ABSTRACT
There are no systematic data available on the distribution of advertising between product groups in the Soviet Union, even for the major advertising organisations. The early development of the other media is more in the nature of current expenditure. Therefore the share of expenditure on this i.e. at present exaggerates its role in the current provision of advertising. The UTR breakdown is affected in the same way. To put it another way, the Soviet advertising media that are probably relatively least developed are press and television. However, it is intended that some sort of central direction over Soviet advertising be developed. This chapter attempts to reach some conclusions about the economic functions of Soviet advertising. From the point of view of content, what matters is that Soviet advertising tries to sell things that might not otherwise be bought. To this extent it cannot help but resemble Western advertising.
