Advertising

ADVERTISING A collective term for public announcements designed to promote the sale of specific products or services Advertising is a form of mass selling occurring when the use of direct, person-to-person selling is impractical, impossible, or simply inefficient. It is to be distinguished from other activities intended to persuade the public, such as propaganda, publicity, and public relations. Advertising techniques range in complexity from the publishing of simple notices in the classified-advertising columns of newspapers, …

…mummy" to buy certain breakfast cereals. Another way to sell products is the controversial use of "scare copy." Because fear is a principal human weakness, this last-mentioned motivation is applied to the advertising of thousands of products, sometimes boldly, sometimes subtly. Fear of poverty, sickness, loss of social standing, and the possibility of natural disasters, great and small, sometimes move previously unexcitable consumers to buy anything from insurance and fire extinguishers to cosmetics and vitamins.