Advertising has an ancient history in terms of its origins. Advertisements have evolved over time in accordance with the development of societies, and they directly and indirectly affect the cultural processes of communities. This effect of advertising can be seen clearly in different cultures. In this respect, it is essential to make sense of the advertising schools in different cultures and to reveal their social effects. American advertising is one of the crucial schools that both shape the culture in the national sense and shape the world advertising. Almost every technological innovation of humanity has a counterpart in American advertising. In this study, all the periodic transformations that American advertising has experienced over time have been revealed in terms of the meanings they create socially. In addition, three advertisement campaigns produced by the most prominent advertisers of the period and their social impacts are evaluated.
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Developments in technology and different alternatives in the way of using media have an essential role in the transformation of advertising. New digital technologies in this field have significantly changed the way of communication of the firms and influence the consumers through digital media (Lee & Cho, 2020, p. 332). Notably, the direct involvement of interactive media platforms such as social media in human life is decisive in transforming the world into a small global village. However, just as every culture has its own dynamics, every country also has characteristic elements that enrich advertising activities in connection with their cultural background.
To define all these issues, it is important to make sense of the concept of international advertising. Moriarty, Mitchell, and Wells (2012, p. 566) define global advertising as an advertising effort designed to promote the same product in many countries and different cultures. International advertising campaigns have two basic starting points: (1) success in one country and (2) a centrally conceived strategy.
In order to achieve success on behalf of the brand, it is important to have a good understanding of international advertising dynamics. At the same time, the stages of development must be accurately defined. Regarding this, Taylor (2002) mentions some obstacles. According to him, there are five basic problems that have hindered the development of international advertising research:
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Too many descriptive studies of advertising content and not enough research on why various executional techniques are effective in specific markets.
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A preoccupation with questions of whether campaigns should be standardized to the detriment of seeking answers for pragmatic execution across markets.
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A lack of rigor in establishing an equivalence in studies comparing data from multiple countries, both in terms of study design and data analysis.
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A disturbing lack of knowledge about whether and when targeting segments that cut across national boundaries (that is, inter-market segmentation) can be effective.
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Not enough focus on control of international advertising campaigns, both in terms of who makes the decisions and the extent to which they are effectively implemented.
It is possible to talk about the effects of different schools in advertising over the years. Among these schools, one of the countries that direct the world advertising is the USA. American advertising has a structure that reflects its characteristics from past to present. It is possible to trace the advertisements in America to the 17th century. The efforts by English entrepreneurs to attract new settlers to America were “one of the first concerted and sustained advertising campaigns in the history of the modern world,” according to historian Richard Hofstadter. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, enterprising Englishmen printed various books, brochures, and posters to promote America to their countrymen (Sivulka, 2012, p. 6).