Powers of Persuasion
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Powers of Persuasion

The Inside Story of British Advertising

Winston Fletcher
Oxford UP, 2008
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During the second half of the 20th century, many experts saw British advertising as the world’s best. That significant achievement raises the question: How did the British ad industry achieve world acclaim? Noted British adman Winston Fletcher presents a detailed history of British advertising starting with the Victorian period and moving to contemporary developments. This detailed book profiles the leading agencies, people, campaigns, and even the regulatory and communications developments that shaped the industry. Fletcher, a key industry figure, saw these events first-hand, so this history reads like a memoir. Non-Britons will be at a slight disadvantage reading certain sections because they may not be familiar with some of the award-winning ads he profiles. However, getAbstract believes that if you are looking for a solid, focused, serious history of British advertising, this is it.

Summary

The Birth of Commercial Advertising in Britain

Insiders in British advertising see 1951 as the field’s “watershed year”: The industry held its biggest national conference up to that time and London hosted the first international market research conference. The same year, the British Labour government formed a commission to study the commercialization of television. At that time, a majority of the committee leaned toward a ban on commercial television, and favored the commercial-free, public BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation]. This predilection could have postponed the growth of the advertising industry in the U.K. The idea of commercial TV was so unpopular that one Scottish Lord likened approving it to the introduction of bubonic plague into England. Later that year, Winston Churchill’s Conservative government ousted the Labour Party from power.

The debate over the future of commercial TV continued until 1954, dictating the course of British culture. A coalition of advertising executives and government critics, the Popular Television Association, emerged to counter the Conservatives, who opposed commercial TV, and to create a counterbalance to the BBC. Commercial...

About the Author

Winston Fletcher is a vice president of the History of Advertising Trust. He is the author of leading books on advertising and other business practices.

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