Abstract:

There may be several reasons for this. Turnover in the advertising industry goes into thousands of millions and the production and placing of advertisements represents the biggest and, proportionately still increasing item in the total expenditure of the advertising industry. This is as true of Germany as it is of the U.S.A. The enormous costs which must be paid by advertisers are gradually producing a growing demand to check on advertising campaigns which have been launched with so much ingenuity, expense and optimism. It is typical of modern society that this demand is met increasingly by scientific valuations and forecasts. In the second place, it so happens that advertising mirrors many typical features of how people conduct themselves in our rapidly-changing industrial and consuming society. But since many people are emotionally estranged from modern society, the economics of advertising becomes the object of much, even if most frequently critical or even hostile interest. This is why opinions differ in any discussion of the significance, the psychological effectiveness and the social and economic functions of advertising in modern society.