Historical Overview of Advertising Promise
The contribution is intended to provide a detailed disclosure of certain well-known and especially lesser-known periods in the history of advertising. Thus, we can offer a comprehensive insight into this interesting social phenomenon. The focus of the paper is the ever-changing concept of advertising promise that represents a basic foundation of any advertising strategy. We researched 10 eras of advertising promises that appeared in the known history. The first two eras deal with the advertising history of preindustrial society. The next six eras cover the best-researched part of modern advertising. The last two eras represent contemporary trends and directions for a possible future change in advertising promise development. It is hoped that this article has proposed a new contribution to the literature in this otherwise less-researched field of advertising theory. The main findings of this author's research can be characterized firstly as the establishment of a notion that advertising is not the exclusive product of capitalism and industrial society and secondly, that advertising has faced a constant crisis throughout history. In order to survive and to be effective, it has to demonstrate its permanent and inherent creativity. The article concludes with the dilemma of whether advertising has completed its full circle or whether there is a whole new world of opportunities ahead. 
 
 
Keywords: 
 
history; 
eras; 
advertising; 
promise; 
creativity
A theory of postmodern advertising
This paper challenges the ‘manipulation’ thesis of advertising which was prevalent in the early post-war years. Despite the concerted beginnings of a leisure ethos in the 1950s, advertising was still regarded, in the puritan tradition, as immoral. Advertising, as ‘appearance’, was opposed to ‘truth’ and ‘utility’. It was not until the social liberation movements of the 1960s that this dialectical view of society receded, and the principle of affluence that took hold in the 1950s was brought to its logical conclusion. Society was no longer seen to be forged out of the struggle between self-restraint and irrational excess, but driven by irrepressible want. In the postmodern situation, advertising, as rhetoric, is no longer regarded as subordinate to production. Instead, it is a mirror to consumer society—to the constant turnover of superfluous cultural commodities or fads. Postmodern consumers are not simply manipulated by ads; they respond to them on a mediated, ‘knowing’ level. As such, they react best to ads that are irreverent and self-referential.
Brands as symbolic resources for the construction of identity
The search for self-identity is a key determinant of postmodern consumption so it is essential for marketers to understand the concept and dynamics of self, the symbolic meaning of goods and the role played by brands. Building from the concept of advertising literacy, this paper outlines a model of the dialectical relationship between self-identity and social-identity, the domains of self-symbolism and social-symbolism, and the process of the mediated experience of advertising and the lived experience of products/services. Implications for brand strategy are discussed in relation to trust, deep meaning and the possibilities for mass-market brands to have personal meaning for the individual.