Advertising, along with mass production and the phenomenon of mass consumption, was tied in with advances in science and technology during the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution. This meant a growth in transportation alongside technical innovation, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel's construction of the Great Western Railway. Weightman (2007) describes how industrialisation first became prominent in Europe before in America, but how ordinary working-class people were able to afford items that were only previously available to the wealthiest. People's lifestyles dictated the changing nature of government investments in education in direct support of modernisation and industrial competitiveness. Weber (1981) and Veblen (1899/1975) described how there was and is competition for status among social groups; the mass advertising industry emerged as a means of enlightening consumers about products and "developing sophisticated techniques for inducing devices and needs among ordinary people for things that hitherto they did not realise they needed" (McStay, 2009: 340). Nowadays, people buy things unnecessarily, especially if items are perceived as bargains - "Buy 1, get 1 free".
Advertising is a key component for commercial media, supporting the growth of press, radio, TV movies, etc. for the past 150 years. All commercial media has depended on advertising to generate its revenue. This is the case for networks such as Sky, whereas the BBC features no advertising because it is "owned" by the license payers, rather than a commercial enterprise. The earliest advertising came in the form of newspapers, with circulation volumed helped by the development of the printing press.
In terms of consumption, it involves everyone; the wealthiest people consume the most products and resources, but the products may be manufactured in third world countries. Miller (1995) describes consumers as "rational" and they make purchases "on basis of functional decision making to further their own interest". However, modern consumption is irrational. Even though it can benefit the economy and it is "necessary to be modern", we are exhausting the earth's resources. People consume products because of their image rather than their utility. Baudrillard talks about a product's use-value and sign-value; use-value refers to its functionality and sign-value to "consumption used as a marker that positions us in some way" (Baudrillard, 1968: 62).
Ritzer (1997) states that people consume signs (messages and images) rather than commodities and questions whether brands are a guarantor of quality. For example, you go to a supermarket for aspirin and you choose between the leading brand and the store brand. The leading brand is usually the more expensive and the store brand costs a matter of pence. It is the same for most supermarket products. If something has a brand, it is generally more expensive. An episode of Top Gear around one Christmas had a feature discussing the placement of a car manufacturer's badge on a product like a bottle of aftershave or wine, resulting in it costing a lot more. The presenters then joked about with a plate of sick being worth nothing, but it would cost £13.80 if it included a BMW badge. As it shows in the videos below, companies will brand anything.- Baudrillard, J. (1968) The System of Objects. London: Verso Books.
- foxybingo241 (2010) top gear porsche smoking pipes. [video online] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHr36rbWnKA [Accessed 7th April]
- F4r1nUrl4u8 (2009) Top Gear News S12E07. [video online] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBMxtIRVIe4&feature=relmfu [Accessed 24th April 2012]
- McStay, A. (2009) "The consumer society and advertising", in Long, P.; Wall, T.; Bakir, V. & McStay, A. (2009). Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context. London: Pearson Education.
- Miller, D. (1995) Acknowledging Consumption. London: Routledge.
- Ritzer, G. (1997) Postmodern Social Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Veblen, T. (1899/1975) The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Augustus M. Kelly.
- Weber, M. (1981) General Economic History. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Weightman, G. (2007) The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Creation of the Modern World, 1776 - 1914. London: Atlantic.
- Baudrillard, J. (1988) "Simulacra and Simulations". in M. Poster (ed.) Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings. Cambridge: Polity.
- McStay, A. (2009) "The consumer society and advertising", in Long, P.; Wall, T.; Bakir, V. & McStay, A. (2009). Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context. London: Pearson Education.
- McStay, A. (2010) Digital Advertising. Basingstoke: Palgrave-MacMillan
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