Advertising: Strong force or weak force? Two views an ocean apart
John Philip Jones
Syracuse University, New York, USA
This paper, originally published in 1990, reviews the conventional view of advertising - the Strong Theory -which is all but universally believed in the United States and which sees advertising as a dynamic force operating as an engine for brand innovation and other types of change in the market-place. In contrast, there is the theory developed over the years with increasing persuasiveness by Andrew Ehrenberg of the London Business School, that sees advertising as a weak force, one...