Advertising: Fragmentation of the Mass Market

Since the 1970s advertising has begun to appear on just about any medium that will accommodate it, from T-shirts and baseball caps to parking meters and public restrooms. Corporate sponsorship took over once countercultural rock concerts, with brands like Coke, Pepsi, and Bacardi Rum subsidizing tours. Movie producers began to charge for product placement in films—perhaps the most successful example being the use of Reese’s Pieces candy in the movie E.T. (1982), which resulted in a sales increase of 85 percent. Even outer space was enlisted. A large sign inside Russia’s Mir space station before it was destroyed said it all: “Even in Space … Pepsi Is Changing the Script.” It has been estimated that in the early 1970s the daily number of ads targeted at the average American was 560; by 1999 this number had jumped to 3,000.