Advertising

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods and services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media.

Let’s take this definition apart and analyze its components. Advertising is directed to groups of people, rather than to individuals, and is therefore nonpersonal. The groups, for example, might be teenagers who enjoy rock music or older adults who attend cultural events. In either case, advertising to these groups is not personal or face-to-face communication.

Direct-mail advertising often attempts to personalize the message by in­serting the receiver's name one or more times in the letter. But direct mail is still nonpersonal; a computer inserted the name. And the signature on the direct-mail advertisement is produced electronically.

Most advertising is paid for by sponsors. General Motors, Kmart, Coca-Cola, and the local supermarket pay money to the media to carry the adver­tisements we read, hear, and see. But some ads are not paid for by their sponsors. The American Red Cross, United Way, and the American Cancer Society are only three of hundreds of organizations whose messages are customarily presented by the media at no charge as a public service.

Most advertising is intended to be persuasive—to win converts to a good, service, or idea. A company usually sponsors advertising to convince people its product will benefit them. Some ads, though, such as legal announce­ments, are intended merely to inform, not to persuade.

In addition to promoting tangible goods such as suits, soap, and soft drinks, advertising also helps sell the intangible services of bankers, beauti­cians, and bike repair shops. And increasingly, advertising is used to sell a wide variety of ideas—economic, political, religious, and social. It's impor­tant to note here that, for the sake of simplicity, in this text the term product refers to both goods and services.

For a message to be considered an advertisement, the sponsor must be identified. This seems obvious: Naturally, the sponsor usually wants to be identified—or else why pay to advertise? But a distinguishing characteristic between advertising and public relations is that certain public relations activities like publicity are normally not openly sponsored.

Advertising reaches us through various channels of communication re­ferred to as the media. In addition to the traditional mass media—radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and billboards—advertising also uses direct mail, shopping carts, and videocassettes.

1. Sum up the text in 10 sentences and present your summary in class.

T E X T 3

Does advertising make us too materialistic?

Some critics claim advertising adversely affects our value system by suggest­ing that the means to a happier life is in the acquisition of more material things instead of spiritual or intellectual enlightenment. Advertising, they say, encourages people to buy more automobiles, more clothing, and more appliances than they need—all with the promise of greater status, greater social acceptance, and greater sex appeal. For example, critics point out that millions of Americans own 20 or more pairs of shoes, several TV sets, and often more than one vehicle. But these critics fail to realize that they often tend to force their own values on others.

Frankly, we all have needs and desires beyond the basics of food, clothing, and shelter. One benefit of a free society is that we can choose the degree to which we wish to indulge our desires, needs, and fantasies. Some people prefer a simple life without an elegant house, fancy cars, and trips abroad. Others enjoy the material pleasures of a modern, technological society. There are advertising sponsors at both ends of that spectrum. Food companies offer natural products as well as convenience packaged goods. Shoe companies offer simple sandals as well as formal footwear.

Proponents of advertising also point out that material comfort or security is necessary before a person can devote time to higher cultural and spiritual values. Therefore, the stress on material things doesn't rule out spiritual and cultural values. In fact, it may create a greater opportunity for attaining such values, since the satisfaction of a person's higher desires is more likely when that person's lower, more basic desires have been met.² Proponents also point out that, through its support of the media, advertising has brought literature, opera, drama, and symphonies to millions who otherwise might never have experienced them.

An off-heard criticism is that advertising forces people to buy things they don't need by playing on their emotions. Some critics believe advertising's persuasive techniques are so powerful that consumers are helpless to defend themselves. Those who accuse advertising of manipulating consumers – assuming that people can’t resist advertising’s hypnotic messages – have little respect for their decision-making abilities or common sense. Another aspect of the manipulation argument is that advertising creates artificial needs.

Read the title of the text once again. What is your answer to this question?

T E X T 4

Have you ever thought about ‘ children and advertising’? Is it a problem? What is your attitude to this problem?

COMMERCIALS AIMED AT KIDS

Many people argue whether young children (under 10-12) should be the targets of advertising appeals at all, and whether some pro­ducts (like sugary cereals) present sufficient health hazards to kids that they should also be banished from the airwaves. Some people argue that basically, any advertising to a 6-year-old is unfair and deceptive because the child is too young to understand it. Little children don't have the natural defenses some adults have. And when it comes to television advertising, they really don't understand the selling intention of the advertiser.

Where children are concerned, we must be absolutely sure that no dangerous or misleading impressions are left with our youngest consumers. Children are not qualified to decide for themselves whether they need vitamins, and probably can't tell the difference between an ad message and program content where one of their favorite superheroes was involved.

The advertising industry's argument is, basically, that parents themselves should be the ones responsible for what their kids see and what they don't. Another interesting point is that pressure groups like Action for Childrens' Television (USA), which call for more restrictions on kids' advertising, are made up of upper-middle-class parents who may not like those commercials because they induce their kids to want toys and foods associated with lower-middle-class consumption patterns. The same techniques of persuasion are lauded when they appear on Sesame Street (which borrows heavily from kid commercial techniques) because the program is seen as educational, thus more desirable by those parents.

T E X T 5

Read the text. What is it about? What is your variant of the title? How many parts does the text consist of? What is each part about? Define the key sentence of each paragraph.

The advertising business is composed of two main groups—advertisers and agencies. The advertisers (or clients) are the companies that advertise themselves and their products. Advertisers range in size from small independent stores to huge multinational firms and in type from small industrial concerns to large service organizations. Assisting them are the advertising agencies that plan, create, and prepare advertising cam­paigns and materials for the advertisers. In addition to these two groups are the media, which sell time (in electronic media) and space (in print media) to carry the advertiser's mes­sage to the target audience. And finally, there is another group known as the suppliers. These include the photographers, illustrators, printers, typeset­ters, video production houses, and many others who assist both advertisers and agencies in the preparation of advertising materials. Many of us think of advertising people as the copywriters and art directors who work for the advertising agencies. But in reality, the people who work for the clients are also very much involved in the advertising business. In fact, the majority of people in advertising are employed by the advertisers. Vir­tually every company has an advertising department of some size, even if it is just one person who shares the advertising responsibility with other job functions. The importance of the company's advertising people varies, depending on several factors: the size of the company, the type of industry in which it operates, the size of the advertising program, the role of advertising in the company's marketing mix, and most of all, the involvement of the firm's top management in the advertising function. Company presidents and other top executives, who are naturally quite interested in how their company or product is portrayed, are often directly involved in advertising decisions. Sales and marketing personnel frequently provide input to the creative process, assist in choosing the advertising agency, and help evaluate proposed advertising programs. Large companies may have a separate advertising department employing from one to several hundred people and headed by an advertising manager who reports to a marketing director or marketing services manager. These departments often resemble advertising agencies in structure and function. Creative people—artists, writers, and photographers—are employed by the advertising departments of large companies and by independent advertis­ing agencies to produce the ads. Their work is coordinated by someone who takes responsibility for the entire campaign or product—perhaps a creative director or a product manager. Product engineers and designers often make recommendations about product features or provide information about competitive products. Simi­larly, administrative people in accounting or purchasing frequently consider the impact of advertising programs on the company's financial status or help determine appropriate budgets for the next campaign.

T E X T 6

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME AN AD MANAGER?

Most advertising professionals enjoy the work they do, because the excitement of developing strategies for competing in a tough marketplace, the challenge of creating breakthrough communications, and the satisfaction of seeing the final ad in print or on television offer great reward indeed. And the gratification of being involved in a glamorous end of the business world can be combined with high earnings, too – often enough, while the advertising practitioner is still quite young. Since personal talent and ability are so crucial for the business of advertising, the rigid seniority system found in the industries is uncommon.

The ad manager's various roles call for a person with a high degree of advertising expertise and professionalism. Some qualities that tend to make successful ad managers are sales ability, enough sophistication to view a proposed campaign and make a skilled appraisal of its likelihood of success, sound planning and managerial skills, quantitative ability, a keen understanding of all marketing functions, and a personal flair for diplomacy. Some traits usually associated with less successful advertising managers are personal insecurity, reflected in arbitrary martinet-type decision making or even worse, a willingness to change direction with every corporate whim; and a need to claim all the credit for advertising successes (though a lot of other people helped, and everyone knows it) and blame the "dumb agency" for every problem. In other words, an effective ad manager must be able to determine what kind of advertising will work for the company and know where to take a stand on it.

The survey was made to find out, among other things, what professionals really thought it takes to be successful in advertising and what advice they would give to young people seeking an advertising career. There is a prevalent feeling that the future lies not with the marketing/communications expert, well versed in all aspects of this very varied field. But the most important attributes for a successful ad man are initiative and aptitude for planning campaign strategy … and writing courses are the best subject you can take.

1. What other qualities, knowledge, skills are necessary for an ad manager to be a success? Defend your point of view.

T E X T 7