Tuesday, August 2, 2022

If TV Commercials Were Bad Back in the Day - What Do You Call Them Today?

I'm often amused to see young folks' reactions to TV commercials from the 1940s through the 60s.

They almost faint in horror at the outright misogynism in those early messages to consumers. 

The tobacco misinformation spread in those early ads guaranteed a generation of lung cancers that still plague stubborn users today.

For the record the first official paid television advertisement came out on July 1, 1941, at 2:30 p.m. over New York station WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The ad was for Bulova watches.

Those early ads used popular jingles or slogans designed to be striking and memorable. 

I still remember that enduring phrase "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" which ran through 50s to the 70s. 

And Marlboro cigarettes campaign "The Marlboro Man."

Another For the Record Moment; I started smoking cigarettes in 1966. My first full pack (up until then I bummed them off of buddies) was Marlboro.

I didn't kick my nicotine addiction until 2000. Hopefully I added a few years to my life. But I digress.

On Modern TV Commercials

Most insult your intelligence in not-so-subtle ways. 

Many so-called modern TV commercials were attacked by racist viewers who demanded they be taken off the air if African Americans were in them.

I still remember when Sly and the Family Stone's anti-racism song "Everyday People" was used in a car advertisement angering a lot of viewers.

There are certain TV ads running today that drive me crazy with their cute little way of describing male genitals and women's sanitary products.

The "Bent Carrot" ad representing a man's penis with a condition known as "Pyronines Disease," is particularly loathsome. 

They all but call the condition the crooked dick disease with a dancing bent carrot among all of the straight carrots. The narrative with it is just as stupid and easily forgettable... unlike Winston's slick jingle in the days of yore.

Sometimes the commercials can be entertaining like the one with the old lady asking, "Where's the Beef?" in the 1984 Wendy's ad.

In all fairness, I don't like TV ads, nor have I ever liked them. I know they've always been a necessary evil to pay the bills in the industry. But make no mistake, they're there for one purpose, to sell you shit you probably don't need. There's nothing educational about them. 

And that's all I got to say about that.

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