Advertising Prospects in the 21st Century

Abstract

The discovery and application of new methods of advertising depends on two types of forces. On the one hand there are new technical and technological discoveries in the communications media, and on the other new situations or rather circumstances in the economic and social environments. This paper depicts present developments and explores possible dominant trends in 21st century advertising. The beginning of the 21st century is marked by consumer satiation caused by scores of promotional messages as well as an increasing distrust toward these messages; a growth in communication among people through electronic and interactive media for personal communication such as the internet and cell phone; an intensifying influence of corporations and escalating demands of the public for corporations' ethicality as well as a domination of powerful brand names on the market. For these reasons, advertising strategies of corporations are breaking away from classic advertising methods and tending toward the disguised type. They are rediscovering the importance of oral transmission (this time through the cell phone and internet), more frequent use of paid announcements and public relations in order to create an ethical or socially responsible image.