The Definition of Advertising. - Part 2 -

The advertising of yesterday is not the advertising of today. Men not so very old have witnessed its entire development from an untrustworthy instrument of quacks to its place as an engine in the conduct and expansion of business.
Advertising in the dictionary sense has a history as old as that of the human race. Just as soon as there were enough people in the world, some sort of formal announcement had to be made. The early history of such announcements – from proclamations to the beginning of pictorial and lettered inscriptions, from these primitive posters to the discovery of printing, and from the advent of printing to the beginning of real advertising – is of interest only to the archeologist. It is of no value to the business entrepreneur. It would be of no assistance to understanding modern advertising than ancient Phoenicians coins would be to comprehending the principles of a modern bank.

Every attempt to secure the sale of a product or service is advertising. The wares of the primitive merchant displayed invitingly in front of his booth is advertising. A want ad, to secure a job or an employee, is advertising. An inscription on a wall, the barker in front of a side show, the promises of an internet marketer, the announcement of a new online technology, membership in an affiliate program, wearing a peculiar shirt or distinctive sticker in your car – all these are forms of advertising in that they seek to attract attention to a product or a service that is for sale. For a product or a service of general use, rich and poor, high and low, men, women and even children, must be appealed to.

Continued on Part 3.