ABSTRACT
Taking a human ecology approach to understanding advertising in its societal context, this chapter hypothesizes it to be a profession, then analyzes it holistically for strengths and vulnerabilities. This framework places widely accepted problems of the field–separation of academic and practitioner experience, confusions about what defines the knowledge and expertise of advertising, and diminished respect for the work ad professionals do–in perspective as parts of a single fundamental problem. This systems framework reveals the underlying challenge to be that of overcoming fragmentation. Conclusions focus on what will foster recognition of advertising’s real importance to the culture it serves.
