Advertising has the power of providing information, persuading the reader and eventually selling. It is almost considered a mandatory to drive consumption. It is the only medium which can make us question ourselves – what we are looking at is a want or a need?, and that’s the theory which defines what advertising is meant to do. This literature review will discuss how advertising and creativity work hand-in-hand in the current downturn. It can be seen that due to the recession all marketers have tightened their advertising budgets and the agencies are being forced to be more creative with small budgets. The discussion will throw light on the fact that the slump is giving way to newer and innovative ways of creative advertising. The challenge is to not only advertise but also be able to answer the consumers question about what the product is all about and carry the business through the downturn – Includes excellent literature review