#NH1074Ward COM 107 is the Communications and Society class at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications taught by DR4WARD

1. Chapter 10
Advertising and
Commercial
Culture

4. Early Developments in American
Advertising
• Advertising used in antiquity
• 1704: First newspaper ads in America
• Most U.S. magazines had advertising by mid-1800s.
• Earliest ad agencies were newspaper space brokers.
• Bought newspaper space, sold it to merchants
• N.W. Ayer established the first “modern” U.S. ad agency
in 1869.

5. Advertising in the 1800s
• Manufacturers realized consumers would ask for their
products specifically if they were distinctive, associated
with quality.
• Advertising let manufacturers establish
“brand recognition” for their products.
• 19th-century ads created the impression of significant
differences among products.

6. Advertising in the 1800s (cont.)
• By the end of the 1800s, half the ads were for patent
medicines or department stores.
• Many patent medicines
were dangerous
and/or fraudulent.
• Problem led to advertising self-policing.
• Federal Food and Drug Act
1906

7. Promoting Social Change and
Dictating Values
• Powerful ads changed American life.
• Transition from producer-directed society to
consumer-driven society
• Promoted new technological advances that made life
easier
• Mad Men - The Carousel (Higher Quality)

8. Promoting Social Change and
Dictating Values
• Ads were accused of inciting
Consumer need for
unnecessary products.
• Began to use advertising’s power for social good
• Ad Council founded in the 1940s

9. Early Ad Regulation
• Agencies created to self-regulate the ad industry:
• The Better Business Bureau
• Audit Bureau of Circulation
• American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA)
• Subliminal advertising
• Hidden or disguised visual messages in films and
television programs
• No more effective than regular ads

11. Types of Advertising Agencies
• Top 4 mega-agencies
• WPP
• Omnicom
• Publicis
• Interpublic
• Boutique agencies
• Often founded by designers and graphic artists
empowered by visual revolution of the 1960s
• Peterson Milla Hooks: one of the biggest boutique
agencies in America

12. Figure 10.1
Global Revenue for the World’s Four Largest
Agencies
(in Billions of Dollars)

13. Figure 10.2
Where the Advertising Dollars Went, 2009

14. The Structure of Advertising
Agencies
• Market research assesses the behaviors and attitudes
of consumers toward particular products.
• Types of market research
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Focus groups
• Values and Lifestyles (VALS)
• See Fig. 10.3 on p. 331

15. The Structure of Advertising
Agencies (cont.)
• Creative development
• Writers and artists outline rough sketch of ads.
• Media selection
• Media buyers choose and purchase the types of media
best suited to carry a client’s ad and reach the target
audience.
• Account services
• Account executives are responsible for bringing in new
business and managing the accounts of established
clients.

16. Trends in Online Advertising
• Pop-up ads, pop-under ads, flash multimedia ads,
and interstitials popular today
• Fastest-growing segment of ad industry
• Advertisers target individuals by tracking ad
impressions, click-throughs.
• Build profiles for consumers based on this information
• Social networking sites provide advertisers with a
wealth of data.

17. Persuasive Techniques in
Contemporary Advertising
• Famous-person testimonial
• Plain-folks pitch
• Snob-appeal approach
• Bandwagon effect
• Hidden-fear appeal
• Irritation advertising

18. The Association Principle
• Product associated with some cultural icon or value
• Used in most consumer ads
• Responding to consumer backlash, major
corporations present products as though from
smaller, independent companies.

19. Advertising as Myth
• Three common mythical elements found in many
types of ads:
• Mini-stories
• Stories involving conflicts
• Conflicts are negotiated or resolved by end of ad, usually by
applying or purchasing product.

20. Product Placement
• Placing ads in movies, TV shows, comic books, video
games
• Starbucks on Morning Joe (MSNBC)
• Audi in Iron Man 2
• Should the FCC mandate that the public be warned about
product placement on television?

21. Commercial Speech and Regulating
Advertising
• Political speech is protected under the First
Amendment. (FIRST AMENDMENT – SPEECH &
PRESS)
• Lobbying (PR)
• Political campaigns
• Commercial speech is far more proscribed by case
law.
• Fee-based communications
• Intended to cause money exchange

22. Critical Issues in Advertising
• The heavy promotion of toys, sugary cereals to
children
• Advertising in schools
• Health
• Eating disorders
• Tobacco
• Alcohol
• Prescription drugs
• Puffery
• Ads featuring hyperbole and exaggeration

23. Alternative Voices
• The Truth, a national youth smoking prevention campaign,
works to deconstruct the images that have long been
associated with cigarette ads.
• Recognized by 80% of teens
• By 2007, ranked in the Top 10 “most memorable teen brands”

24. Advertising’s Role in Politics
• Since the 1950s, politicians have mimicked
advertising techniques in order to get
elected.
• Broadcasters have long opposed providing
free time for political campaigns and issues,
since political advertising is big business for
television stations.

25. The Future of Advertising
• Commercialism has generated cultural
feedback that is often critical of advertising’s
pervasiveness.
• Still, the growth of the industry has not
diminished.
• Public maintains uneasy relationship with
advertising.