Home » Film & TV » American Fads » Insidious Infiltration:A Brief History of Television Advertising

Insidious Infiltration:A Brief History of Television Advertising

© Jenna Doscher

"Unless we get off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late."--Edward R. Murrow in a speech at the Radio and Television News Directors Convention, Chicago (October 15, 1958)

In the beginning, over 25,000 people became entranced by the television at a demonstration at a Gimbel's store in 1945. Today we couldn't imagine our homes without one. In honor of National TV Free Week (April 24-30, 2000), I would like to offer a brief history of American television advertising. Whether you loathe the interruptions, long for the kitschyness of "Where's the Beef?" or couldn't care less, commercials have infiltrated our airwaves and influenced our culture.

In the 1940s and 1950s, advertisers began sponsoring entire programs such as Kraft Television Theatre and The Texaco Star Theater. With the increase in television viewing, many sponsors left their radio spots for television. In 1950, Variety described the exodus of national sponsors exiting radio as "the greatest exhibition of mass hysteria in biz annals."

The 1960s brought assassination and war into America's living rooms along with the birth of negative political advertising. Lyndon Johnson used negative advertisingin his 1964 presidential campaign. In his "Daisy" commercial, a mushroom cloud suggested GOP candidate Barry Goldwater would not hesitate to use nuclear warfare.

While All in the Family broached controversial topics such as racism and sexism in the 1970s, advertising during children's programming encountered much scrutiny and cable channels offered a new venue for the American viewer. The Action for Children's Television petitioned the FCC to eliminate all commercials from kids' television programs. They cited a variety of shortcomings in terms of quality and regulation of advertising.

The 1970s also witnessed Coca Cola's "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" campaign saturate broadcast airwaves, becoming a cult classic.

The final episode of M*A*S*H garnered a mass audience for commercial TV, but VCRs and cable programming posed a threat to advertisers in the 1980s. Then in 1984, during the third quarter of the Super Bowl, Apple Computer introduced the Macintosh computer with a 60-second Orwellian epic commercial called "1984." The spot cost $400,000 to produce and $500,000 to broadcast in its single national paid airing. The commercial turned the Super Bowl into a major ad event and began an era of advertising as news.

The copyright of the article Insidious Infiltration:A Brief History of Television Advertising in American Fads is owned by Jenna Doscher. Permission to republish Insidious Infiltration:A Brief History of Television Advertising in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.