Attempt to define Advertising

Hi, here is an small attempt to define and understand the purpose of advertising.

Confusion exists not only at the point of understanding how advertising works, but even at the level of defining the term. Below are six definitions found in literature.

…….any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or service by an identified sponsor. (American Marketing Association, 1960)

Advertising is the mass communication of a promise. It promises the satisfaction or gratification of some want- a satisfaction to be experienced from the purchase and consumption or use of the advertised item. The essence of the advertising message, thus, is the interpretation or translation of a product or service into the capacity to satisfy a buyer’s want (Tillman and Kirkpatrick, 1972)

Advertising is controlled identified information and persuasion by the means of mass communication media (Wright, Warner, Winter, and Ziegler, 1977)

…….in essence, advertising is a substitute for the human salesman talking personally to an individual prospect or customer across a store counter or desk or an open door (Bernstein 1980)

…….the advertising function may be equated, at least in part, to the creation and management of product imagery; that is the set of meanings and associations which serve to differentiate a product or service from its competition (Reynold and Gutman, 1984)

These definitions, although different, can be condensed into two basic identifying characteristics for advertising. Firstly, and most obviously, advertising is a form of mass communication. The second point of definition is where ambiguity and confusion arises. This has to do with the effect or goal of the advertising.

Promotion (AMA, 1960), Replacement of a salesman (Bernstein 1980), Differentiation (Reynold and Gutman, 1984), Promising to satisfy a want (Tillman and Kirkpatrick, 1972) or Persuasion (Wright et al, 1977) are all different description of this more difficult to express aspect. Segger (1982) proposes that “……the primary role of advertising is to effect positioning”. The issue is not to select which of these distinctions is correct, but to observe both the commonality and distinctions between each and make that they are all “Correct”.

The underlying, unstated construct which all of these definitions imply, is that there is intent to alter target audience memory structure in a way that they are more predisposed to behave in the fashion advocated by the sponsor.

Sorry for not being original.