Abstract

Agencies and image banks offer millions of photographs for use in advertising and publishing. During the last decade the sector has undergone a radical change due to the digital impact and the globalization of the business. Structures have been refurbished, major investments in digitization have been made and at the same time, new marketing models have been adopted. This study reviews the use of photographs from the commercial stock photography banks in advertising in Spain. Seven agencies of different size and objectives have been chosen as a reference.