ADVERTISING^389
BABYLONIA (now in Iraq),
3000 B.C.—Clay, stone and
wooden tablets were used by
the residents of Babylonia to
advertise their businesses.
The ads were crude in signia,
or pictures, representing the
merchants’ wares. For example,
a boot represented a shoemak-
er’s shop, and a bush indicated
a winery.Your Beat
- Using your school’s newspaper or yearbook and
your local newspaper, find good examples of each
of the design formats discussed in this unit. - Go to the library and search through magazines that
clearly are aimed at different audiences (for example,
Teen Vogue, New Republic). Do you see any pat-
terns in which design styles and formats are used?- Find an advertisement that uses one design for-
mat. Sketch a new ad for the product, emphasizing
another design format.
THE MANAGEMENT
In a way, a school publication is like a professional baseball team—the
management always seems to be changing. Every year, new faces fill each
position. Unlike the baseball team, though, no one is making millions of
dollars managing your school’s newspaper, magazine or yearbook. Your
staff, however, should act as if the decisions it makes are indeed million-
dollar decisions. After all, unlike decisions made in most other classes,
the decisions of a publications staff have an immediate effect upon the
entire school. That’s why it’s worth your time to organize and manage
your staff well.
The Advertising Staff
In producing a school newspaper, it’s easy to forget about advertising.
But that is a costly mistake. A professional newspaper, for example, hands
over approximately 60 percent or more of its space to advertising every
issue in order to make a profit and keep subscription rates low.
Why, then, do so many high school staffs complain when they have
to make room for another Fred’s Burger Barn ad? The answer is simple.
More often than not, someone has forgotten to tell them about the
crucial role of advertising. Perhaps your school’s publication doesn’t
have an advertising manager or editor. Because the presence of an
advertising editor’s position suggests importance, the absence of such
a position may send the staff the subtle message that advertising is not
important.
Furthermore, many newspaper staff members resent being forced to
sell ads. Writers who see themselves as the next great journalist or col-
umnist may object to the added burden of raising money to pay for the
publication. They may argue that they didn’t join the staff to sell ads.
Fortunately, though, better organization can combat both apathy and
resentment toward advertisements.
The quickest and most certain remedy for these negative attitudes is to
give the advertising people a prominent and powerful place on the newspa-
per staff. The staff should seek an excellent candidate for advertising editor
with the same vigor it seeks an editor-in-chief. Ask your business teacher or
DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) sponsor for the names of
students who are competent at designing and selling advertising.