The History of the Advertisement

I've always ignored commercials for the most part, however, I'm realizing that the older I get, the more I pay attention to them and the more I find myself forming opinions. Here's an example... I will never shop at Old Navy. Why? Their commercials make me want run my head into a wall. This surprises me about myself. I've always prided myself on the fact that I couldn't be persuaded by advertising. I had my own mind. I could make decisions for myself.

Yet, there I was. Laughing hysterically at the squirrels as they celebrated after one tried to crash a car at the same time I'm dialing Geico's number to get my rate quote. Someone at the company should be patted on the back. I love those commercials.

But, commercials don't affect me. Do they? Is it really a wonder? On average, we are exposed to more than three-thousand paid advertisements ever day. That's a lot. We are bound to notice some of them, but are we, as Americans, really as materialistic and needy as the advertisers think we are? We must be. Advertising revenues have funded more than we realize. In the beginning, an advertiser would sponsor a whole programs, such as the Kraft television hour.

As the audiences grew, so did the costs which made it difficult for an advertiser to sponsor a whole show. Then come the segments. Suddenly, it becomes more lucrative to sell a program to more than one sponsor and allow thirty to sixty second segments for each. Now, we have what we now know as the commercial, but this new way of doing things caused advertisers to lose a lot of recognition. Instead of only one brand being mentioned during a particular program, now you had several. For the advertisers, though, there was no choice. The cost to sponsor a whole show was too great. I don't think I ever realized that the companies behind these ads were the ones paying the bills for the television programs we view. They are.

It didn't take long for advertisers to learn to use demographics to target the best possible audience for whatever they were selling. A commercial for Barbie is more likely to be shown during a kid's program than an episode of Friends.

Mass advertising was shown to be such an affective way to influence audiences, that eventually manufacturers weren't the only ones taking advantage of it. Enter the politician. We've all seen them. If we want a better future for our children, we need to elect so and so. It goes as far back as President Johnson.

Some challenges have come along for advertisers in the late 20th century. A huge selection of channels, dvd players, and even the internet have raised questions on the effects they will play on advertising. Just the other day, with my personal video recorder, I recorded a television program and played it later all the while marveling at how easy it was to fast forward the commercials.

In a sense, advertising is taken for granted. I know I'm guilty of it. The ads that come in the mail, 24 hour news channels, and I get around two free newspapers per week. Somebody is paying for that stuff. If it wasn't for the advertisers, I wouldn't know what was going on in the world.

So, I guess now that I'm older, I do pay more attention to the commercials, to the magazines, and to the billboard on the roadside displaying what I would consider a humiliating picture of a friendly insurance agent. I will never buy anything from Old Navy simply because their commercials make me cringe. That's an affect, right? I love the Geico commercials and the ones with that guy trying to get Johnson fired make me want to run out and buy the cereal.

But honestly.. I really don't pay that much attention to advertisements.