The rector of UIC Barcelona was recently inducted as a member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (RAED). In his admission speech, titled “Where is advertising going? Key points from the past to determine the future”, Méndiz presented an overview of the evolution of advertising, and spoke about the future of advertising formats.

Starting the story from the beginning, the rector thanked “this century-old Royal Corporation” with words of respect and admiration and said he was very happy to make his speech about advertising in the best place, seeing as, “just 500 metres from here, at Casa Llotja del Mar, the first advertising course in our country was taught in 1915 – one year after the creation of the Royal European Academy of Doctors.”

After mentioning some key points that have shaped the current context of advertising, Méndiz reflected on the identity of advertising and its future, from advertising with so-called influencers to the use of artificial intelligence or “other current advertising macro-trends”. All of them “could present great ethical challenges for companies” but he concluded that “the future of advertising must be ethical if anything.”

On behalf of the Royal European Academy of Doctors, the numerary member Francisco Javier Garrido Morales was responsible for answering the admission speech. Garrido, in addition to reviewing the long academic career of the new member of the RAED, spoke of the great “vocation for teaching the speaker has and how he had discovered the beauty of educating communicators”, following in the footsteps of many people, especially his father.

Alfonso Méndiz is a full professor of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at UIC Barcelona. In addition to being an expert in advertising and values and in new forms of advertising, he has been rector of UIC Barcelona since September 2021. He is also a professor at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, of which he was dean from 2015 to 2021.