History of Advertising
Introduction
A brief history of advertising from the earliest times to the present day. One of a number of free advertising, marketing and SEO resources available on lbug.co.uk courtesy of Lightning Bug, the viral advertising specialists.
The advertising of an era reflects the values of society at that time, the prevailing hopes and fears of the age, what people aspire to and what they seek to avoid. More than this, it can tell us as much about the attitudes to gender, age, race and social attitudes as any historical account.
Overview
Advertising has been with us for millennia, and has evolved alongside our maturing civilisations. From the ruins of ancient Arabia, Egypt, Greece and Rome to the streets and homes of our modern day metropolises, it has been an ever present in its various guises.
Despite its long history, it was not until the nineteenth century that the brand led advertising industry as we know it today developed. The industry reached maturity in the twentieth century, and continues to evolve in the twenty-first.
The birth of advertising
Since before the dawn of man there has never been a time when we were free of advertising. Even animals promote themselves through displays of their size and prowess. Before the written word developed the first ads were the shouts of street vendors hawking their wares. By 4,000 BC advertisements printed on papyrus or painted on walls began to appear in ancient Egypt. The Romans used posters to promote circuses and gladiator matches and by the Middle Ages illustrated handbills and notices were commonplace.
The infancy of advertising
The Weekly Newes, England's first newspaper started publication in 1622 and carried the first documented print advertisement. Eight years later, in Paris, the first advertising agency opened but, unlike the agencies of today, the advertiser was responsible for the writing of their own ad and once placed it remained in store and would only be seen by people who chose to enter the premises.
By 1661 an ad appeared for Dentifrice, marking the birth of the brand and four years later, as the plague hit England, newspapers carried ads for many branded products that allegedly offered protection against the disease.
As the century progressed advertising became more prevalent, newspapers were stuffed with ads, publications consisting entirely of advertisements started to appear, and posters were everywhere. By the 1700s London was so overwhelmed with large scale advertising hoardings that the king had to pass laws imposing limits on their size and placement.
Advertising in adolescence
Advertising as an art really began to develop in the nineteenth century, coinciding with the increased prominence of brands. For the first time the techniques of language and layout and the mixture of images and words were used as they are today. In the late 1800s, as manufacturing boomed and the consumer society was born, advertising became an important part of business, and it was recognised that it should be left to experts in the field. It was during this period that many of the big names in advertising today were founded.
Duke University has a browsable collection of over 7,000 adverts from this period in their Ad*Access database.
In the early part of the twentieth century, governments too began to use the power of advertising and skilled specialists churned out propaganda using techniques of psychological manipulation to flatter, frighten, or shame the target audience into compliance.
Advertising comes of age
After World War One advertising continued to develop. Advertisers quickly utilised theories such as subconscious fears and the desire to belong from the emerging science of psychology in order to achieve their aims. As quickly as new media, like radio and cinema, developed advertisers found ways to utilise them. In fact, the original 'soap operas' got their name due to being sponsored by soap manufacturers who pioneered an early version of product placement with frequent plugs for their products.
The end of World War Two signalled a boom in consumer spending and, thanks to the increasing popularity of television, a huge increase in the amount of advertising as manufacturers sought to create demand for their new products. Sponsored programming soon filled the airwaves as advertisers sought to take advantage of the increased brand recognition that came with TV. Because of the expansion of economies in the 1950s, it was a decade of explosive growth for the advertising industry, and it was during this period that the business world really accepted the worth and power of advertising. Many of the innovative theories of practitioners such as Leo Burnett and David Ogilvy still dominate advertising practice today.
Due to the rising costs of production, single sponsor programming started to disappear in the 1960s and was replaced by the commercial break where companies shared airtime with other advertisers.
Advertising's digital age
Although traditional media such as newspapers, TV and billboards still constitute the vast bulk of advertising spending, digital advertising is become increasingly important. Advertisers are increasingly looking to new phenomena such as viral advertising, digital marketing, contextual advertising, and most importantly social networking to precisely target consumers. Year on year the proportion and volume of digital advertising grows, as advertisers seek to exploit these new media.