Global spending on advertising grew 3.3 per cent in 2012 to $497.3 billion, with the Internet as the fastest growing sector, accounting for 18 per cent of the total spend, says a new report.
The fastest growth was recorded in the Asia-Pacific region with ad spending rising by 7.9 per cent in 2012 (excluding Japan), according to Worldwatch Institute’s Vital Signs Online Service.
Social media
The only region to have seen a decline was Western Europe, where expenditures fell by 2.2 per cent, largely due to the Euro Zone crisis. In the US, ad spends grew by 4.3 per cent in 2012 and are still nearly a third of the global total.
The report attributed the growth in Internet ad spends to the expansion of social media and online video advertising.
“Traditional forms such as television commercials, print advertising, and billboards are becoming less effective,” Shakuntala Makhijani, the study's author, said in a release. Makhijani said advertisers were turning to more subtle techniques, such as promotional material on blogs, product placement, and interactive advertising on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
“The distinction between advertising and media content is therefore increasingly blurred," she added.
The study noted that advertising targeted at children was particularly penetrating and influential, defining their identity as consumers from an early age and interfering with normal childhood development.
“Evidence has shown that children are experiencing increased physical, emotional, and social harm as a result of consumerism through advertising,” it said.
‘Green advertising’
Noticing another recent trend, the report said the focus was turning to “green” advertising, aimed at attracting consumers with claims of improved environmental impact by tapping into growing public interest in sustainability and the environment.
New products
“The number of new products marketed with environmental claims each year in the US grew from around 100 in 2004 to over 1,500 in 2009,” the study found.
It said while regulatory controls on false advertising, as in the US, were a positive development, true sustainability would require less material consumption and stronger limits on advertising to stem its global growth and presence in everyday life.