Advertising

According to the New Encyclopaedia Britanica, " advertising is a form of communication intended to promote the sale of the product or service to influence public opinion, to gain political support to advance a particular cause"

Advertising is viewed as both the mirrors and the maker of culture: its words and images reflect the present and the past even as they contribute new sounds and symbols that shape the future. Others view advertising as purely an economic activity with one purpose: to sell. But many advertisers and agencies believe that advertising creates “magic in the market place” .

Advertising is a world phenomenon and is defined differently by various scholars. Wright et al. in their book Advertising defines advertising as “controlled, identifiable information and persuasion by means of mass communications media”. (Media Issues in Nepal-2001)

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, the professional body of the advertising agents at Great Britain says “advertising presents the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects for the products or services at the lowest possible cost.” These definitions explain three distinct viewpoints of advertising:

a) Business viewpoint which takes advertising as a marketing tool.

b) Creative viewpoint which takes advertising as a means of communication.

c) Scientific viewpoint which ensures practically against advertising failures and for improving probability of success.

So advertising is not marketing, for marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. Advertising is not sales force, for sales force members are paid and they deal with consumers on a personal level. Likewise, advertising is not publicity, for publicity, like advertising is not paid for directly by the publicity seeking organization. It may be paid indirectly for creating favourable climate for the concerned organization. Advertising is not propaganda, for propaganda means to propagate certain ideas, doctrines, gospels etc. without any identifiable sponsor. It attempts to indoctrinate. Advertising is not promotion, for promotion not only includes advertising but also sales promotions, sales force packaging, point of purchase displays and brand names. In a narrower sense, it also means “a direct inducements which offers an extra value or incentive for the product to sales force, distributors or the ultimate consumer with the primary objective of creating an immediate sale” (Haught, Advertising Age)

According to American Marketing Association, ‘Advertising is any form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services usually paid for by an identified sponsor’. The above definition quotes three basic ingredients; 1) It is non-personal, it is directed toward a large group of anonymous people. 2) It is typically paid for and this fact differentiates advertising from publicity, which is usually purchased. 3) Special sponsor of the ad is identified, it is because in most instances identifying the sponsor is the prime purpose behind the ad otherwise –why advertise? Perhaps the only situation in which the identity of the advertiser may not be self evident is political advertising. Because of this, broadcasters and publishers will not accept a political ad unless there is a statement that identifies those responsible for it.

According to Albert Lasker, who has been called the father of modern advertising, advertising is “salesmanship in print”. But he gave us that definition long before the invention of radio and television and at a time when the nature and scope of advertising were considerably different from what they are now.
Frederick R. Gamble, former president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies highlighted that: Advertising is the counterpart in distribution of the machine in distribution of the machine in production. By the use of machines, our production of goods and services has been multiplied. By the use of mass media, advertising multiplies the selling effort. Advertising is the great accelerating force in distribution. Reaching many people rapidly at low cost, advertising speeds up sales, turns prospects into customers in large numbers and at high speed. Hence, in a mass-production economy, advertising has the greatest opportunity and the greatest responsibility for finding customers. (Agee, Philip, Edwin- 1979)
Advertising has an important effect on economy, society, culture, and political System of a country. It is billion-dollar business now in the world and its impact cannot be denied it is a part of media system and also the part of life, in the present day of the advertising world. Advertising has a major social impact in helping sustain mass communications media and making them relatively inexpensive, if not free, to the public. Newspapers, magazines, radio, and television broadcast all receive their primary income from advertising. Without advertising, many of these forms of mass communication might not exist to the extent that they do today, or they might be considerably more expensive, offer less variety, or even be subject to government control through subsidies.
Most economists believe that advertising has a positive impact on the economy because it stimulates demand for products and services, strengthening the economy by promoting the sale of goods and services. Manufacturers know that advertising can help sell a new product quickly, enabling them to recoup the costs of developing new products. It helps in increasing competition and leads to lower prices benefiting the consumers and economy as a whole. Likewise, advertising can have wide-ranging repercussions on a society. Some critics suggest that advertising promote a materialistic way of life by leading people to believe that happiness is achieved by purchasing products. They argue that advertising creates a consumer culture in which buying exciting new products becomes the foundation of the society's values, pleasures, and goals.
Advertising can affect cultural values. Some advertising messages, for example, encourage aggressive individualism, which may clash with the traditional cultural values of a country where the mass is emphasized over the individual or humility or modesty is preferred to aggressiveness. With the globalization of the world economy, multinational corporations often use the same advertising to sell to consumers around the world. Some critics argue that advertising messages are thus helping to break down distinct cultural differences and traditional values, leading the world to become increasingly homogeneous.
Also, advertising is now a major component of political campaigns and therefore has a great influence on the democratic process itself. Political advertising enables candidates to convey their positions on important issues and to acquaint voters with their accomplishments and personalities. Television advertising is especially effective for candidates running for national or statewide office because it can reach so many people at once.
Since the development of mass communication the trend towards advertising the Product in the media has boosted up in the world. It can be accepted that advertising is a powerful tool and certainly has an impact on the people exposed to the media.
The volume of advertising before the 20th century was basically based on the print media but with the advent of the electronic media it shifted to the radio and then the television and now the multi-media (internet). However, television advertising is still a very effective means to advertise the product because of its audio and visual characteristics. As advertising through television is effective, advertising children’s product has also increased with the powerful medium like television. It has become a grave concern in different parts of the world as advertising targets the children and the appeals made could be deceptive leaving negative impact on the children. So, concern like whether advertising children’s product should be regulated or self-regulated by the media itself is the major issue. Even though advertising on the children targeted product and other forms are not a major issue in Nepal, but it cannot be denied that it will not tend to be so in the upcoming days.

Advertising has been seen as a cultural commodity in that its popularity as a tool of communication is a consequence of the developing society. From pre-industrial, industrial to consumer and global society, advertising communicates to us the centrality of consumerism in the world.