Introduction
It is impossible to imagine the life of a modern person without advertisements. Banners, billboards, videos, slogans, and leaflets have become integral to human life. Manufacturers and various companies use many tricks to capture the attention of a potential buyer or client. Advertising as a phenomenon appeared long before the founding of the United States and the discovery of America. Even in ancient Egypt, sellers used papyri to interact with customers. Nevertheless, the consumer boom of the USA of the XX century contributed to the development and widespread distribution of advertisements.
The close connection between advertising and production ensured the continuous development of the advertising industry. The desire to sell goods stimulated not only quantitative but also qualitative changes. By the 21st century, humanity has managed to bring the skill of creating a PR campaign to incredible quality and attractiveness. Undoubtedly, the USA, one of the first to experience all aspects of the modern market economy, was one of the oases of the formation of the PR industry. Thus, advertising has become an integral part of American society due to the rapid pace of technological development.
The Penetration of Advertising into the Life of Society
The industrialization of the USA at the beginning of the twentieth century inevitably led to an increase in industrial production, and, consequently, a communication channel between the seller and the consumer was required to ensure a continuous flow of goods. This meant that more and more people were attracted to the creation and distribution of advertising. In 1910-1920, advertisers adapted for themselves Freud’s doctrine that human instincts can be directed and used – “sublimated,” but in the field of the desire to buy and consume something (Quick). This idea is often associated with the name of Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays. This scientist is the founder of the modern advertising and public relations concept.
Since 1920, advertisements have been actively broadcast on the radio; thus, the practice of sponsorship has spread. Usually, a program had one or two sponsors whose products were regularly mentioned on the air (Meyers 246). Televisions appeared in the homes of 60% of Americans, and with them, television advertising entered everyday life (Quick). It is worth noting the fact that DuMont Television Network became the first company to sell airtime. The owners of this company implemented the mechanism of an advertising break. This phenomenon was the first stage in the development and more explicit integration of advertising into the daily life of American society.
It is worth mentioning one crucial fact that the primary weapon of advertising in the 50s was the study of consumer motivation. Research of psychology, subconsciousness, and complexes of the target audience allowed professionals to find and use more advanced methods to influence consumers (Meyers 247). Women were the main target audience of TV ads since they were the ones who made the shopping list and ran the household. The image of a woman created by PR specialists in the 50s of the twentieth century is noteworthy: a well-groomed housewife who manages to take care of her family and appearance, dressed in the latest fashion (Quick). At that time, women already occupied a considerable part of the labor market; nevertheless, the stereotype of a woman as a keeper of the hearth still prevailed in society. A new turn in the history of the development of television advertising in the United States was the popularization of cable television. With the advent of music channels such as MTV, music videos began to be used for advertising purposes.
With the invention of the Internet, advertising has firmly established itself in the life of every user of the World Wide Web. Since the 1990s, a boom in creating “com” domains has begun (Quick). Currently, online advertising has two levels: banners, text blocks, video ads, mini-sites, and interstitials – types of advertising on various external sites; usually, they have a link to the advertiser’s site, which is already the second stage of online advertising (Lee and Chang-Hoan 338). Currently, many companies resort to interactive game advertising, which is also an achievement of USA PR agencies. Thus, it becomes evident that with the advent of new technology, it indeed begins to be used by advertising specialists. That is why there is a certain feeling that advertising is ubiquitous and comprehensive. New gadgets, devices, various applications, and websites are becoming essential to people’s lives (Lee and Chang-Hoan 334). Thus, advertising penetrates everywhere, using multiple ways to capture the attention of potential customers.
Currently, advertising is not only a way to sell your product but also to announce it to the world. Modern advertising campaigns form the overall brand image. Famous directors are attracted to create them, jingles from videos become symbols, and some videos look more like exciting short story films (Quick). Thus, advertising satisfies urgent practical needs and can also serve as a source of aesthetic pleasure. That is, advertising strives to become a “negative” aspect of people’s lives and occupy a niche of art. Consequently, experts strive to identify the importance and necessity of advertising as an integral part of art in the modern world. Thus, even if people have learned to ignore and not notice it, now advertising is striving to acquire a new image that will be more acceptable.
Conclusion
The effectiveness of advertising is that it actively uses everyday meanings generated by belonging to a socio-cultural community. In their activities, creative advertising agencies try to consider the national and cultural peculiarities of the everyday world. Sociologists’ interest in advertising is focused on the peculiarities of its inherent persuasion effect and on the problem of how it contributes to social change and reflects it. Advertising today is an established fact of everyday life; it is woven into the fabric of the usual, confirmed order of things. On the other hand, advertising undermines the foundations of a habitual way of life. The public is concerned about what needs, interests, and values change and develop in people due to advertising influence.
It is worth mentioning that the content of advertising changes as its consumers. However, that is not all; the reflection of the ongoing changes in advertising consumption leads to a change in the principles of advertising creation. For most of the twentieth century, advertising tried to convince of the product’s usefulness, effectiveness, or reliability. Now it seeks to connect the services and goods offered with people’s ideas about lifestyle. Advertising producers increasingly believe that consumers are more interested in the product as an element of a particular lifestyle than its immediate usefulness. Thus, it becomes a part of American society, constantly changing and transforming, penetrating various aspects of life.
Works Cited
Lee, Heejun, and Chang-Hoan Cho. “Digital Advertising: Present and Future Prospects.” International Journal of Advertising, vol. 39, no. 3, 2019, pp. 332–41, doi:10.1080/02650487.2019.1642015.
Meyers, Cynthia B. “Media History and Advertising Archives.” American Journalism, vol. 37, no. 2, 2020, pp. 244–255, doi:10.1080/08821127.2020.1750888.
Quick, Tyson. “The Evolution of Advertising and How Personalization Improved Over Time.” Instapage, 2021.