Early Days of International Advertising Education in the U.S.

Abstract

Journal of Advertising, Volume XXIII, Number I March 1994 By the late 1950s, it seemed clear that international advertising was different in many ways from domestic U.S. There was already developing an international language of advertising (Dunn 1967). The dominance of advertising by U.S. agencies, companies and media was being challenged by advertising professionals in Europe and Japan. I tried to emphasize the need to tailor advertising strategy in Advertising: Its Role in Modern Marketing, first published in 1961 (Dunn 1961). It was hoped this step would encourage more advertising professors to include attention to international problems in their courses. As a Fulbright lecturer in France in 1959-60 and advertising researcher in Great Britain in 1960, I had a ringside seat for the opening of the European Common Market and the rise of advertising tailored for the French, British, German and Benelux markets. Returning to the U.S. in later 1960 I contacted the International Advertising Association, the Association for Education in Journalism, the American Marketing Association and several advertising professors to learn what they knew about international advertising education. The AEJ and the AMA had little to offer, and most professors I contacted agreed that international was important but were too swamped with other problems to give it special attention. However, the International Advertising Association (formerly the Export Advertising Association) was interested in helping promote international advertising in colleges and universities. James Gilbert, executive vice president and chief administrative executive of the IAA invited me to attend the World Congress of the IAA as its guest in Chicago in 1962. As far as I know, I was the only professor at that meeting attended by over 400 advertising professionals from around the world. One of the many problems facing professors interested in international advertising was the lack of an adequate textbook. None of the professors I contacted was interested in writing such a book, complicated and everchanging as the field was and small as the potential market seemed to be. Consequently I proposed to McGraw-Hill Book Company that a handbook with many contributors be complied and published. I would solicit writers, edit their work, translate manuscripts where needed, arrange for payment to authors and write at least one chapter. Fortunately McGraw-Hill agreed, and the 788-page International Handbook of Advertising was published in 1964 (Dunn 1964). It consisted of 76 articles on international advertising organization and procedures with a major section covering each important market in the world. Advertising Age (January 13, 1964) called it a massive reference source for the world of international advertising. In 1966, Management of International Advertising by Professor Gordon Miracle, which