Advertising is a way in which companies promote their products to boost sales and make profits. It is also 'mass communication', and the advertiser pays for it in order to convince a certain segment of the public to adopt ideas or take actions of benefit to the advertiser. I am going to examine some of the ways in which these purposes are achieved.
The origins of advertising lie thousands of years in the past. One of the first known methods was an outdoor display, usually an eye-catching sign painted on the wall of a building. Archaeologists have uncovered many such signs, notably in the ruins of ancient Rome and Popeii. The one excavated in Rome offers property for rent.
Early in medieval times a simple but effective form of advertising was when
popular merchants employed 'town criers' who shouted out praise about the company/advertisers.
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