I was looking at this ad from 1958.

It's a print handout from Cadillac.

And across the top, it says,

The moment you take the wheel, you will discover a motor car unexcilled in craftsmanship and heritage.

As you can readily see, the Cadillac Motor Car for 1958 is a rare masterpiece in all the things that make a Cadillac a Cadillac.

The people in the ad look prosperous and important.

Got two businessmen leaning in front of a Cadillac, a chauffeur standing guard by one,

and a glamorous woman in gloves leaning across a third.

I came across the ad because one of the dealerships listed in it was O'Leary Cadillac,

a grandfather's dealership in Gross Point, Michigan.

But it's a great example of this certain kind of advertising, broad, aspirational, and selling anyone who saw it on, quote, an unforgettable motoring experience.

In the way it looks, rides, and drives, this is Cadillac's finest.

We hope that you will take the time to see and drive this magnificent new Cadillac very soon.

That kind of advertising not only sold us on a certain kind of life, but also underwrote an industry.

Advertising for the last almost 200 years has essentially funded the media revolution, the idea of a mass media format.

That's Siva Vaidyanathan. He teaches media studies at the idea of a mass media format? That's Siba Vidyanathan.

He teaches media studies at the University of Virginia.

It's the reason we have newspapers, the reason we have magazines, the reason we have television and radio that we don't have to pay for.

And podcasts.

Podcasts, yes.

But all of that has changed.

Over the past 10 years, each of us has become a data point in a wholesale makeover of the advertising industry.

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