Advertising in our Life, Детальна інформація

We can see advertisements in the early documents of written history. During excavations on the territory of the countries belonging to the Mediterranean region archeologists found the signboards informing on various events and offers. The Romans painted walls with announcements of gladiatorial fights, and the Phoenicians painted rocks on routes of different trade processions, in every possible way praising to the skies their goods. One of the inscriptions on the walls of the house in Pompeii highly praised one outstanding politician and called people to give their voices for him voting that time. All these things are predecessors of modern outdoor advertising.

The first advertising in written form is considered to be information on Egyptian papyrus which tells about the sale of the slave and nowadays this papyrus is kept in the British Museum in London.

Advertising began long before the Christian era. One of the first known methods of advertising was the outdoor display, usually eye-catching signs painted on the wall of a building. Archaeologists found many such like signs, in the ruins of ancient Rome and Pompeii. An outdoor advertisement excavated in Rome offers property for rent, and one more found advertisement painted on a wall in Pompeii calls the attention of travellers to a tavern situated in another town.

Messages of commercial character were drawn on rocks along trading ways. Greeks engraved advertising messages on stones, copper, bones and they cut them out on wooden columns. The stone column with the inscription on it: “Here I live, Minos, from the island Cyprus. On favour of Gods I am allocated with the ability to interpret dreams for a very moderate pay” was found in the ruins of an ancient Egyptian city Memphis. A fine example of announcement: brevity and market capacity.

In medieval times word-of-mouth praise of products gave rise to a simple but effective form of advertising, the use of so-called town criers. The criers were citizens who read public notices aloud and were also employed by merchants to shout the praises of their wares.

A turning point in the history of advertisement was 1450 when a printing press was invented that allowed to multiply advertisements quickly and qualitatively. The advertizer did not need to produce extra copies of the advertisements. The first printed announcement in English appeared in 1478.

In 1622 advertising received powerful stimulus as the first newspaper in English began to be printed. It was called "Weekly News ". Later Edison and Stel started to issue a newspaper "Tatler",and they did a lot for spreading advertising. Edison printed the following advice to advertisers: " Great art of correctly written advertisement consists in searching correct approach in gaining the attention of the reader giving him the right kind of sales message, creating preference for it, persuading him to buy the advertising thing".

A major mark in the development of Russian advertising was 1703 when under Peter’s I decree the edition of the first Russian newspaper began. Many newspapers were published and a lot of advertisements were written in them. In 1878 in Moscow a businessman Mettsel put forward a slogan “Advertisement is a motive force and power of trade”. And he established the first advertising office.

In volume and technique, advertising made its greatest advances in the United States of America. In the early stages of American advertising nationwide promotion was impractical because the nation itself was underdeveloped and lacked transcontinental transportation, distribution, and communications systems. Eventually, however, certain types of manufacturer conceived the idea of bypassing wholesalers and retailers and reaching the consumer through direct advertising, mainly by means of catalogs. The pioneers in this field were seed companies and book and pamphlet publishers. Mail-order houses appeared in 1870s. To the present day they have continued to expand their business through direct-mail catalog and flyer advertising, although some of the biggest houses sell also through retail outlets.

Railroads and steamship lines were also among the early users of advertising in the United States, not only to praise the luxury and comfort of their ways of travel but also to publish their schedules and rates.

In the 19th century two types of advertisement dominated: printed (calendars, lists, price-lists) and external (signboards of shops, taverns and warehouses).

In Soviet times such outstanding persons as V. Mayakovsky and V. Kustodiyev were engaged in advertising.

Here are some examples of advertising texts by Mayakovsky.

Всё, что требует желудок,

Тело ил ум, -

Всё человеку предоставит Гум.

Тому не страшен мороз зловещий,

Кто в Гуме купит теплые вещи.

Кооператор! Торгуй книгой!

Свет и знание в деревню двигай!

In 1925 in Paris Mayakovsky and Rodchenko were awarded with silver medals for advertisements at the International Art Industrial Exhibition.

After World War I advertising developed into a business so big that it became almost a trademark of America itself in the eyes of the world. This expansion was stimulated by many technical improvements.

The increased use of electricity led to the illuminated outdoor poster. Advertising was used increasingly by public-relations specialists as an important means of communication. The invention of radio in 1920s stimulated the development of a new technique of selling by voice.

The most significant development was television, a medium that forced the advertising industry to improve its techniques of selling by the use of visual devices as well as by voice.

Advertising is a kind of activity which purpose is realization of marketing or other industrial tasks of enterprises and public organizations by distribution of the information paid by them, generated so that to render influence on mass or individual consciousness, causing the reaction of the chosen consumer audience.

In the USA and other industrially advanced countries the word "advertising" means advertisements in mass media (in press, by radio, TV, on panelboard advertising) and is not distributed to the actions promoting sales, - “sales promotion ”, the prestigious actions aimed at a gain of goodwill of the public, - “public relations”, and also on specific area of advertising activity roughly developing recently, which essence in the directed communications of the manufacturer with the consumer - "direct-marketing".

In domestic practice the concept of advertising is wider. Exhibition actions, commercial seminars, packing, printed products, distribution of souvenirs and other means of stimulation of trading activity is included in it.

It is necessary to give the following definitions of advertising activity:

International - modern activity of firms of industrially advanced countries, focused on the foreign markets in view of their features;

External economic - activity of the domestic enterprises and the organizations in the foreign markets, reflecting modern practice;