12/84Amount spent by the U.S. government on advertising in 1983: $228,857,200
Amount spent by Coca-Cola: $282,150,000
10/86Number of brands advertised on network television in 1985: 2,713
11/87Amount lawyers spent advertising on TV in 1986: $47,000,000
12/89Total weight of the pages of advertising in the September issue of Vogue, in ounces: 43
Total weight of the pages of editorial content, in ounces: 14
8/89Pages of ads in Vanity Fair this year bought by advertisers who have been written about in the magazine: 103
4/90Portion of thirtysomething’s advertising that was pulled from an episode last fall that showed two homosexuals in bed: 3/5
4/90Percentage of all billboards in white neighborhoods in Baltimore that advertise alcohol and tobacco: 20
4/91Amount the British Boy Scouts have earned since 1988 by selling corporate advertising space on merit badges: $500,000
5/92Number of U.S. universities that offer a marketing degree with a specialty in golf management: 3
4/94Percentage of editors of U.S. daily newspapers who say that an advertiser has tried to influence their content: 90
Percentage who say the advertiser was successful: 37
8/95Percentage change since 1994 in the price of one minute of prime-time TV advertising in Russia: +200
9/95Advertised price of an “authentic” piece of a recently renovated bridge in Madison County, Iowa: $16.95
1/96Percentage change since 1993 in the Pentagon’s recruitment advertising budget: +72
7/96Chances that an American with a 1994 B.A. in journalism works in public relations, advertising, or is unemployed: 1 in 3
11/97Amount Bob Dole spent last year on political advertising on the Food Channel: $22,000
5/97Number of bulletproof Bibles manufactured last year by California’s Innovative Marketing Alliance: 1,000
2/00Ratio of eToys’ 1999 net sales through last September to what it spent on marketing and advertising: 2:3
5/01Percentage of TV investigative reporters and editors who say that an advertiser has tried to kill one of their stories: 60
2/02Percentage of all U.S. prescription-drug mass-media advertising in 2000 that was accounted for by 50 drugs: 95
6/03Chance that a network-television advertisement is paid for by one of the 100 largest U.S. corporations: 3 in 4
6/03Days that AT&T ceased its TV advertising last March “out of respect for the U.S. military operation in Iraq”: 3
4/05Amount a Nebraska man made this year by auctioning his forehead to advertisers: $37,375
8/05Amount that the Catholic Church spent in Britain this summer advertising for new priests on bar coasters: $1,100
9/05Amount the U.S. spent last year on mosquito nets to fight malaria in Africa: $4,000,000
Amount it paid a consultancy to conduct “social marketing” of mosquito nets: $7,600,000
9/05Minimum number of prescription drugs currently under investigation for Medicaid price-gouging or marketing fraud: 500
2/06Percentage change since 1996 in the amount that drug companies spend on direct-to-consumer advertising: +420
4/08Chances that a U.S. public school accepts advertising from corporations that sell junk food: 2 in 3
Chances that these schools wind up receiving no income from the advertisements: 3 in 4
2/09Rank of Barack Obama’s election among the “biggest day[s] ever in the history of marketing,” according to an Ad Age columnist: 1