If there’s one thing we can say about advertising, it’s that very few of us can escape it. Each of us sees and hears thousands of advertising and marketing messages every single day. Those of us in the industry take note of many of them. The rest of us, we remembertwo or three if we (or rather, the advertisers) are lucky.

Among those affected by advertising are the celebrities of this world. Not only do they often feature heavily in them; they are often quite vocal about them.

Some are quite anti-advertising. Others, like comedians, get a great deal of their comedy from adverts. And then there are scientists, writers, directors and other great thinkers who simply have something to say, be it good, bad, or indifferent.

Here are 21 great quotes on advertising from some people you will know very well, and others who may not have made it onto your radar.

1. “The future of advertising is the Internet.”
   Bill Gates
    
2. “If Chevy Chase had not been an actor, he might have been a very popular guy in advertising or whatever field he would have gone into, because of his charisma.”
   Harold Ramis
    
3. “A lot of advertising has gotten worse. I think it's kind of lost its nerve, to be honest with you. I feel like the advertising of the '60s, they were nervier. You know why? Because there was less at stake.”
   Jerry Seinfeld
    
4. “The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.”
   Bill Cosby
    
5. “Kodak sells film, but they don't advertise film. They advertise memories.”
   Theodore Parker
    

1. “American grammar doesn't have the sturdiness of British grammar (a British advertising man with a proper education can make magazine copy for ribbed condoms sound like the Magna goddam Carta), but it has its own scruffy charm”
   Stephen King
    
2. “Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.”
   F. Scott Fitzgerald
    
3. “Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.”
   George Orwell
    
4. “Advertising is legalized lying.”
   H.G.Wells
    
5. “Advertising nourishes the consuming power of men. It sets up before a man the goal of a better home, better clothing, better food for himself and his family. It spurs individual exertion and greater production.”
   Winston Churchill
    
6. “The trade of advertising is now so near perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement. But as every art ought to be exercised in due subordination to the public good, I cannot but propose it as a moral question to these masters of the public ear, whether they do not sometimes play too wantonly with our passions.”
   Dr. Samuel Johnson
    
7. “By the way, if anyone here is in marketing or advertising...kill yourself. Thank you. Just planting seeds, planting seeds is all I'm doing. No joke here, really. Seriously, kill yourself, you have no rationalization for what you do, you are Satan's little helpers. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now.
   Bill Hicks
    
8. “If I were starting life over again, I am inclined to think that I would go into the advertising business in preference to almost any other. The general raising of the standards of modern civilization among all groups of people during the past half century would have been impossible without the spreading of the knowledge of higher standards by means of advertising."
   Franklin D. Roosevelt
    
9. “Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.”
   Raymond Chandler
    
10. “I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me - so am I.”
    Barack Obama
     
11. “I've done a number of Super Bowl ads. And that is the best advertising of the year. That is when people realize they're going to be compared directly against other ads.”
    Jerry Seinfeld
     
12. “I have been asked what would I ban immediately if I could. Advertising.”
    Vivienne Westwood
     
13. “There are always protests, whether you do something good or bad. Even if you do something beneficial, people say you do it because it's advertising.”
    Giorgio Armani
     
14. “I'm Phil Knight, and I don't believe in advertising.”
    Phil Knight
     
15. “The only prejudice I've found anywhere in TV is in some advertising agencies, and there isn't so much prejudice as just fear."
    Nat King Cole
     
16. “I've always been a fan of advertising, I've always been a fan of television, I've loved commercials, I've loved all the jingles, I loved all the stuff.”
    Jon Hamm