Read carefully the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
With the recent
growth of mass media technology, advertizing has begun to play a significant
role in national economy. Thousands of people are working to promote the sale
of each new product or to boost the sale of a product already in the market. In
fact, advertizing as an industry now enjoys a respectable status and is
regarded by many as a service to society.
The avowed
purpose of advertizing is to inform the audience and to influence it to buy a
particular product. The customer is made aware of goods and services available,
their merits, uses and value. Advertizing thus helps him in choosing what he
actually needs or what he should have to add to his comfort and improve his
standard of living. But the sale of a product does not depend on advertisement alone.
The quality of a product must be good and its price within the reach of those
for whom it is intended.
India’s
advertizing industry is about 100 years old. The British firms in India were
the first to make use of advertizing for marketing purposes in the beginning of
the twentieth century. The advertizing agencies opened by them gave an
opportunity to the Indian staff to get training and set up their own
establishments in due course. The first Indian advertizing agency, B. Dattaram
and Co. started functioning in 1903.
When India
became free, Five-year Plans were launched, economic activities increased at a
tremendous pace. Many new industries were set up and gradually a large number
of products, which were imported earlier, began to be manufactured in the
country. Now hordes of specialist agencies have come into existence to look after
particular aspects of the advertizing industry.
Questions:
1. How old is
the Indian advertizing industry?
2. Why does the
writer call advertizing an agency?
3. What are the
functions of advertizing?
4, What was the
first Indian advertizing agency?
5, When and how
did Indian advertizing make good progress?
