Maybe this was the modern percursor.
Maybe this was the modern percursor.
And they all have black families.
My favorite commercials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-bQsbrGs4
If you listen to radio programs from the 1940s, you can tell that the TV version in the ‘50s was quite similar in format. One thing the article didn’t really touch upon was the tendency to write the commercial into the script in some shows in both radio and television. Burns and Allen was known for continually breaking the fourth wall, and the show was not shy about having one of the characters suddenly reveling in the joy of owning a new set of B.F. Goodrich tires, or preparing formula with Carnation Evaporated Milk. This is well beyond traditional product placement. Also, when Gracie opened her cupboard, there would be nothing in EXCEPT Carnation evaporated milk sometimes. Also note that there would be two or three minutes of commercials instead of 10 or 11.
how they’v changed? They went from catchy interesting tunes, interesting scenes, interesting products
to dull, annoying, loud-mouthed preaching telling Americans what scum we are- oh and making man out to be morons while women have to swoop in to save the day because men couldn’t breathe on their own without written instructions
SPEEDY!! long time no see!
So so many memorable characters and slogans that you all can recall. Some pretty dumb like the Ajax white knight or Mr. Clean. Others folksy and almost primitive like Geritol.
Anacin, Exedrin, Brylcream, Maxwell House coffee..whether you used the products or not, you knew of them.
Now so many are just hateful trash. I don’t watch much broadcast TV anymore but when I do, the commercials are disgusting and jarring. The superbowl ones were just awful.
I can’t connect with any of them.
Feels almost like something is missing.
forgot to mention- early commercials were only like 15 seconds or so- and there were only a few at a time- your main show would be back on before you could run out to the kitchen for a snack-
today commercials take so much time you could play a game of janga, or take a shower before the show reappears, and while you are watching the show- commercials break over the top of the show, taking up about 1/8-1/4 of the screen, blocking out the show’s important areas on the screen- making it impossible to read the text at the bottom of the screen, or see scores until the commercials are over
The question ... blacks represent approximately 14% of the population. Why is it that watching TV commercials today is like watching an NBA or NFL game ... where blacks are disproportion to their numbers in our population? This extends out to the mainstream media where correspondents are now predominantly black ... watch the national evening news from any of the major networks.
evolution ? More like devolution.
They had uplifting jingles about their products. No politics involved.
Plop plop
Fizz fizz
Oh what a relief it is.........
My dad always had to be first with everything, so we were the first people to have a TV, some small set with a round screen. All the neighbors came over to see it.
Big fun back then, now too many seriously crappy program choices.
I’m old enough to remember when cable was advertised as commercial free.
Sign up for cable and get NO ADS
vegetables, more vegetables, shampoo, cars, appliances, cereal, Aunt Jemima, department stores (Sears), Coca Cola, 7-UP, more vegetables, Alka Seltzer
I stopped watching TV years ago, so I have no idea what commercials look like today. And even back when I did watch it, I would always mute the commercials or fast forward through them.
Very few commercials deserve to go viral. This one from Food City does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoABty_zE00
It also seems like it depends on what channel you watch.
If you watcheded Nick at Night, you got Viagra and Cialis commercials.
If you watched MeTV, you got portable oxygen tanks, step-in bathtubs and dialysis at home commercials.
If you watched LOGO and Lifetime, you got AIDS commercials.
If you watched MTV and VH1 commercials, you got tech school and bail bonds commercials.
-PJ
Around the time this commercial came out I marched in a Veteran’s Day parade with a Marine master sergeant who enlisted in the Corps in 1936. He said his proudest achievement was bringing out his entire unit from the Chosen Reservoir. He had no trouble fitting into his uniform but didn’t think the stitching would stand up to drycleaning anymore. I wore my dress blues I got at Navy OCS in 1969.
Click on the gif to see the full commercial.
-PJ
They stopped talking about the product and try to tie everything to having a “happy lifestyle” - even drugs are now touted as “self-esteem elation”.
Read later, to see how many I remember.