Abstract
The current article presents an analysis of the Journal of Advertising's first 50 years of publication. All articles and research notes, and most other pieces published from 1972 through 2021, were included in our analysis. Articles were categorized into nine topics with subtopics. The content was compared across the five decades of the journal's publication. Authorship, citations based on Google Scholar, and methodologies across the first 50 years were also explored. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for how both the journal and the field have evolved, how advertising is studied, and whether the journal is fulfilling its mission.