The force of the advertising word and image dwarfs the power of other literature in the 20th century.

Boorstin is pointing to a cultural shift in which advertising—through its tightly engineered language and persuasive imagery—becomes the dominant form of public storytelling. The “word and image” of ads do not merely compete with novels, essays, or poetry; they reshape attention, taste, and even the standards by which messages are judged (speed, memorability, emotional punch). In this view, twentieth-century “literature” is increasingly overshadowed by commercial rhetoric that saturates daily life and mass media. The claim also implies a critique: when advertising’s techniques set the tone for communication, public discourse may favor spectacle and desire over complexity, ambiguity, and sustained reflection.