Advertisements and photographs illustrate the interaction between society and advertising. Advertising is a part of our culture and builds bridges to others. The exchange, communication, passing on and imparting of knowledge through advertising has taken on fresh dimensions. Germany is the third largest advertising market in the world, after the USA and Japan. The German advertising industry employs 360,000 people and has a turnover of DM 61.5 billion.
Advertising is one of the growth industries of the German economy.
Over the past five decades, Germany s gross national product has increased from DM 180.5 billion to 3839.5 billion and expenditure on advertising has grown at a similar rate - from DM 5.1 billion in 1975 to a massive DM 31.8 by 1999. Twenty years ago, expenditure on German advertising made up 0.5 percent of gross national product and today it accounts for 0.8 percent. Advertising will also play a crucial role in the common European market of the future. One day in the mid-thirties, the American photographer George Hurrell was expecting Marlene Dietrich to trun up for a studio session. Hurrell had already acquired a reputation for his exceptionally glamorous photographs.