example
clothing or supplies for our daily life, but also such simple things as a message placed by an
institution or organization asking for attention of the public to raise money or to make them aware
of a problem, such as anti-smoking ads. Even political parties use advertisements and commercials
to state the opinion of their candidate.
Advertising is always present, though people may not be aware of it. In today's world,
advertising uses every possible media to get its message through.
The History of Advertisement
Techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice
for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way. Weekly newspapers in
London first carried advertisements in the 17th century; by the 18th century such advertising was
flourishing. The first advertising agencies were established in the 19th century to broker for space
in newspapers, and by the early 20th century agencies were producing the advertising message
itself, including copy and artwork. Most advertising promotes goods for sale, but similar methods
are used in public service messages to promote causes, charities, or political candidates. In many
countries, advertising is the most important source of income for the media through which it is
conducted. In addition to newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media, advertising media include
direct mail billboards and posters, transit advertising, the Internet, and promotional items such as
matchbooks or calendars. Advertisers attempt to choose media that are favored by the advertisers'
target audience.
Advertising became big business in the 20th century, offering many different jobs in advertising
agencies and the marketing section. The use of the media, like newspapers, television, direct mail,
radio, magazines, outdoor signs and of course the Internet made this growth possible. It is a form
of transporting information to the consumer, but which does not only have positive sides. There
are many critical aspects about it, like persuading people to doing unhealthy things, like smoking,
or producing special stereotypes everybody tries to follow. Nevertheless, advertising has become
international, since producers and companies try to sell their products on a globalized market in
almost every corner of the world. It is therefore not surprising to see a big sign for Coca Cola in
third world countries
4. Methods of Advertising
Television has attracted about 23.4 % of the money spent on advertising in the US in 1999. It is
available in broadcast or cable form and generates a big platform for advertising. To run
commercials on TV, advertisers have to buy units of time which range from 15 over 30 and up to 60
seconds in length. These spots are the most expensive ads and can cost up to millions of dollars
depending on what time they are aired. If we just think about the ads shown at the major sports
events in the U.S.A., like the Super Bowl or the Olympic Games. Only very economically powerful
companies can afford this.
The combination of sight, sound and motion creates a more dramatic form of advertising which is
considered to build a product’s brand image or to create an excitement around a special event
such as a one-time sale. These ads are not intense enough to provide the viewer with a lot of
information and are therefore only useful for products which are already familiar to the costumers.
Newspapers are an important media as well. Their advantage is to reach readers of different age
groups, ethnic backgrounds and income levels. They display photographs and illustrations, giving
explicit and detailed information about a product, new inventions and product improvements.
Their disadvantage is that they can’t create such an emotionally strong image as the TV ads, but
the opportunity to present coupons for special products shows a great popularity amongst
customers, and is often used.
Direct mail is another kind of advertising, sending the ads via mail system to the future
customers. This system is also used through e-mails and offers graphics and links to more
information. In order to do this kind of advertising, the advertisers have to buy so-called mailing
lists, which contain the addresses of people with certain wanted characteristics. Many advertisers
consider this system the most effective, because it is much cheaper than mailing the
advertisements and it is launched right at the target group.
Radio usually reaches a smaller group of people, mostly from one specific area. This gives local
businesses the chance to broadcast their very specialized ads. Most people listen to these ads
when they are driving in their car, so they will be informed of any kind of sales in stores in their
region. They will hear them before they go shopping and might be tempted to buy these products.
These ads have to be very simple and easy to be understood, since people are usually doing
something, like driving, when listening to them.
The Yellow Pages are thick directories of telephone listings and displays of advertisements,
mostly of local use, but nevertheless very effective.
Magazines only ranked sixth in the total spending on advertising in the U.S.A. in 1999. They are
very specialized and target the reader of such magazines who usually have very similar interests. If
you think about the highly specialized women magazines, displaying make up and other cosmetic
products reaching for teenage girls to older women. These magazines are very prestigious because
they show beautiful color photographs of the celebrities of today’s pop-culture.
Advertising on The Internet is becoming more and more popular among companies, since the
majority of young consumers have online access at home. They range from banners, buttons, and
5. pop-ups to sponsorships of homepages, which we have been discussed in our course. This form of
advertising gives the opportunity to check out the given information right away and most of the
time allows the customer to order the product online without even leaving his or her home.
The last group of advertising I want to talk about is Outdoor Advertising which is launched via
huge billboards to a highly mobile audience which is on the road very often. In cities like New York
and the world’s metropolises, these big boards are part of the appearance of the city. People
commuting to and from work will pass them, and subconsciously take them into account. This type
of advertising has the lowest cost per exposure of any kind of advertisement. The boards are
colorful, big and simply hard to ignore, and that’s what makes them effective.
The Impact of Advertising
The advertising business has become such an important factor in the economy in many
countries, especially in the United States, that it also changes the economy itself, society, culture,
and the political system
The stimulation for the demand of products and services helps the economy grow stronger
and stronger. New inventions become known much faster and can establish their spot in the sales
figures of the economy. If there are more people buying these products the overall costs will drop
and the product will become cheaper for the customer which raises his willingness to buy even
more. On the other hand advertisements are very expensive and some economists believe that
these costs are put on top of the actual price paid by the customer.
Critics argue that advertising can also have a huge influence on society. It tells the consumers
that only purchasing products makes you happy and therefore people compare each other on their
belongings. Women also compare themselves with the beautiful and very skinny models they see
on commercials and ads. This sometimes results in eating disorders and a low self-esteem of
women who don’t look like these models. Another bad effect is, that minority groups, especially in
the United States are portrait in a subordinate position, which settles in the minds of people.
Commercials are also an important part of the income of a TV station which leads to the suspicion
that a news channel might not report on an incident about a company they depend on. A lot of TV
shows are also based on these commercials, and if the ratings aren’t good enough the show will be
stopped. Only those shows which attract a lot of viewers will be shown, which is not very different
and put minorities like older people at a disadvantage.
Advertising can also have an impact in politics. $ 467 million were spent on advertisements
and TV commercials in the elections of 1998. It gives the opponents the chance to respond to
charges very quickly reaching a few million viewers. But since this is very expensive only very rich
people have to chance to run for a political position or at least depend on the donation of
wealthier people who could have a huge impact on democracy this way. The political issues talked
about in an election are also very much simplified because the spots are only about 30 seconds
long, and you can’t really discuss a lot in such a short period of time.
6. There is finally the impact advertising can have on the culture of a country. The globalized
economy uses the same commercials in a lot of different countries, which leads to a break down in
the differences of these societies. Children will grow up not knowing how their culture has been
before in their country. It can also lead to a lot of discussion about moral values if we just think
about the very controversial ads of Benetton we have discussed.
Contemporary Advertising
With the changing media used by advertisers, advertisement itself changed quite a bit. So far
the ads tried to present a product and make the consumer believe in the big advantages of it.
Today, advertisers try to create certain images around their products, which draw a greater
attention to the customers and make them stick this specific product. This so-called “creative
revolution” had its origin in the 1950s and 1960s when prominent advertising agencies stated that
good advertising has to begin with the respect for the public’s intelligence and therefore have to
be understated, sophisticated and witty.
This statement is even more important for today’s commercials on TV, since the technology
has made it possible for the viewer to use the remote control to change the channel while the
commercials are on. If it is not interesting to the viewer he will simply flip to another channel
avoiding the commercial. New digital devices make it even possible to edit out commercials in
order to watch a “commercial free” movie or show.
PS: my PowerPoint presentation will contain a comparison between old
and new advertisements through pictures and videos
