ever men were gathered into communities and it became necessary for whatever reason to impart information. In its primitive form it was verbal and carried on by messengers. The town crier retailing the news of his small community to his fellows in the market place was an advertiser. Later on, when writing became known, the written work began to take the place of the word of mouth. Advertisements have been found in the clay libraries of Chaldea and in the papyri of Egypt. It was early adapted to the needs of commerce, although when illiteracy was the rule, this often took the form of pictures or symbols. Storekeepers, for instance, who sold milk had the picture of a cow displayed so as to tell illiterate servants where they could find what they wanted. Tavern signs displayed in crude pictorial form the special claims or merits of the hostelry.
With the invention of printing, an immense impetus was given to advertising. The gazettes and other printed sheets of the England of some centuries ago devoted an increasing amount of their limited space to notification of runaway apprentices or wives, or extolled the merits of some particular coffee or play house. Nostrums of all kinds were widely advertised and formed a target for the wit and satire of Addison. To such an extent had this developed in the time of Dr. Samuel Johnson, that in the innocence of his heart he asserted that the art of advertising had reached perfection.
In the sense of the word in which advertising is used to-day, it is a comparatively modern development. In the United States its really important beginnings were contemporaneous with the growth of newspapers, the extension and perfecting of the postal service, the building of railroads, and the invention of the telegraph. It began to be seen that merchandise could be sold at a profit beyond the limits of the community in which the business or manufacturing plant was located. At first, however, the field was so largely engrossed by the sellers of patent medicines, nostrums, and shady schemes, designed to ensnare the gullible, that there was a tinge of disrepute connected with it, and respectable merchants were diffident about being found in such company. Gradually a saner view manifested itself, and efforts which became increasingly successful were made to drive out the quacks and adventurers and leave the field to reputable concerns. Flamboyant, exaggerated and untruthful statements in some cases wrought their own cure by their very excesses. The process of elimination of this class of advertising was accelerated by the co-operation of the postal authorities and the publishers of reputable papers and magazines. To-day the fraudulent or illegitimate advertisement is the exception, where formerly it was the rule. Advertising matter is carefully scanned by the leading periodicals, and if dubious is declined. Some papers even go so far as to refund at their own cost any loss suffered by reliance on an advertisement inserted in their columns.
While newspapers and periodicals are the chief advertising media, they by no means engross the field. Billboards and electrically lighted signs acquaint the public by day and night with the merit of a given article and impress upon the mind the name or trade-mark of the manufacturer. Street-car advertising is carried on to a vast extent, and when it is remembered that 5,000,000,000 cash fares are paid annually in the United States the importance of this medium is made manifest. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year in mail order advertising, where through the medium of a letter, circular, or catalogue, the advertisement goes direct from the merchant to his potential customer. The work is furthered by large and well-equipped advertising agencies, who act as skilled advisers to the business man who seeks a market for his goods, and enable him to get the largest return at the least expenditure.
The psychology of advertising has been a subject of incessant study, and it has been accepted that at least four elements are essential to every effective advertisement. It must (1) attract attention. Hence the value of clever slogans and attractive headlines. It must (2) arouse interest. This is done by a clear, simple, not too long statement of the merits of the article in question. It must (3) create desire. This is done by showing how the acquisition of this article will benefit the reader personally. And it must (4) inspire decision on the part of the person addressed to make that article his own. There are infinite variations, but an advertisement that lacks any one of these four elements is practically worthless.
Advertising has reached its highest development in the United States where it has become a recognized element of nearly every large business. So-called "national" advertising is carried on through magazines and papers of wide circulation and these are able through this circulation to demand for their space extremely large sums, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 per page for one insertion.
