Contrary to popular belief, advertising is by no means a twentieth-century invention. It has existed since ancient times, since the time when traders felt the need to increase the sales of their goods. Since then, media have changed, new technical means have appeared, advertising has acquired new forms and distribution channels, but its purpose, in fact, has remained the same.
The simplest advertisements inscribed on papyrus date back to ancient Egypt. So, archaeologists found a papyrus sheet containing an offer to purchase a slave.
Advertising also existed in ancient Greece. During excavations in Memphis, an inscription was found carved in stone. In it, Minos of Crete offered dream interpretation services. It is curious that the name of the ancient "psychic" and the legendary Cretan king coincides. Was it, as they would say now, a popular "brand"?
Compared to Egypt, ancient Greece had a greater variety of advertising media, such as stone, wood, bone, and metal. The first heralds also appeared there, who read all kinds of information on the squares, including about goods and services. After the invention and spread of writing, advertising began to appear in the form of written texts, often supplemented with drawings.
The advent of print ads
Around 1440, the printing press was invented by Johann Gutenberg. 22 years after this event, the first print advertisement appeared in England. It hung on the door of a London church and contained an offer to purchase a prayer book. From 1466, book publishers began to use print ads, posting advertisements for the sale of books at the entrances of temples, universities and hotels.
In 1629, the so-called Address Bureau appeared in Paris, which became, in fact, the first advertising agency in history. Its functions included the provision and dissemination of information about goods and services. A year later, the activities of the Address Bureau covered the entire territory of France. A year later, a newspaper was published, in which advertisements were regularly published, and subsequently - the magazine "Little Afisha".
The first advertising agency in London opened in 1657 under the name Public Advertiser. Many newspapers began to be funded through the placement of advertisements. To attract advertisers, they began to distribute part of the circulation for free.
Benjamin Franklin is called the "Father of American Advertising". In 1729 he founded the Gazete newspaper, which had the largest circulation and the largest volume of advertisements in colonial America. The founder of the detective genre, Edgar Allan Poe, was also involved in advertising, being the editor of the newspaper "Yuzhny Vestnik".
Advertising on radio, television and the Internet
With the invention of radio and television, advertising took its place on the air. The first television commercial for a product appeared in the United States in 1941. She was shown during the breaks of the broadcast of basketball competitions and offered to buy a watch. Since 1956, commercials have been filmed.
The youngest type of advertising is Internet advertising. The first ad appeared here in 1993. But since then, its distribution knows no limits.
