Page 175 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

A Little Bit of History

As new media audiences grow, companies are shifting their advertis-
ing budgets away from traditional TV-based mass media toward a more
targeted, multimedia approach. This microtargeting is an attempt by
marketers to build long-term brand relationships by embracing cus-
tomer individuality and catering to the individual’s wants and needs.
Companies are no longer just trying to sell products or services; they
are instead selling life experiences.

A Little Bit of History

Advertising in the form of images, words, or signs has been used to sell
goods and services for hundreds of years. In the United States, news-
papers and magazines began running classified-type advertisements in
the 1700s. Posters, the forerunner of today’s billboards, were used in
the mid-1800s by P. T. Barnum to hawk his circus. Modern advertis-
ing, from about 1870 onward, mirrors the growth and prosperity of
the Industrial Revolution.
From 1870 to 1900, the U.S. population nearly doubled, growing
from 38 million to nearly 76 million. The economy following the Civil 165
War grew at a rapid pace, continuing into the early 1900s. Several
inventions, including the telephone, photography, color printing, the
automobile, motion pictures, and the phonograph, helped spur U.S.
economic growth and motivated millions of rural families and foreign
immigrants to migrate to cities to find jobs. These new urban consumers
demanded goods and services and information about how and where
to buy them. Modern advertising was born.
At first, newspapers and magazines were the main media options
for advertisers. The major consumer companies of the day, including
Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, and Sears and Roebuck, used
national magazines to educate consumers about their new products.
Retailers used newspapers to sell the products locally. Catalogs also
became popular, especially to farm families who could order goods
and have them delivered to their door.
This explosion of new products and advertising brought with it sev-
eral ethical challenges. One of the most heavily advertised products
at the turn of the century was patent medicine. The elixirs and tonics
offered miraculous cures for everything from baldness to gout. Most
were nothing more than 80-proof liquor with added flavors. Adver-
tising became the scapegoat for this fraud and gained a reputation for
misleading consumers.