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advertising

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we know it when we see it, but it can be difficult to define

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three definitions

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1. "any device which first arrests the attention of the passer-by and then induces him to accept a mutually advantageous exchange"

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James Laver, art historian, late 19th century

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a broad definition

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includes a flower that attracts through its color and nectar a butterfly to land on it, and in return, the butterfly helps to pollinate

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being so broad, we lose the specificity

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picture of roadside women at a market in India

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they have laid out fruits and spices that are for sale

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Herculaneum

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ruins in Italy

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in excavating this city, one found signs that wine was for sale in building

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key features

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exchange

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attention

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mutuality

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2. "the official are of capitalist society"

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Raymond Williams, social theorist

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a kind of sponsored are that is a part of a particular kind of society, namely, capitalism

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is locating advertising in a particular context today

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it is the official art of current society just as churches of the medieval churches had church windows

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today, Coke might pay for the artists, back in the 16th century, wealthy patrons such as the church and wealthy individuals and families paid for it

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portrait of Catherine Medici

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portrait of Frederick Barbarossa's wedding

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in contrast in Soviet society

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large image of Stalin being promoted to the public

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Superbowl

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the great festival of advertising in American culture

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key features

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links advertising to the social context in which it exists

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not general as in Laver's definition

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focuses on modernity

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as sponsored art

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someone is paying for it, i.e. usually corporations

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advertising is supportive of the social, political, and economic system

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3. salesmanship in print

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John E. Kennedy, advertising copywriter

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advertising is what had pasted as salesmanship prior to print

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old image of a department store

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you sit at a glove department

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you sit across from an expert

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dialogue between salesman and consumer

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advertising takes this phenomenon and converts it to print

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image of London train station late 19th century

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advertisements everywhere on wall

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radio

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shift from print to audio

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advertisement from 1936

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television

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1940s and 1950s

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needs to account for

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all advertisements on the computer and mobile devices

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product placement

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stadium advertisements

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face-to-face communications

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social media