Concluding Thoughts

The subject of advertising does not lend itself to the making of neat and definitive conclusions. To avoid the presumption which is implicit in a conclusion, this chapter will, rather, question some of the basic assumptions on which earlier chapters have rested. For example, the economic analysis of markets on which Chapters 6, 7 and 8 were based can be alleged to be a redundant intellectual exercise. If so, then the view already adopted that it is only the supplier of advertising, not the consumer, who actively decides the level at which advertising will settle is, in fact, reinforced, not contradicted. Albeit, it will be shown that this conclusion can be arrived at in a somewhat different manner. But this, too, may be challenged, and it will be argued that consumers do have and do exercise a choice between different levels of advertising consumption. If this is so, then rather than alleging that advertising may be ‘too high’, the counterproposition that there is ‘not enough’ advertising may have to be entertained.