Technological innovation and the spread of popular periodicals gave rise to illustrated advertising in late nineteenth-century America, as in this 1885 advertisement for Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup. (Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine)
An important aspect of business activity that focuses on promotion of a product or service.
According to Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong in Principles of Marketing, advertising in the field of business means “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.” Besides companies seeking to increase their sales and profits, nonprofit organizations, nongovernment organizations, welfare associations, charity organizations, political parties, and many other such groups also use advertising.
Technological innovation and the spread of popular periodicals gave rise to illustrated advertising in late nineteenth-century America, as in this 1885 advertisement for Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup. (Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine)
The objective of advertising is to inform, to persuade, and to remind. Through such processes, it aims to promote the products and services for sale. Advertising allows people to become familiar with new products. It gives people the opportunity to choose by informing and helping them to make decisions through highlighting the various aspects of the product or service. For the company, it provides an outlet to promote products or services to a wider audience. It increases the competitive spirit in the market among the producers of similar products. Through this process, the main objective of the company is to influence the decision of the consumer or to induce him or her to try out the company’s product and to translate the attention of the consumer into a sale.
Advertising is important in the issue of perception. In marketing, first comes perception; then comes the quality of the product. If people perceive a product to be better, it will sell, even if a competi tive product is technically superior. In the long run, however, quality will prevail. Thus initially a company with a good advertising plan might be successful in selling its product; but if this product proves to be of inferior quality, the company will not be able to induce its customers to purchase the product a second time. Advertising attracts the customer to purchase the product initially, but after the first sale the product speaks for itself.
Advertising employed by companies often aims to convince the buyer that the product is worthwhile. This usually happens in the case of products with a high price. When someone buys costly products, postpurchase dissatisfaction often results. Advertising addresses this aspect of consumer behavior and aims to reassure customers that what they are buying is worth the extra expense.
The tools employed in advertising include print advertisements, audiovisual broadcasts in different media (radio and television), billboards, pamphlets, pullouts in magazines and newspapers, road shows, electronic media such as the Internet and e-mail, songs—and any other method available that can reach the target consumer base.
Advertising is as old as human civilization and is an inseparable aspect of business activity. It forms the core of the marketing function. Archaeologists have found indications of announcements of events and offers in the Mediterranean Sea region. Romans used to paint walls to announce gladiator fights. The earliest use of advertising for political purposes is found in a Pompeii wall painting that praises a politician and solicits votes.
Early forms of advertising were informative in nature, for example, announcing an event or an item for sale. Space and cost factors limited advertising to brief announcements painted on the side of a building or a sign over the door of an establishment. Handbills might have been distributed, but this was rare before the invention of the printing press because it was cost prohibitive. More commonly, an announcement would be posted in an area for many people to read.
The first real change in advertising since ancient times occurred after Johannes Gutenberg pioneered the use of the movable type printing press. At first the presses in Germany were used to spread news of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” and events surrounding the Reformation. Although Bibles remained high on the list of items printed, merchants and businessmen began increasingly to print handbills to encourage people to buy their products. Founders of the London Company of Virginia advertised for investors and adventurers by distributing handbills through London. During the 1828 presidential campaign of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, supporters of Adams used handbills to illustrate how many men Jackson had killed. The “Coffin Handbill” contained row after row of black coffins, with each one representing one of his victims in visual terms.
During colonial times, newspapers in Europe and North America offered the opportunity for businesses to reach an even larger audience than that afforded by the distribution of handbills. The high cost of printing and typesetting forced editors to accept advertising that would be set once and then used in the paper for the next year. The repetitive nature of the ads required the use of basic information instead of enticements such as announcing a sale. Readers often skimmed over ads that they had seen many times before, without really thinking about the product.
The invention of the rotary press in 1846 reduced the cost of printing and therefore of newspapers. As society shifted from a barter economy to a market economy, the United States promoted public education so that when the children entered the workforce they would have the requisite skills to read and sign contracts or other business and legal documents. The increase in literacy, combined with the reduced cost of printing, resulted in wider circulation of newspapers. Editors expanded the number of pages for each edition as well as the amount of space offered for advertising. At the same time, most editors required that ads be changed frequently, with some initiating a policy of daily changes. Readers would be drawn to the ads to find out what merchants had to offer and whether merchants were offering any price discounts. Ads became less informational and more persuasive. In addition to words, most ads contained some kind of illustration of the product or a logo that associated the product with a particular manufacturer or general store. The idea was to attract customers to a particular establishment that sold other goods as well. Since subscribers within a defined geographic area read papers printed close to home, the ads helped generate local trade. Businesses continued to advertise since it was effective. By the beginning of the twentieth century, newspapers earned one-third of their revenue from advertising.
The art of advertising changed dramatically during and after World War I. In the United States, the government issued war bonds to finance the war. Salespeople were hired to sell the bonds, and their job was made easier by the use of advertising. Patriotic themes played on the emotions of the American people. To be a true American, one had to contribute financially to the war effort. Women were encouraged to purchase war stamps by the use of posters that depicted a Joan of Arc clad in armor and the saying “Women of American save your country—Buy War Savings Stamps.” Salespeople learned from the effectiveness of this type of advertising and used the same technique after the war to entice people to purchase specific consumer goods and to promote other causes. Admen focused on the insecurities of the consumer. For instance, to avoid bad breath the customer should use Listerine. The same type of advertising has continued in use to the present. Women’s magazines promote certain fashions and looks. The magazines are full of ads for makeup, diet pills, and other products that will help the “ordinary” woman look like the models on the cover. The same thing applies to men. Automobile magazines feature articles and pictures of fast cars, and beside the vehicle is a young, scantily clad female. The idea is to associate the ownership of the vehicle with the ability of the owner to attract women. By focusing on the insecurities or wants of the consumer, the advertisers increase their chances of selling more products. The sale of cigarettes relied on this form of advertising. The “Marlboro Man” was the tough cowboy type. Most advertising of cigarettes failed to capitalize on the female market until the introduction of Virginia Slims, which associated smoking cigarettes with thin, attractive women. Even before the federal government prohibited the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio, tobacco companies began sponsoring racing and other sporting events to put their names before the public. The Winston Cup and the Virginia Slims Tournament are two such examples.
In addition to selling goods using print mediums, beginning in the 1920s advertisers also grasped the potential of advertising on the radio. Instead of promoting a product through sales pitches, manufacturers would sponsor shows. During the course of the program, the name of the advertiser would be mentioned many times. The repeated mentions of the company’s name or product established name and brand recognition and increased sales. Even after the introduction of television, that type of advertising continued, with products like Boraxo and 20 Mule Team Borax sponsoring shows like Death Valley Days.
As the number of households with televisions increased in the 1960s and 1970s, advertising spots were sold based on the length of the ad, usually thirty seconds to one minute, and the number of viewers based on television ratings. Even public television stations, which have not traditionally sold advertising spots, have relied on sponsors such as nonprofit organizations. Television allowed companies to market their goods or services nationwide, far beyond the local audience a company could reach with newspaper ads.
Television advertising reached new levels with the use of famous people to promote a product. Sports personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Namath, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan promoted goods ranging from tennis shoes to pantyhose. The strategy of associating sports figures with name-brand products proved so successful that soon manufacturers turned to celebrities outside sports, such as entertainer Michael Jackson. Movie and television stars capitalized on their ability to generate sales by promoting their own product lines, usually clothing.
The formula for increasing sales worked so well that advertisers competed for prime time and special events audiences. Sporting events such as the Super Bowl have become known for the innovative ads broadcast throughout the program. Some viewers who would never sit down to watch the championship game will watch just to see the commercials. In the days that follow, viewers often discuss the commercials more than the game itself. In that respect, the advertisers who have created commercials that stand out are able to promote the product well past the original thirty seconds or minute of airtime.
One of the most important objectives of advertisers is to create a memorable impression. Songs or jingles have proved effective in this regard. Slogans such as “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should,” “Coca-Cola, It’s the Real Thing,” “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh what a relief it is,” and “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” are jingles that viewers retain subconsciously. The effectiveness of these ad campaigns can be judged by how many people begin singing the jingle for no particular reason.
Although the number of radio and television ads remained limited by the amount of time offered by the stations, the introduction of the Internet helped advertisers find a new way of marketing on a global basis. Banner ads were the first form of advertising marketed on the World Wide Web. More effective forms of advertising were soon developed. Pop-up and pop-under ads grabbed the attention of the Internet user but often created frustration. However, pop-up ads accounted for 8 percent of online sales by the beginning of 2003. Since then, the pop-up ads diminished in their effectiveness as online service providers offered their customers the ability to avoid these ads. Advertisers have continued to adapt to the changing circumstances through the introduction of media-rich ads that appear while pages are downloading. Using both audio and video streaming, these ads are short in duration (fifteen to thirty seconds in length) and function much like television ads. However, in response to customer feedback, service providers have already pursued measures that will eliminate these forms of ads in the future.
Advertising has been used in a variety of media to persuade people to purchase a product or support an organization. Advertisers were able to sell more and more products with each new technological innovation that expanded the number of persons reached. Moving from local markets, where customers read signs, handbills, and newspapers, to national audiences reached by magazines, radio, and television, advertisers have continued to operate effectively and thereby increase trade in the local, regional, or national markets. Every new communications technology offers new opportunity for marketers to reach customers. Advertising continues to function as an important part of trade.
Anup Mukherjee and Cynthia Clark Northrup
See also: Internet; Media.
Aaker, David A., Rajeev Batra, and John G. Myers. Advertising Management. New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Chunawalla, S.A., and K.C. Sethia. Foundations of Advertising Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Himalaya, 1997.
Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. Principles of Marketing. New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Schiffman, Leon G., and Leslie Lazar Kanuk. Consumer Behaviour. New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 1997.
Stanton, William J., Michael J. Etzel, and Bruce J. Walker. Fundamentals of Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.