Advertising Information Sources Available to Purchase

Although advertising has always been regarded, and with very good reasons, as a branch of the more inclusive subject of marketing, it has enough specialized reference sources of its own to deserve a separate treatment. The fact that it is not comparatively a new discipline may be understood from a recent publication entitled How It Was in Advertising, 1776–1976, which originally came out as the bicentennial issue of Advertising Age. This compilation contains an historical narrative of personalities and agencies involved in the advertising business in the United States. It includes interesting facts, observing, for example, that the most revolutionary figure in 18th century advertising, none other than Ben Franklin, was the first on record to tap the potentials of the women's market by offering benefit copies. Since those days, advertising has grown into a multibillion dollar industry, big enough to attract the attention of Federal regulatory agencies.