Advertising has a long history. The "groundbreaking" of advertising is linked to the emergence of commodity production. Its history can be traced back to ancient times. The four ancient civilizations of Greece and China first developed from primitive societies to two major divisions of labor in agriculture and animal husbandry, and agriculture and handicrafts. With surplus products, traders and commerce emerged. Along with the production and exchange of goods, advertising also came out.

1) Hawking advertisements

hawking advertisements, also called oral advertisements, are the most primitive form of advertising. This form continues to this day. People who sell pear paste candy at the Shanghai City God Temple have a saying of "selling for three cents." There is a saying that 70% of sugar comes from drinking.” According to the "Book of Changes Xici Xia" written during the Warring States Period, during the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, "Shennong's work was listed in the country, and Japan and China were the markets, so that the people of the world could gather the goods of the world, and everyone could find their own place." To conduct transactions. , the exchanged items must be attracted by shouting and shouting. Qu Yuan described in "Tian Wen" that "the teacher is watching at all times... drumming and knives are raising his voice". It tells about the butcher Jiang Taigong who "chops loudly with the knife and shouts loudly" to advertise and sell goods. situation. Han Feizi's "Contradiction" story introduces the confrontation between spear sellers and shield sellers in the market to sell advertisements. In Babylon in 3000 BC, whenever a ship carrying goods docked, merchants would hire hawkers to shout and attract buyers.

2) Physical advertising

It is to display and display products for buyers to choose. It is also the most primitive form of advertising. "The Book of Songs: Meng" writes: "The gangsters come to buy cloth and silk, and the thieves come to trade silk. When they come, they come to my aid." It means that when an honest businessman offers me a piece of cloth in exchange for silk, he You’re not here just to exchange silk, you’re just here to have a romantic relationship with me! The "cloth" here is physical advertising, and physical display was a necessary means of commodity exchange at that time.

3) Text advertising

The origin of text advertising in China is also relatively early, with a history of more than 3,000 years. It first appeared in the admonitions of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. and Cui Ming of the Warring States Period. These advertisements in a broad sense are the prototype of modern advertising. The oldest text advertisement recognized in the world is a flyer advertisement 5,000 years ago from an Egyptian slave owner who offered a reward for finding an escaped slave. The text was hand-copied and the content was: "The slave in Hap's shop has escaped. Hope." All walks of life work together to arrest this rare cultural relic unearthed from the ancient Egyptian city and now stored in the Museum of London, England.

In 29 BC (China’s Warring States Period), the ancient Roman town of Pompeii was erupted by Mount Vesuvius, and the entire town was instantly engulfed by volcanic lava. However, this tragedy left to future generations extremely precious life scenes of the ancient Pompeii people more than 2,000 years ago. People were surprised to find marked shop advertisements and circus posters in the ruins.

The Evolution of Advertising

With the development of society, commerce and culture, advertising methods and forms have gradually evolved.

1) Audio advertising

An advertising form that uses tools or other objects that can make sounds to replace verbal hawking. There is a poem in "The Book of Songs·Zhou Song·You Gu" of the Zhou Dynasty that says "Xiao Guan is ready for examination". A note from Zheng Xuan of the Han Dynasty said: "Xiao, made of small bamboo tubes, is now used by those who sell maltose." In the Southern Song Dynasty, tea stall owners often "sold by banging the lamps and singing songs." There are also small gongs for sellers, "oil bangzi" for oil sellers, and "iron sliding chains" made of four knife-shaped iron pieces for knife sharpeners, etc., which are used for audio advertising. This kind of audio advertising is the origin stage of modern music advertising.

2) Hanging advertisements

Hang items or customary signs related to the business scope in front of the store to act as a sign. Such as the wine gourd in front of the hotel and the medicinal gourd hanging in the traditional Chinese medicine shop. Barber shop three-color columns, etc. In the picture of "Beiguan Night Market" in Hangzhou during the Ming Dynasty, there are shops hanging lanterns to advertise, and others hanging wine urns and fish and meat to advertise. Modern trademarks are signs derived from ancient times.

3) Flag advertising

Use flags instead of signboards for advertising. Especially wine flags are the most popular ones. Wine flags are also called wine curtains, curtains, hopers, guise, etc. The earliest record of wine flags can be found in "Han Feizi" at the end of the Warring States Period more than 2,200 years ago. He wrote in "Wai Chu Shuo (top right)": "There were wine sellers in the Song Dynasty, and their promotions were very low. They were very cautious when meeting guests, because the wine was very delicious. The flag is hung very high, but it is obviously not for sale. "Liu Yu in the Tang Dynasty "The spring breeze blows the wine flag outside the city", and Ouyang Xiu in the Song Dynasty mentioned the wine flag in his poem "The west wind blows in the city of wine flags, and the drizzle comes in the sky of chrysanthemums."

In "Water Margin", when Wu Song went up the mountain, the first thing he saw was the wine flag of "three bowls are not enough". In the early days, wine flags were made of blue and white cloth, and later developed into multi-colored wine flags with patterns, shop names, and wine characters embroidered on them. Banner advertisements are not only the logo of hotels, but are commonly used in all walks of life. To this day, banner advertisements are still very popular. The methods used include hanging, inserting, lifting, and carrying.

4) Signboard advertising

Signboards are hung in front of shops to serve as advertisements. They are divided into banners, vertical signs, and hanging boards, with text or pictures. In "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" created by Zhang Zeduan, a famous genre painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, there is a lantern sign with the word "Zhengdian" of a large restaurant, and the "Sun Yangdian" brand name selling mutton has a vertical banner with the words "Liu's Colored Sandalwood and Picking Incense". The famous incense shop, the silk and satin shop with the banner "Wangjia Luo Brocade and Silk Shop", etc., depict the prosperous scene of Bianjing from the Bian River to the city's markets at that time, and are the true epitome of ancient Chinese commercial sign advertising.

5) Print advertising

It is a more advanced form of advertising in ancient times. Among the four great inventions of ancient China, two are related to advertising. Cai Lun in the Han Dynasty was the first to invent papermaking, followed by engraving and printing, and Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty invented movable type printing. Advertisements for Liu's Needle Shop in Jinan during the Northern Song Dynasty were the earliest printed advertisements in the world. After the printing technology of ancient my country was spread to the West, it greatly promoted the development of Western advertising. In 1445, the German Gutenberg invented metal movable type printing. The first English printed advertisement appeared in England in 1480, called "Xiqius", which means "if anyone likes it, please print advertising leaflets." This advertisement appeared more than 500 years later than China. The Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 17th Century