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This article deals with the transformation of the advertising professions in Italy between 1920 and 1960. It particularly focuses on the confrontation between, on one hand, American advertising methods and practices and, on the other, advertising people’s knowledge and know-how, and specifically, Italian graphic designers who were inspired by modernist aesthetics and thinking. By analyzing different sources (specialized press, congress proceedings of professional organizations, “grey literature,” monographic works) we try to reconstruct the debate that accompanied the arrival of American advertising agencies and techniques in Italy. The study of such discussions, which occurred during a crucial period for the expansion of the advertising industry in Italy, helps to understand how and why some practices of American advertising were accepted, others rejected and still others incorporated into the pre-existing tradition, producing entirely new and original solutions.