The History of Advertising

Advertisements and the concept of advertising have been around for hundreds of years. Ancient Egyptians displayed sales messages and posters on pieces of papyrus, while Ancient Greeks and Romans used papyrus to convey lost and found advertisements. Many people in Asia, Africa, and South America used wall and rock paintings as a form of advertising, and it is a form that is still present to this day in some areas. Some ancient Indian rock paintings date back to 4000 BC. [1]

In the 17^th century it was common for advertisements to be strictly images because very few people could read and write. As time progressed and as people began to learn how to read, advertisements began to include words and phrases.[1] Such advertisements could be found in local newspapers that were published on a regular basis. In 1729, advertisements were included in the Pennsylvania Gazette, which was first published by Benjamin Franklin. Thirteen years later (in 1742), the General Magazine, also developed by Benjamin Franklin, included the first American magazine advertisements.[2]

Advertisement for Morton Salt in 1917
displaying the tagline,
"When It Rains, It Pours." [6]

Nearly a century later, the first advertising agency opened its doors in Philadelphia. This agency, which was established and run by Volney Palmer, sold space in newspapers. The companies wishing to advertise in these spaces had to purchase the space from Volney and personally develop their own ads. This changed a couple of decades later when N.W. Ayer and Son was founded. This agency planned, created, and executed advertising campaigns for its customers. [1] A well-known advertisement that N.W. Ayer and Son developed is, “When it rains, it pours” for Morton Salt in 1912. [3]

Radio stations were established in the early 1920s and at first the programs were sponsored by one single business. These programs later realized that they could sell short time slots and could promote multiple businesses throughout their broadcast. This same concept was applied to commercial television in the 1940s and 1950s. Although most television networks sold advertisement time to multiple sponsors, some continued to have single sponsor shows. [1] Cable television was introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s and specialty channels started to emerge that focused strictly on advertising. Such channels include QVC and Home Shopping Network. The use of Internet marketing and advertising began in the 1990s.

The first television advertisement was broadcast in the United States on July 1, 1941, the same day that the FCC granted NBC and CBS the first commercial television licenses. [4] The advertisement aired before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. Bulova, a watch company, paid nine dollars for a commercial that lasted 10 seconds. The advertisement was an image of a Bulova watch placed over a map of the United States. A voiceover then said the company’s slogan, “America runs on Bulova time!” [4]

An article from the Philadelphia Inquirer discusses the lives of account executives of advertising agencies in the 1950s and 1960s. Chet Harrington, a man who started his advertising career at N.W. Ayer and Son, said, “We were more genteel than New York. We were cordial but competitive. It was a hardworking life, but a lot of fun.” [3] Another man, Gene Shay, said that it was a very competitive industry. During this time period, women were not hired on as account executives. If they were working for an advertising agency, women were copywriters, artists, or secretaries. Allan Kalish, cofounder of Kalish & Rice Inc., said that during those times “there was a kind of tension between the account executives in the suits, and the crazy people in creative.” It wasn’t until the 1970s that both sides began to truly work together to develop advertisements.

Advertising history has even influenced the production (and success) of a television show. One of the most popular shows on television today is Mad Men on AMC. This dramatic series is about an advertising agency in New York City. The main character of the show, Don Draper, is the creative director for the firm. The show focuses on his life inside and outside of work, as well as the changing moods and popular styles of America in the 1960s. This show has won many awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series consecutively over the past four years. Many people involved in the advertising business during this time, including some of the men mentioned earlier, have said that the show is rather historically accurate. Here is a promotional video for the first season of Mad Men to give you an idea of the series and its storyline. 

[5]

Advertising plays a large part in society today, as it has for hundreds of years. Although methods have changed and technology has been updated, the purpose of advertising has remained the same. It displays a company and its products for consumers in a way that store shelves cannot. It seeks out potential customers before they seek out the product. Without advertising, the world as we know it would be completely different.

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[1] Advertising. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 20, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

[2] Unknown. (2005). Advertising history timeline. Retrieved from http://adage.com/century/timeline/

[3] Schaffer, M., & Timpane, J. (2010, August 8). How mad were philadelphia's own mad men?. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved from http://articles.philly.com/2010-08-08/news/24971625_1_smoking-agency-ad-executives

[4] Manning, C. (2007, July 1). Seen any commercials today? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.productivitygoal.com/2007/07/see_any_commercials_today.html

[5] (2009). Mad men - promo season (saison) 1. (2009). [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuMhXcLa-Q

[6] Vintage ads. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mortonsalt.com/heritage/vintage_ads.html

Welcome!

My name is Rachel and I would like to welcome you all to my blog! First let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself. I am a marketing major at the University of Utah and I am set to graduate in the spring of 2012. I am pursuing a minor in digital art technology, a true passion of mine ever since using Photoshop for the first time. I grew up here in Salt Lake City and I have lived here my entire life. I was raised Catholic and attended J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School and Judge Memorial High School before coming to the University of Utah. 

I am recently engaged and could not be more excited for my wedding, which is scheduled to take place next August! My fiancé is a law enforcement ranger up at Jordanelle State Park, so I am also very interested in criminal justice and how the mind of a criminal works.  We have a dog together that we saved from the humane society and she is our pride and joy! Her name is Red and she is a mutt. We think she is part German shepherd, Labrador retriever, and American pitbull. (Photos of my fiance, Tony, and our dog, Red, are pictured above.)

Some of you may be confused by the title of my blog, “advert eyes.” If read quickly, it sounds like the word “advertise,” which is exactly what my blog is about. Advertisements are meant to “advert your eyes” or draw in your attention.  I am studying both marketing and digital art technology and I am hoping to pursue a career in advertising after I graduate. I am specifically interested in sports advertising because I was raised with a deep love for sports and athletics. After taking two advertising courses at the University of Utah, I realized that advertising is the area of marketing in which I am most passionate about.

In this blog I hope to address the many different areas of advertising, both the good and the bad. I want to talk about why advertisements are produced the way they are. All companies emphasize certain emotions through their ads, but consumers may or may not notice. I also want to talk about subliminal advertising, a topic that I find fascinating, although it is often negatively perceived. I am hoping to break down specific advertisements that stand out to me, as well as share my opinions with you all. There is so much more to advertising than meets the eye (and the ear) and I hope that you all find it interesting to learn about!

The area of advertising that really interests me personally is the creative aspect. All advertisements, whether they are positive or negative, are made to send a message. Behind every advertising plan is a creative director that develops the “look” of the advertisement. Last spring, I was in a class called “Advertising Management” and I was the creative director for my team. The layout of the class was as follows: we developed a team of five or six students, chose a company to represent, were allocated a specific advertising budget, and pitched it in front of a bunch of professional advertisers at the end of the semester. My team chose to represent Pier 1, and in the end we were awarded second place. (Two examples of print ads I developed are shown above.)

While I was in the creative director position, I realized that I truly enjoyed the jobs that I was working on. I liked coming up with print ads for magazines and billboards, as well as developing commercials for television and the Internet. Although some tasks and deadlines were stressful, in the end I learned a lot about what it takes to do well in advertising. I worked with an amazing group of people and I was proud to walk away with a second place award. If I could take the class again, I definitely would!

Is there an advertisement or a commercial that you will never forget? What aspects of that commercial made it unforgettable? Was there an advertisement in a magazine that made you feel sympathetic? Was there a commercial on television that made you laugh? Was there a radio commercial that played a jingle that you can’t seem to get out of your head? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the advertisers have done their job! They made you feel something that you probably wouldn’t have felt originally. Advertisements are meant to evoke emotions in consumers that will result in action. Have you ever seen a commercial for a restaurant, and then felt hungry afterward? If so, then the advertisement was successful.