Advertising dates back thousands of years. Changes caused by industrialization and the Civil War fueled its growth, with magazines being an important vehicle for advertising. Radio, then television, changed the nature of advertising, as commercials in turn changed the nature of each medium.
The 6,000 advertising agencies in the United States are paid either through retainers or commissions. Types of ads include retail, direct market, institutional, and public service. The link between seeing an ad and buying the advertising product is tenuous at best.
New communication technologies, such as computerized databases and online advertising, are affecting agencies and advertising. Other important developments are increasingly fragmented audiences and globalization. Critics of advertising charge that it is intrusive and unethical, particularly in using misleading words and phrases.
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