Customer Reviews

Advertising (8th Edition)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The previous reviewer ("book maven") is correct. This textbook is a virtual trainwreck- poorly written/edited (see how they misspell "Brainfog" on page 375 ), disorganized and repetitive. Each chapter rehashes the same concepts - only the buzzwords, choices of filler and the smug insights from a series of talking heads change.

Most notable, however, is the lingering sense that the authors might be a bit lost on how their subject matter relates to the real world. This is rather important for the advertisers, clients and customers that live there. They appear so clueless when they attempt to address "new" media (like the internet), that it's downright comical. It's not 1998 anymore. It's time to either provide some realistic insights, or step aside and drop this volume onto the history shelf.

Any (good) advertising resource should tell you that bewildering the customer is not a sound marketing practice. Charging them $139 (and that's the Amazon price, the list is $195) for the experience is downright unethical.

I understand that nobody is perfect, and that even after a barrage of editors, a thing or two can slip by in the publishing world. But not when a book costs $188. I was already annoyed that the 7th ed is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper, but my professor requires 8th ed. But, I'm sure that, being an upgraded version, it must be a vast improvement over 7th, that the content is extremely different and better, and that all errors have been fixed. Then I open the book, begin to read, and on page 3 (Which both 2 and 3 are half pages, so practically page 2. Of the preface, so technically xxvii.) there is a glaringly obvious typo. Could someone please tell me what word "andeffective" is? So, this book has a lot of ground to make up for being absurdly expensive AND flawed.

I have a different perspective than most of the reviews I've read so far here on Amazon.com.

I am a practitioner at a big, good advertising agency in New York City. I have worked in other agencies in San Francisco and London as well, for some of the world's best marketers and brands.

I think that Advertising & IMC offers a unique, foundational view of the industry. It takes a broad and long view, and offers many voices in its narrative. I couldn't disagree more with the reviewer that said it is the equivalent of a few searches on Google.

This book offers a way for newcomers to get started understanding what is a complex industry that is constantly re-inventing itself. The book does this by providing views through lenses like history, regulation, economics, etc, to offer a deeper understanding. In this way it is nothing like the ad industry trade press, conferences, awards show annuals, search engines and other ways of coming at the topic that are of-the-moment but miss the big picture.

Also, as a contributor to the book I think that they have great contributors. (-: Kidding aside, I think that taking a variety of perspectives via a diverse set of contributors is a great way of dimentionalizing things and bringing in different voices.

I feel a lot of sympathy for the criticisms of the price of this book. While I don't completely understand the inner workings of the textbook publishing trade or how much it costs to produce and distribute such a book, the book is pricey. This is especially true given it is now in its 9th edition, and some of the content has been re-purposed from previous editions. And that most of its buyers are on student budgets.

An additional criticism would be the time that it takes for the information to get to students through the textbook channel. This book is updated every few years, which is a long time in advertising industry time. I offer this constructively. In the future, I would expect it to be paired with faster moving medium such as a blog or a non-print version such as an e-book .

One final nit would be that the design and production quality of the book seem just-OK to me. This should not be the case for a book about advertising; an industry that obsesses over design quality as a consumer touch-point.

While no book is perfect, I truly believe that the benefits make this one worth more than the costs. And it has an important role to play.

The bottom line is that there are lots of ways to learn about the advertising and marketing communications business. And learning about it as a student is a great way for new people entering the field to be empowered to change it and improve it. I think this book makes a positive contribution to that world.

This book cost quite a bit but didn't have updated information to represent the shift the past couple of years to social media outlets. Was disappointing that my school chose this book.

I read this book for a 3000 level course at school and was quite surprised. There are numerous typos and poor grammar throughout the book (as other reviewers have pointed out). The book itself provides a decent framework for an introduction into advertising, but I am not sure if this is worthy of a 3000 level course. Some of it can get repetitive or slow. There are a lot of regurgitating terms throughout the book as well. The practical applications listed are somewhat out-dated (I do not feel there is enough emphasis on internet advertising). I cannot say what a better book would have been for the course I took, but I am sure there are others out there. Publisher only releases hard-cover copies which are twice as expensive as they should be. All in all, I rounded up from a 2.5. Average, nothing more.

If a teacher assigns this book to your class I would question her intelligence and knowledge or the advertising field. This book is a students nightmare. The information is very unorganized. Different chapters go in and out of detail on the same concepts instead of placing it in one solid chapter. & just when you thought you knew the definition of a word, the next chapter gives you a whole new one. I feel like being forced to read this book for my final exam may have even lowered my IQ. What a disgrace.

It is a very simple text book. If it wasn't for taking a class that required it I would never buy it. You can find the same stuff by doing a google search.

I enjoy reading history books, theology books, and even economy books. However, I needed to get this book for a class, and it is the biggest waste of money ive ever spent. I would pay about 10 dollars for this book if I had to price it. The writting is repetitive, and incorrect. The grammar at times is poor. The writer seems to have made up key words as possibly most text book authors do but it just doesnt seem scholarly. Alot of the content is pretty obvious and just doesnt need to be in a book.

The book had a ripped page but other than that it was good for a used book.