Historical evolution of advertising research in Spain: from the scientific origins of advertising to the current research boom

Abstract

Scientific research on the advertising phenomenon in Spain dates back to the early 20th century and it was first sponsored by Prat Gaballí and the Catalan Publi-Club. However, it is not until the decade of the sixties that we can talk about the takeoff of the scientific study on advertising. In the 21st century, the proliferation of centers that provide teaching in advertising studies, the increase in the number of researchers and the need for research as a requirement to achieve academic promotion have contributed to the growth in advertising research. This study is aimed to know how the research on advertising in Spain has evolved historically. To that end, a historical approach is first used to analyse the origins of scientific research on advertising both internationally and in Spain. Additionally, we perform a bibliometric analysis on the scientific production in Spain. We show that, despite the early attempts to scientifically base the advertising discipline, its consolidation happened during the last decades of the 20th century, with two milestones in time: early nineties and the beginning of the following century. This article is part of a broader project on advertising research in Spain, carried out by the authors during the last years. We are analysing, for the first time, the results focusing on the temporal evolution of the object of study. The main results, structured in seven quinquennia, represent a new advance in the knowledge of advertising research in our country, this time under a historical perspective.