We've been kidding ourselves for a bit too long. The problem is simply that as a body of practitioners, those in the advertising industry have lost sight of what the business is all about. Ask any 10 advertising veterans and eight of them will tell you that advertising is in the business of communication. That's as misguided a view of the business as some of the work the industry is producing. Advertising most certainly is not in the business of communication .
Newspapers are in the communication business.
It is in the persuasion business. Or better still, in the pride and prejudice business . This is because advertising builds pride in the brands it works for, or prejudices for them and against their competitors. And this is the reason why the industry is in trouble. Especially when it is common knowledge that brands are much more than their product benefits.