ABSTRACT

Advertising has changed extensively with the expansion of digital technology, and, as a result, the definition of advertising has also changed, such that advertising now includes a much broader set of activities. This chapter summarizes the newest research about advertising and the theories that guide that research. We give an overview of different categories of advertising and argue that different theories apply to the various types. We review a number of traditional advertising theories that are still actively employed, and then explore a set of concepts that form the backbone of advertising theory, including skepticism, avoidance, attention, involvement, engagement, emotion, and creativity.