Facts about Advertising

Advertising supports such industries as television and radio.

In ancient times the most common form of advertising was by word of mouth; however, commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii.

At first, these agencies were just brokers for ad space in newspapers, but by the twentieth century, advertising agencies started to take over responsibility for the content as well.

Unpaid advertising (also called word of mouth advertising), can provide good exposure at minimal cost.

According to many media sources, the past experience and state of mind of the person subjected to advertising may determine the impact that advertising has.

Prices of web-based advertising space are dependent on the "relevance" of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives.

Another significant trend is the growing importance of niche or targeted advertising.

Pioneering the concept of the music video, the MTV channel ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in "for" the advertisement, rather than it being a byproduct or afterthought.

Advertising has a number of benefits to society and business.

Technology has provided both opportunity and threats to the advertising world.

Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters, while lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Greece and Rome.

Advertising also benefits the individual consumer, providing information regarding products prior to purchase, as well as publicizing (and consequently lowering) prices.

From the original world of mouth and town criers of times past, to the virtual advertising possible through the use of computers, advertising has been common in most societies.

The (eventually successful) opponents of advertising, on the other hand, claimed that advertising did in fact increase consumption.

Internet advertising developed rapidly at the end of the twentieth century.

There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and the reach of advertising.

The impact of advertising has been a matter of considerable debate and many different claims have been made in different contexts.

Advertising is the business of drawing public attention to goods and services, and is performed through a variety of media.

Advertising helps companies build a brand, letting the public know that they are reliable.

Unethical companies continuously click on their competitors' ads in order to quickly exhaust their advertising budget, a practice known as "click fraud.

Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free internet access.

Recognizing the social impact of advertising, special interest groups, such as Mediawatch-UK, began work to educate consumers about how they can register their concerns with advertisers and regulators.

Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient media advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America.

Some examples include word of mouth, print, commercials, public service announcements, covert advertising, and virtual advertisements.

The television commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format and this is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events.

During debates about the banning of cigarette advertising, a common claim from tobacco companies was that cigarette advertising does not encourage people to smoke who would not otherwise.

On the negative side, however, advertising is partly responsible for increasing materialistic consumerism, as people are tempted to buy items they have no real need for.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the search engine Google revolutionized online advertising by emphasizing contextually relevant, unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate, users.

Covert advertising embedded in other entertainment media is known as "product placement."

The 1960s saw advertising transform into a modern, more scientific approach in which creativity was allowed to shine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements more tempting to consumers' eyes.

Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known as "spam."

The International Chamber of Commerce suggests maintaining transparent, accessible identities so that consumers will know exactly who is advertising what.

In any event, it is undeniable that advertising exposes the public to the product and/or a brand name, leading to subsequent recognition of the item or brand on a future occasion.

Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to present their message in the print medium is advertising.

To counter this effect, many advertisers have opted for covert advertising in the form of product placement.

E-mail advertising is another phenomenon connected to the development of the internet, following the same pattern as direct mail advertising and telemarketing.

A common version of this involves advertising in film, by having a main character use an item of a definite brand.

Advertising takes many forms, which have developed as advances have been made in communications technology.

Advertising can thus be seen to have positive results, both for those developing a market for their products and for society in general.