WHAT IS ADVERTISING?
Definition
Advertising is half-way between a craft and a business, rooted in both art and social science, a world which feeds on inventiveness, imagination, and daring. Marshall McLuhan, a 20th-century communication theorist 1, said that "advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century," but how can advertising be defined?
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, advertising is “the techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised.”
In other words, advertising is a marketing tactic based on paying for space to promote a product or service. Promotional messages are messages planned to inform, shock, engage, or surprise people in order to influence them to buy or try something 2.
MORE 1
McLuhan became internationally famous in the 1960s for his studies of the effects of mass media on thought and behaviour.
MORE 2
Digital marketing experts estimate that an average American is exposed to around 4,000 advertisements each day.