Such a simple question, such a complex answer!
An advertisement is -or can be- anything, let’s start with the basic concept.
What is the meaning of advertisement
Advertisement… Advert… Alert. See?
In other languages (mainly european) an Ad is called Publicity. To make public.
In short, an Ad is something that let people know something.
The world’s simplest ad is: I own X and am willing to sell it. Or is it? You see, this may or may not be an Ad, it depends on how it is said. If you tell your close friend that you own X and are willing to sell it, it’s not an Ad.
On the other hand, if you go out and start shouting that you own X and are willing to sell it, chances are you’ll get noticed by the public. And this will be an advertisement.
So an Ad is anything that brings to public notice something, and has a commercial intent (otherwise it is a notice, a public service message and so on).
What is informational in advertisement
From this we can derive a small but important lesson: assuming you are interested in X and that the price is right, who would you buy X from?
Your friend that informs you about his X, quietly and politely, or a screaming guy or gal that you have never met before?
At the end of 18th century some people recognized that going around screaming (as it was common practice those days, and still is on nighttime infomercials) was a way to inform, but not to promote. Then, the art of advertising flourished. Sellers began trying to persuade rather than to inform. And that was the beginning, the day “Advertisers come to Life”.
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