Last week, I got a call from my friend with whom I had lost contact for a long long time... After the initial renewal of our friendship, we woke up in to the present.

"Hey, where are you working currently?" he enquired.

"At Zedo. What about you?" was my reply.

"Zedo? whats it into?". He was more eager to know me, evading my queries.

"Its into Online Ad Serving. The ads that you see on the net, we provide the technology to display them."

"Ohh!! So you're the ones who drill a hole in my pockets."

"Excuse me? I didn't follow."

"You always pop-up right when I am seriously halfway through my stuff. You come uninvited, using my bandwidth, and not only waste my time but break the continuity of my work. Its because of you I end up paying manifolds more on a product as against its manufacturing cost."

Jolted from the accusations, I was in search of words to defend. I remembered the filthy tones used in the anti spy-ware mails. How does the support staff put up a brave face against such a tirade? To save the situation, I put forth the customary Zedo response, "We are an Ad Serving Technology provider, blah blah ...." But, I was not satisfied with the reply myself. I used to curse the Ads, which made my field view narrow and also wait for the whole page to load before I could scroll. I pondered over that night - Is Advertising a crime?

As an analytic, who eliminates possibilities based on facts placed before him, I started with the default question - What are the root causes or what is the origin of Advertising? Well, advertising always needed a medium. I remembered my history lessons, about the printing press being discovered which had been some time around the Renaissance period. I checked for articles during this period. But largely it seemed to be sharing of knowledge, rather than Advertising. I checked on Wikipedia for Advertising, and it mentioned about the Egyptians using it on papyrus for sales, Indians using rock-art paintings around 4000 B.C., etc. So, does it mean birth of Advertising was synonymous with that of humans being able to communicate either via visual or audial means? So were our primordial ancestors advertising for their daily needs? I tried to visualize salesmen running around with their wares on their back, and just leaves or animal skins to cover their body!! It seemed odd. Somehow, I was missing some link. These were not answering my questions, but rather providing the instances or possibilities of when advertising could have started. It still left a hole to my query on the Origin...

I rechecked Wikipedia for its definition on Advertising - paid, one-way communication through a medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled by the sponsor. So, was someone paying primordial salesmen to display their stuff? Most probably not, rather it would be them trying to sell wares which were their own. Then, in that case, were they Advertising at all? They were having a SALE of their own products personally. The definition between Advertising and what a Salesman displays was separated by a thin line. Salesman advertises his products choosing himself to be the medium whereas advertising was done through some other medium which incurred an expenditure. So, isn't Salesmen advertising?

It was then that realization dawned on me. We are advertising ourselves every moment of our life to the immediate social circle present before us. It can be while we eat or drink. Our behaviour, attitude, each action in our life is for advertising ourself. The friends which we develop through the journey of our lives is the labor of this advertisement. When we write up our resume, we advertise ourself for jobs. Its not us humans alone, even the animal & the plant kingdom advertise in some form or the other. Animals typically mate via advertising. Certain carnivorous plants trap or lure their prey via advertising in much the same way we get duped by some extravagant advertisements on some products.

So, I revisited my original question about Origin, with the new realization under my belt. Yes, it answered the queries. Advertising was an intrinsic attribute of the nature. Nature advertises in one form or another all around us, but it depends on how we digest it. So, committing a crime was out of question within this framework.

Then, I relived the moment my friend burst out at me. Certainly, it was not a happy memory, but I tried to justify his claims. He had been visiting sites which doled out information at a click to his thirsty grey cells, but with some occasional pop-ups. Wasn't he too buying information from the Internet, which otherwise would have cost a fortune (read currency) apart from time. The only difference being here he was paying in his bandwidth, by loading those pop-ups on his desktop or laptop. Everyone has the right to survive, even the programmer of the site unless its a cause for charity, but which is again funded via advertisements. But, what about the difference in the manufacturing & the distribution or retail cost. He had been right, in justifying the blame on advertising. Still, assuming a product launch without any advertising, will it ever survive? How will the intended audience or the targeted customers ever know of it? After all, advertising was not only reaching out to the targeted and wider audience but also exemplifying and making them feel that not possessing one is a crime!! So, this again justified the fortune needed in the effort.

In conclusion, advertising is just amplifying the nature's intrinsic property. So, is advertising still a crime? Advertise your feedback via mail, about this advertisement of my view.