Q.Define advertising. State its essential characteristics.

Advertising is a paid, non-personal media message about goods, services or ideas, put out by a named sponsor.

Definition. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor, carried to the public through the mass media. The word comes from the Latin advertere, "to turn towards" — advertising turns public attention towards a product.

Essential characteristics:

1. Paid form — space or time is bought and paid for; this separates advertising from free publicity.
2. Non-personal — the message reaches many people at once through a medium, with no face-to-face contact, unlike personal selling.
3. Identified sponsor — the advertiser is openly named, so the audience knows who is speaking; this separates advertising from hidden propaganda.
4. Presentation of ideas, goods or services — it may promote products, services, institutions, ideas and causes. …

A frequent slip is to confuse advertising with publicity. Advertising is paid for and the sponsor is named; publicity is an unpaid editorial mention over which the firm has no …