Marketing Communications, or MarCom, is a term used by people in the marketing industry to describe anything from flyers, billboards, brochures, bumper stickers and even online ads. Essentially, MarCom is anything that communicates a desirable message to the "market". In the past few years, research done in the marketing and branding industry has developed the process of MarCom production to a science. The ultimate goal of all MarCom is to communicate a message from a company to its target market in order to perpetuate a desirable perception of that company and/or drive sales. This is done, mostly, through brand associations.
In today's society, MarCom is everywhere. Thus it is important for us to understand how MarCom works, so we may make responsible, informed decisions. Next time you see a person handing out MarCom on a street corner or something of the like, take some. Read it and try to understand what message the company is trying to push. Look for brand names and associations, look at the font-type, look at the word choice, and most importantly, look at the people depicted in any pictures. It's a known fact that the people depicted in an advertisement are usually a representation of the ad's target audience.
Don't get me wrong, advertisements and marketing aren't "evil" or anything like that; sometimes marketing can be used to perpetuate good in our society. I just hate to see people blindly believe what a corporation wants them to believe. If you can understand how a company wants to be perceived, you can avoid being brainwashed by the corporate machine.