WE MAKE an estimated expenditure of one billion dollars annually for the various forms of advertising; but few of us take the trouble to follow the movement of this sum as an industrial force; fewer of us appreciate any substantial part of the economic action of this tremendous amount spent for advertising; and still fewer comprehend the final social result of our modern advertising.
There is a general impression that advertising indirectly subsidizes and supports most of our magazines and newspapers; and with that goes a hazy idea that advertising is also profitable to most of the advertisers; but that is all.
This is a first concise consideration of our billion dollar expenditure for advertising to show, first, the industrial operation of advertising as a Business Influence; to follow, next, the economic causes for its rise to its present place in the National Development; and to trace, then, the values to the people of its practical application.
