Due to the technical development, the number of mass media and thus the quantity of information have risen considerably. This again has consequences for communicators. Regardless of whether the communication objectives are to create awareness, to inform or to influence, each message always must take the first hurdle of being perceived by members of the audience. Hence the communicator must carfully think about how and when to distribute his message. Timing of communication and channel selection are of the upmost importance.
Human beings can understand pictorial information much quicker and easier than written information.
Moreover pictorial messages very often are carrying a high emotional level, which is especially important in advertising. As a result in mass communication pictorial forms of expression have been increasingly introduced. This development was strongly supported by new technical equipment, which has enormously facilitated the use of high quality pictures. Furthermore this has led to a considerable increase of competition between communicators. As stated before mass communication is expensive.