CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The Nigeria marketing environment today is one of aggressive and unfriendly competition among both manufacturers and service providers. Most companies adopt various marketing strategies in order to maintain or increase profit margin, market shares or sales volume of their products or services. In this effort, quite a fortune is spent on advertising by which the organizations hope to achieve these objectives.
Advertising is one of the most effective tools that manufacturing companies can utilize to create more demands for their product on account of it’s capacity to reach a large number of people at a relatively short time and cost. It involves the creation of demand for products and services with use of written, printed, spoken words, picture and diagrams.
Not only that, skillfully planned and directed advertising not only at home, but also abroad overcome prejudice combat, foreign competition, establish new habit, build good will creates employment, increase productivity, multiply sales and thus, lay a solid foundation for sustained economic development of any country. One contends that advertising is one of the most powerful socializing forces in culture.
Advertising sells more than product. It sets image value, goods and concepts of who we are and who we should be. It shapes our attitudes and our attitudes shape our behavior. Ahunaya (2004, P. 70).
According to the Encyclopedia, Americana (204), Advertising began around 3200 BC. When the Egyptian stenciled inscription, the names of kings on the temple being built. Later they wrote run away slave announcement on papyrus. Signboards were placed outside doors in Greece and Egypt around 1500BC. Perhaps the most important event in history of advertising was the printing of the Gutenberg Bible about 1450 to 1455, the first time that Western man used the principle of moveable type. In about 1477, in London, the first printed advertisement in English announced a prayer book sale. The first newspaper advertisement appeared on the back paper of a London newspaper in 1625.
Advertising has since then been seen to help in economic development in ways of creating jobs, sponsoring sports and the art helps to provide affordable media which encourages competition, improves product, keep price low and enable people to make informed buying choices. Eluwa (2004, P.44).