The word advertising refers to any kind of public announcement that brings products and services to the attention of people. Throughout history, advertising has been an effective way to promote the trading and selling of goods. In the Middle Ages, merchants employed "town criers" to read public messages aloud to promote their goods. When printing was invented in the fifteenth century, pages of advertisements (ads) could be printed easily and were either hung in public places or put in books.
广告是指任何一种可以让人们关注产品和服务的公告。历史上广告一直是一种有效的推销方式。在中世纪，商人雇佣“街头宣传员”大声朗读用于促销商品的公众信息。十五世纪印刷术发明后，广告页可以很容易地印刷出来，挂在公共场所，或者放在书里。

By the end of the seventeenth century, when newspapers were beginning to be read by more people, printed materials became an important way to promote products and services. The London Gazette was the first newspaper to set aside a place just for advertising. This was so successful that by the end of the century several companies started businesses for the purpose of making newspaper ads for merchants.
到十七世纪末，当越来越多的人开始阅读报纸时，印刷品成为推销产品和服务的一种重要方式。《伦敦公报》是第一家留出广告版面的报纸，这一做法非常成功，以至于到世纪末，有好几家公司开展业务，为商人做报纸广告。

Advertising spread quickly throughout the eighteenth century. Ad writers were starting to pay more attention to the design of the ad text. Everything, from clothes to drinks, was promoted with clever methods such as repetition of the firm's name or product, words organized in eye-catching patterns, the use of pretty pictures and expressions easy to remember.
广告在整个十八世纪迅速传播。广告人开始更多地关注广告文本的设计，从服饰到饮料，一切都是通过巧妙的方法来推广，比如重复公司的名称或产品、以引人注目的模式组织词语、使用美图和容易记住的表达方式。

Near the end of the nineteenth century, companies that were devoted to the production of ads came to be known as "advertising agencies." The agencies developed new ways to get people to think of themselves as members of a group. Throughout the twentieth century, advertising agencies promoted consumerism as a way of life, spreading the belief that people could be happy only if they bought the "right" products.
十九世纪末，致力于广告制作的公司被称为“广告商"。广告公司开发了新的方式，让人们把自己看作群体的成员。在整个二十世纪，广告公司都在提倡将消费主义作为一种生活方式，传播人们只有购买“正确”的产品才能幸福的信念。