Cyclical variations of advertising and personal selling

This paper examines the cyclical behavior of advertising and personal selling, the two major promotional tools, during the period 1958–1976. The study concludes that while advertising expenditures have fluctuated with business cycles (up following increases in corporate income, sometimes up and sometimes down following decreases in corporate income), personal selling effort has shown a steady increase over time, regardless of cyclical moves. The paper also examines economic theory and managerial concerns in order to explain the behavior observed.