The Development 'perspective'.

Advertising gained prominence in western cultures when the mass society became a reality around the time of the industrial revolution. This was made possible by mass literacy, mass transportation, and the mass popular media such as the press, and later the cinema, radio, television, video and cable. Mass advertising which has as its goal the national and international market, became the central link in a mass society. Advertising sought to maximize its market which included literally everybody. From advertising ‘the masses ‘ learned about appliances used in the home, the changing styles of clothes, the books to read and the films to see. However, it is not about products and services alone that people learn from advertising. In fact, advertising (especially consumer products advertising) tends to promote attitudes and lifestyles which praise acquisition and consumption at the expense of other values. A particular material possession is elevated to a social norm so that people without it are made to feel deprived.