Recently I watched the PBS documentary Art & Copy, which is about the advertising world through the eyes of some of the biggest agencies and most influential people in the industry. For people who do not study advertising on a day to day basis, this is a fascinating look into what goes on behind creating a campaign. For those of you who do study/work in the advertising/media world, this is a reassuring film that demonstrates how important and successful advertising campaigns can become.
I encourage everyone to watch this documentary, and it is even on Watch Instantly on Netflix. Throughout the film there are facts shown about the influence and how much money is spent on various parts of advertising. Here are some of the facts that I found most impressive:
- “The global advertising business will exceed $544 billion by 2010.”
- “In the 1970s, the average city dweller received about 1,000 advertising messages every day. Today it’s closer to 5,000.”
- “Food companies spent $32 billion on advertising in 2008. Car companies spent more than $15 billion.”
- “A 30 second ad on American Idol costs $750,000 in 2009.”
Do you think advertising is influential enough to be spending these vast amounts of money?
Carrie Anne Fox 