The History of Advertising and Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Advertising Techniques

Introduction

What do you think of when you see an advertisement? Do you first notice the talent they are using? Does the colors used in the ad attract your attention? Or maybe the word play they use in the ad? Advertisement is part of our daily life. We see advertisements everyday, everywhere. Be it on TV, radio, magazine, newspaper, billboards, posters, etc. The advertisements that we see are shown to us through the help of media.

Media is correspondence channels through which news, entertainment, education, information, or special messages are spread. Media incorporates each TV and narrowcasting medium, for example, daily papers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax, and internet. Media is now divided into two which are the traditional media and new media. The traditional media includes newspapers, books, magazines, TV, and radio while the new media includes the internet.

Advertising is one example of information that is being spread to the mass audience through media. According to the dictionary, advertising is the paid, one-way marketing of giving information to the mass audience through channels of mass communications to promote goods, services, or ideas. Advertising comes in many form. There are infomercial, TV commercials, radio advertising, online advertising, celebrity branding, etc. Advertising has existed even during the old days. The Egyptians used to carve public notices in steel. During wars, the government will use posters to encourage enlistment to the military.

Traditional Media

Traditional media is the old and archaic method of spreading information broadly involving one-way communication. Traditional media includes newspapers, books, magazines, TV, radio, etc. Cave paintings, hom...

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... might get buried under the other advertisements. There also radio stations who play advertisements for quite a long time and this might make the listeners tuned out the radio.

The last disadvantage of radio advertising is distraction. There are people who tune into the radio just for the sake of having background noises while doing their work. Most of the time, people multitask while listening to the radio. This means they do not really pay attention to the radio and they might just ignore the advertisements aired.

Television Advertising

The first television advertising done was the commercial for Bulova watch in the year 1941. It was 10 seconds long and aired before a baseball game. The cost for the commercial at that time was US$9.

Television advertisement usually features songs or melodies (called as jingles) designed to make it more memorable. The first