To understand how advertising affects what we buy, we must first understand what advertising is. Advertising, in its simplest terms, is the business or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services. But is all advertising really like that? There is no single, generally accepted definition of advertising. Advertising is a form of communication used by a marketer to convey information about a product to consumers, thereby creating awareness (What is Advertising... 1). Advertising is very important to the way we live and is seen differently depending on the viewer's perspective. Until the 19th century there were no advertising agents in Europe or America. Anyone who wanted to advertise had to contact local newspapers directly. In 1800, difficulties and complexities began to arise around the simple and direct relationship between merchant and newspaper. The new complexities of the business had created the need for a specialized intermediary. The job of these advertising specialists was to assist in the buying and selling of a product, namely newspaper space. By the 1830s, large city publishers found it expedient to occasionally send employees among local merchants and manufacturers to solicit orders for advertising (Hower 13-17). Two of the first advertising agents, Volney B. Palmer of Philadelphia, and John Hooper of New York, began their advertising careers taking orders for newspapers. The advertising agent business went through four initial stages of development: (1) newspaper agency, (2) space placement, (3) space wholesaling, (4) advertising concession agency (Hower 13- 17). phase, the agent represents the......middle of paper......fingers. He is a public servant and therefore is used for the public interest. Advertising helps fight harmful propaganda and at the same time pays the majority of our mass media bill (What Advertising Is… 161-169). Advertising is simply mass selling. It is a creative force that has generated new jobs, new ideas, expanded our economy and helped give us the highest standard of living in the world. Advertising stimulates ambition and desire. Works Cited Barton, Roger. Marketing and advertising. New York, San Francisco, Toronto and London: McGraw-Hill, Inc.: 1964. Print.Hower, Ralph M. The Story of an Advertising Agency. Cambridge: Harvard University Press: 1949. Print.Tyler, Poyntz. Advertising in America. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1959. Print. “What is advertising… What has it done… What can it do now.” Printer's Ink, May 15, 1953: 1. Print.