The history...

(This advert is from the January 8th, 1925 edition of 'The Motor Cycle' magazine and features a Francis Barnett machine fitted with a Villiers engine.)

Adevrt:

...a public promotion of some product or service

(www.wordreference.com/definition/advert)

I decided a good place to start with my research was finding out a little bit of history about adverts, there purpose and look at some of the first adverts created.

Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompei and ancient Arabia. lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock-art paintings that date back to 4000 BCE.

Still though back in the olden days of castles and peasants when small townships and cities were just beginning to grow throughout Europe. Few if any of the townships peoples could read and so signs on the street that should say cobbler or miller, or tailer, or smithy had no words the signage was the shape of a boot, a suit, a hat, a clock, a diamond, a horse shoe, a candle or even a bag of flour. Fruits and vegetables were sold in the city square from the backs of carts and wagons and their proprietors used street callers to announce out loud where they were set up so regular bartering customers could find the way to their always different location in the square and though without a clear and concise definition of such, advertising was born utilizing Indias: Language, Marketing Communication, and Consumerism. Even today street callers (town criers) work the conjested street fares all over the world and today we still refer to its simplicity as "getting the word out".

In the 17th century advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote: books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press. In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse is the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability.

At the turn of the century, there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women's insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today's standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message "The skin you love to touch".

The 1960s saw advertising transform into a modern approach in which creativity was allowed to shine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements more tempting to consumers' eyes. The Volkswagen ad campaign—featuring such headlines as "Think Small" and "Lemon" (which were used to describe the appearance of the car)—ushered in the era of modern advertising by promoting a "position" or "unique selling proposition" designed to associate each brand with a specific idea in the reader or viewer's mind.

The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message, rather than it being a by-product or afterthought. As cable and satellite television became increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels entirely devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, and ShopTV.