Commercial advertising has existed almost since the advent of the printing press in the mid 1450s. During the American Colonial period, advertisements became particularly popular in stores and print media.
As technology evolved, however, so did the nature of advertising. Radio allowed for auditory marketing and greater control over demographics. With the advent of television, these methods of advertising were combined with a moving image to create even more effective and memorable advertisements.
Today, advertising has grown into a massive industry, with television commercial advertising remaining one of the most effective media.
The average child will see 20,000 commercials in a single year, and the average American adolescent will have seen 360,000 television commercials before graduating from high school. By the age of 65 years, the average person will have seen 2 million television commercials.
The three kinds of television commercials are product or brand marketing, public service announcement and campaign advertisement.
Product/brand marketing commercials are intended not only to sell specific products but to increase brand loyalty among consumers.
A public service announcement is a message to increase awareness about social issues, and it often sways audiences in a certain direction.
Often crucial to the success of politicians, a campaign advertisement is paid for by certain campaigns to either promote a candidate or to portray an opposing candidate negatively.
Most of the controversy surrounding television commercials has involved advertisements that promote the use of potentially dangerous products, such as cigarettes and alcohol. Specifically, advertising agencies have been accused of targeting children and adolescents with such ads.
Consequently, cigarette commercials are banned in certain countries, including the United States.
The introduction of such devices as digital video recorders (DVRs), which allow audience members to save television programming to a hard disk so that they may watch it at their convenience, has posed some problems for traditional television advertising. Specifically, viewers can fast-forward through commercials, bypassing ads and greatly diminishing their effectiveness.
With the continued popularity of television, advertising agencies look for new ways to reach audience members. According to a 2008 article in "The Washington Post," one of the most prominent methods used to combat DVRs involves product placement, in which companies pay for certain products and brands to be featured within the set or story of a television show so that viewers are still exposed to them.
As long as audiences watch television, television commercials are likely to continue to occupy a major place in television broadcasting.