Advertising, as the name implies, is to publicize, that is, to inform the general public of something. In terms of its meaning, advertising can be divided into broad and narrow sense. Advertising in a broad sense refers to the non-profit-oriented advertising, such as government announcements, announcements and statements of political parties, religions, education, culture, municipalities, social organizations, etc. In the narrow sense, advertisement refers to the profit-oriented advertisement, usually referring to commercial advertisement, or economic advertisement. It is the means by which industrial and commercial enterprises communicate commodity or service information to consumers or users through advertising media in a paid way in order to promote commodities or provide services. Commodity advertising is such economic advertising.
The word advertisement, according to textual research is a foreign language. It derives from Latin advertere, which means to notice, induce and disseminate. In Middle English (c. 1300 -- 1475), it came to mean 'to bring something to someone's attention', or 'to inform someone of something so as to draw attention to it'. It was not until the end of the 17th century that large-scale commercial activity began in England. At this time, the word advertising will be widely popular and used. At this time "advertising", no longer refers to an advertisement, but refers to a series of advertising activities. The concept of a stationary thing, the noun beer, was given a modern meaning and became "Advertising". The word kanji advertising originated from Japan.
Before 1890, the western society generally accepted a definition of advertising is: advertising is the News about product or service.
In 1894, Albert Lasher (the father of modern advertising in the United States) believed that: advertising is Salesmanship in print form,driven by a reason why. This definition implies persuasion in sales promotion.
In 1948, The Committee on Definitions of The American Marketing Association developed an influential definition of advertising: an advertisement is a non-personal presentation and promotion of an idea, a commodity or a service paid for in any way by an identifiable advertiser.
The meaning of the American Advertising Association to advertising is: advertising is paid mass communication, its ultimate purpose is to transmit information, change people's attitude towards the advertised goods, induce their actions and make advertisers get benefits.
The Webster Dictionary defines advertising as all forms of informational activity carried out with the intention of promoting, directly or indirectly, the sale of goods, the dissemination of an idea or a message, the convening of parties and gatherings (Webster's Dictionary, 1977).
Using media in modern times, advertising is considered to be rather than the oral transmission of a form of purposeful information, it aims to arouse people's demand for goods and to manufacture or sell these products produce understanding and goodwill, to provide some nonprofit purpose of service, and expounds some sense and insights, etc. (Webster dictionary, 1988 edition).
The Concise British Encyclopaedia (15th edition) defines advertising as a means of transmitting information with the purpose of promoting goods, services, gaining political support, advancing a cause, or eliciting other responses desired by the advertiser. Advertising information is transmitted to the audience or audience that it wants to attract through various publicity tools. Advertising is different from other forms of information transmission, it must be paid by the advertiser to the media to spread a certain amount of remuneration.
The definition of "advertisement" in "Chinese advertising law" is, point to commodity operator or service provider bear the expense, through certain medium and form directly or indirectly introduce the commodity that oneself sell or the service that provides commercial advertisement.
