Introduction

Statistics assume that the present average-American watches over 3000 commercials a day (Messaris 1997, p. 10) and half of our daily newspapers consist of advertising-pages (White 2000, p.249). Today, the advertising industry is one of the most powerful institutions of post-modern society and its slogans seem to be everywhere. But like every institution it was not suddenly born as a giant, but historically developed to what it is today. This essay hence intends to explain why and how the advertising industry evolved the way it has as well as to ask what role commercial texts actually play in people’s everyday life. Therefore it is necessary to trace a historical time-lime that, relative to the ambition mentioned above, enlightens the most relevant facts of advertising industry’s genesis. 

This essay hence firstly ensures those main aspects in order to subsequently sketch out an overview of the advertising industry’s development and thus I have divided its histories into four periods in order to explain the process of its cultural integration. As the first epoch  I suggest the space of time from the very beginning until 1910, because here advertising became part of the economy. Between 1920 and 1955 important suppositions for its development as a supposed identity-creating machinery of mass-consumerism were set. The next phase, dated from 1955 to 1980, with the Television’s advent simultaneously is the era of its social integration while this essay’s final chapter asks, in which ways commercial texts happened to be integrated  into current language and thus discusses how far the advertising industry can be described as an institution that creates societal patterns of identity.

From terracotta-signs to the Internet: The historic development of advertising industry as a process of different dependencies

Tracing a historic timeline which is supposed to point out the reasons why the advertising industry has evolved in the way it actually has, there are at least two main factors influencing the whole developmental history of advertising industry: Industrialisation and Zeitgeist. The advertising industry is connected with the mass-society because of its part within the economic sphere to make consumers believe that they need goods and it hence experienced its first boom during the industrial revolution. Technical development as one main characteristic of the industrial revolution also is a significant component within the history of the advertising industry and especially relative to its present power, because the availability of the media highly influences their message’s reach and thus their societal presence.

Zeitgeist means the social structure of society as well as the estimation about it. That might sound a bit slippery, but especially when focusing the later decades it is a meaningful category, because relative to the Zeitgeist the advertising industry happened to play a double-role. On one hand it had to take care about the Zeitgeist, the trends and finally about the self-reflection of present societies, and on the other hand it yet became part of the Zeitgeist’s change, and be a part of it as it will be discussed later. I would like to also include politics that built a favourable framework of laws as folio for the advertising industry’s development into the category of Zeitgeist.

Advertising in the Gutenberg-galaxy: An industry’s first steps: Beginning until 1910    

Although there had been early hints of advertising since 3000 BC (Compare: Messaris 1997, p.5) when terracotta- and stone-signs indicating certain shops were used and although 12^th and 13^th century-town-crier had been protected by law (Compare: Sandage/Fryburger 1971, p.18f.), the first printed advert in Britain was a handbill-poster by industrialist William Caxton, which informed prospective buyers about the release circumstances of his book in 1472. When newspapers and magazines as communicational media developed, a new possibility to locate adverts arose and hence in 1622 the first British press-advertising -- again about the availability of particular books -- was published in  „The Times Handlist“.  Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing-Press hence was a necessary presumption for advertising industry’s evolution, because it firstly enabled advertising-announcements to reproduce and hence to spread out themselves as well as it secondly created the possibility of the first mass media’s development.

In 1652, a coffee advertisement was the first that had prized the merits of the product and hence overcame the former pure informational character of adverts. Within the following centuries adverts mainly for beverages, cosmetics and patent medicine articles happened to be an established part of early media’s content.

The progressive industrialisation in Europe and the United States which produced various commodities to merchandise and the rapid building of railroads since 1840 in the USA, which connected the country and thus created  bigger markets for both, the former regional media and the products itself helped early-media advertising to become a profitable craft.

Until the 19^th century advertising was semi-professionally in the responsibility of  producers, distributors and media-men who took care about adverts’ announcement as a part of their regular business. Around 1800 finally the first so-called advertising agencies were established in Britain, but they just sold spaces in the media to business-men, who still were responsible for content, layout, etc. of the advert. (Compare Sandage/Fryburger 1971, p. 26) In the United States the first advertising agency was founded by Volney B. Palmer somewhere between 1840 and 1842[i] in Philadelphia, but in 1849 Palmer already had branch-offices in New York, Boston and Baltimore. (Compare Messaris 1997, p.8) As Messaris pointed out „the first ad agency in the modern sense“( Messaris 1997, p.8), meaning the first agency which took responsibility for the advertising insofar as they hired artists and writers in order to create complete advertising campaigns, was N. W. Ayer and Son founded 1875 in Philadelphia. During the next 45 years advertising industry increased so much, that the World Fair considered it in St. Luis in 1904.  (Compare: Liebert 2002, p. 4) Also, between 1900 and 1925 advertising organisations as Advertising Federation of America developed and since 1906 advertising agents were educated in Germany.

The early period’s adverts were as Leiss, Kline and Jhally have pointed out in so far more rational than current commercials as they focused on the product’s qualities, on its price and usefulness rather than on its meta-qualities, on what consuming the product might tell about the single person buying it. (Compare: Leiss/ Kline/ Jhally 1990, p. 5)

Advertising industry in modern times: Scientific methods, new media and the discovery of the ‘typical consumer’ (1910- 1955)

In 1912 Hugo Münsterberg had introduced experimental scientific advertising psychology in Germany and (Compare Liebert 2002, p.5) Sandage and Freyburger also characterise the era between 1925 and 1945 as „the period of scientific development“ (Sandage/Fryburger 1971, p. 17), because they focus on two aspects changing the character of advertising practise: Advertisers themselves searched for methods enabling them to work most effectively, and, secondly, market research as well as psychology was discovered for advertising. In 1918 the American Association of Advertising Agencies published a guide-programme which included different steps to create a successful advertising campaign.  It contained many factors as product studies, market analysis, media choice (regional newspaper or a special magazine), layout, etc., but they did not regard consumer-research yet. But in 1920 already, thus Messaris has shown that the notion of the „typical consumer“ (Messaris 1997, p.8) was common language within the advertising agencies. Until 1925 studying prospective consumer’s buying habits, needs and desires in order to create an appropriate product image was taken into consideration in nearly every agency. And hence by 1945 advertisers had established their own market- and consumer-research departments and specialised independent research agencies were founded. (Compare, Sandage/Fryburger 1971, p.28ff)

The invention Radio in the 20’s produced the commercial as a new kind of advertising. Radio is a sound based mass medium and therefore the commercial also firstly reached masses of people and secondly could create „mini-narrative or musical jingle revolving around a product or service and its uses.“ (Messaris 1997, p.9)

Because the advertising industry happened to establish before the new mass media such as Radio, Television and Internet were invented, it automatically got integrated in their programmes. Media and the commercial entered into a symbiosis which was a necessary presupposition for the influence of commercial texts and the advertising industry on present society, then thus the dissemination of media simultaneously meant the extension of  advertising’s reach.

The assumption that high-level production and full employment could only be sustained by a high level of consumption helped the advertising industry to establish itself as a major part within the economic sphere in the post war societies of Europe and North America. Between 1945 and 1955 advertising had not only been integrated into the economic sphere, it yet had gained in so far social influence as it had become an „institution of persuasion to promote social and economic values as safety, health, education, benevolence, liberty, democracy, free enterprise and tolerance.“ (Sandage/Fryburger 1971, p.31) As Sandage and Fryburger stress, advertising already  started to obtain part of the social discourse and hence a kind of societal institution during the described decades. That process would be continued within the following period. 

Establishing in post-war society: Social integration of the advertising industry in the era of the TV-commercial (1955-1980)

Television undoubtedly was one of the media which had a very strong impact on societal development and on people’s everyday life. Since advertising and media had such a symbiotic relationship the expansion of television hence opened an incredibly wide field of activity for the advertising industry to disseminate their messages.  While Television in Britain had its advent in the late forties, the first British TV-commercial (for Gibbs SR Toothpaste) was shown on the 22 September 1955. With the television commercial the first ad-personalities developed and their slogans like the detergent-motto „Mr. Clean in just a minute“  and „fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is“ performed by „Speedy“ for Alka-Seltzer stomach medicine became common knowledge in modern society. (Messaris 1997, p.9)

As Dickanson mentions the consumer boom at the end of the fifties on the one hand created a very favourable climate for advertising industries to expand and on the other hand the Zeitgeist was used to advertise products. (Compare: Dickanson 2000) Coca-Cola commercials in that time, for example, presented the consumption of Coca-Cola as kind of a patriotic act and insofar Coca-Cola commercials propagated a certain way of American life. They hence might be read as the first lifestyle adverts. Within those years consuming became an ideology and were supposed to be duty in order to be a proper citizen. Conservative values also were associated with certain products. In Germany, for example, owning a AEG-washing-machine and driving an Opel-car were indispensable status symbols for petite bourgeoisie. It hence was no wonder, that the advertising industry, also supported by specifying market research and the starting commercialisation of media-system since 1970, recognised the Zeitgeist for its propose. Lifestyle advertising began to evolve within this period. (Compare: Liebert 2002, p. 7)    

As Messaris has shown the period of its social integration also had been the era where sharp critics from the left as well as from the right political side were formulated. At least since the late sixties followers of the left criticised the advertising industry because it were supposed to mystify goods, to create commodity-fetish and to awake artificial desires, while right-wing criticism were afraid of promiscuity and damage of conservative values. Messaris rather assumes that exactly those attacks verify his thesis

„that advertising indeed became an intrinsic component of modern-day social discourse. The language of advertising has become the language of all - even of those who are critical of it.“

(Messaris, 1997, p. 10)

Indeed neither the criticism from the right nor from the left could stop the increasing power of commercial texts and the advertising industry within the modern society; on the contrary as the Annan Report of 1977 shows. The Annan Report praised the British advertising industry’s increase and celebrated the commercial as a welcome piece of contemporary media reality.

In Germany Neo-Marxist movements propagating also anti-consumerism formed in the late 60's and although they happened to reach more liberal social structures, they didn’t have any impact on advertising industry either. In Germany - as in Britain - the advertising industry would become more influential within the next few decades.

The verification of advertising industry’s influence in present society: (1980 until present) Commercials creating identity?

The space of time since the eighties can be named as the era of deregulation and thus political sphere transferred more and more power to the economy and the decline of communism were read as confirmation of western world order. The Broadcasting Act in 1990 (Compare: The Broadcasting Act 1990) in Britain as well as the establishment of commercial broadcasting in Germany since the 80's (Compare: Dussel 1999, p. 156ff) politically supported the development of the advertising industry. During 1985 and 1997 advertising’s expenditure continually increased from 1.64 per cent of the GDP to 1.94 per cent of GDP. (White 2000, p. 240) Three years ago, in 2000 0.4 per cent of total employment in the UK were located within the advertising industry.  This has became a „valuable ‘lead indicator’ of  economic process.“ (White 2000, p. 240) Media, especially Television and Internet became a certain part of people’s everyday life while the boundaries between the social classes, and, conditional on globalization, even between nations in industrial countries seemed to be blurred, while socio-political milieus apparently are replaced by lifestyles. (Compare: Giddens 2001, p.28ff). Messaris believes that almost every present cultural information, especially lifestyle-models, forms the basis on commercials, and, thus his thesis is that

„we assimilate and react to advertising texts unwittingly, and, in ways that parallel how individuals and groups have responded in the past to religious texts, unconsciously as templates for planing, interpreting, and structuring social actions and behaviours.“

(Messaris, 1997, p.10)   

Advertising industry as identity-fabric and commodity-fetish as religion’s substitute, which unconsciously is absorbed? - Fiske by mentioning children singing a certain panty-hose-jingle: „Razzmatazz, razzmatazz, enjoy the jazz“ (Fiske 1989, p.31) yet adds that advertising’s secret power turns the audience into helpless consumer-victims, but he also points to the cultural influence of commercial texts. He assumes that information available within European and American cultural system is presented by the giants of capitalism as the dominant system, and that nobody living within that system was able to create a real alternative, subordinate culture which is independent from or unconnected with capitalism. He therefore assumes that the information provided by the dominant system are excorporated.

„Excorporation is the process by which the subordinate make their own culture out of the resources and commodities provided by the dominant system, and this is central to popular culture, for in an industrial society the only resources from which subordinate can make their own subcultures are those provided by the system that subordinates them.“

(Fiske 1989, 15)

The children mentioned above hence integrated ad-slogans within their own sub-culture. In opposition to Messerias, Fiske interprets the process of ad-slogan’s cultural integration not as an unconscious misery of capitalism, but as a deliberate and probably even subversive decision. It nevertheless sounds a bit culturally-optimistic, when he states:

„[T]he kids [...]were using the ad for their own subcultural purpose: They were far from helpless victims of any subliminal consumerism, but were able to turn even and advertising text into their popular culture.“

(Fiske 1989, p. 31)

Regardless if one welcomes commercial text’s cultural intermixture or rejects it, it seems to be incontestable that ad-slogans now are implanted deeply into the cultural consciousness of mass-consuming-society[ii] and even I who have not watched German television for almost three months can remember the exact wording of  at least 37 German commercial-slogans, because I had been exposed to their endless repetition almost my whole life long. Thus even if one will not state that our whole language was the language of commercials and of advertising industry one cannot deny that advertising slogans at least have been deeply implanted into our collective and individual knowledge for a long time. Advertising industry hence became an institution involved in our cultural identity and it probably might has even became factor of socialisation. 

Conclusion

As shown above it needed a long way until advertising industry gained the cultural, political, social and economic influence it has in present society. The actual history of advertising started with the invention of the printing press and it has always been connected with the media history in general. It has also been evaluated above that the close symbiosis between media and the advertising industry from the very beginning was an important presupposition for its present influence. Then, because of that interaction, advertising could spout out their messages with the dissemination of media which especially is relevant according to Television and commercial. Since the industrial revolution and since the subsequent societal development praising consumerism and free-market-order the advertising industry dynamically evolved.

Ongoing deregulation supported advertising industry to become a major economic and politically powerful institution and when it recognised consumer research it started its carrier  as an institution creating life-styles. The social changes during the last 30 years, the erosion of traditional milieus and the increasing influence of the media helped the commercial to become established as a relevant social institution,  powerful enough to predominate everyday language and hence and by creating hip lifestyles possibly even influence individuals’ socialisation.

References

Dickason, Renée (1995): The Advertising Handbook. London: Routledge.

Dussel, Konrad (1999): Deutsche Rundfunkgeschichte. Konstanz: UVK-Medien.

Fiske, John (1989): Understanding Popular Culture. London: Routledge.

Giddons, Anthony (2001): Sociology. (Eight Edition.) Cambridge, Oxford: Polity Press.

Leiss, William/ Kline, Stephan/ Jhally, Sut (1990): Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products, Images of Well-Being. Toronto: Nelson.

Liebert, Tobias: Geschichte der Werbung (Wirtschaftswerbung) (13.11.2002), URL: www.kommwiss.de.dls/Werbung%20(Geschichte).pdf,  visited 6.11.03.

Messaris, Paul (1997): Visual Persuasion. The Role of Images in Advertising. London: Sage.

Sandage, C. H./ Fryburger, Vernon (1971): Advertising theory and practise. Eighth Edition. Homewood, Georgetown:Richard D. Irwing inc.

White, Roderick (2000): Advertising. Fourth Edition. Glasgow: McGraw-Hill.