To understand how advertising affects what we buy, we must first understand what advertising is. Advertising, in its simplest terms, is the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services. However, is that really all the advertising? There is no single, generally accepted definition of advertising. Advertising is a form of communication used by a marketer to relay information about a product to consumers, thereby creating awareness (What is Advertising… 1). Advertising is very important in our lifestyle and is perceived differently depending on the viewer's point of view. Until the 19th century, there were no advertising agents either in Europe or America. Anyone wishing to advertise had to apply directly to local newspapers. Around 1800, difficulties and complexities began to emerge around the simple and direct relationship between merchant and newspaper. The new complexities of the business world had created the need for a specialized intermediary. The job of these advertising specialists was to assist in the buying and selling of a product, namely newspaper space. In the 1830s, editors in large cities found it wise to occasionally send employees among local merchants and manufacturers to solicit advertising orders (Hower 13-17). Two early advertising agents, Volney B. Palmer of Philadelphia, and John Hooper of New York, began their advertising careers soliciting newspaper orders. The activity of advertising agent went through four first stages of development: (1) press agency, (2) sale of space, (3) wholesale of space, (4) advertising concession agency (Hower 13-17). In the first step, the agent represents the ...... middle of the ...... paper fingers. It is a public service and is therefore used in the public interest. Advertising helps combat harmful propaganda while paying most of the bill for our mass media (What Advertising Is… 161-169). Advertising is simply mass selling. It is a creative force that has generated new jobs, new ideas, developed our economy and helped provide us with the highest standard of living in the world. Advertising stimulates ambition and desire. Works Cited Barton, Roger. Marketing and advertising. New York, San Francisco, Toronto and London: McGraw-Hill, Inc.: 1964. Print. Hower, Ralph M. The Story of an Advertising Agency. Cambridge: Harvard University Press: 1949. Print. Tyler, Poyntz. Advertising in America. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1959. Print. “What is advertising... What it has done... What it can do now. » Printers' ink May 15, 1953: 1. Print.