ADVERTISING ON TV- -Vol. 1 (approx 55 min)

"TWO YEARS, 39 DAYS, AND ONE MINUTE"--hosted by WCBS-TV News anchorman Jim Jensen, and co-produced by the CBS network with the Television Bureau of Advertising for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, this mid-1960's documentary looks at the nature of product development (the title refers to the time it takes for a new product in research and development, before it is ever seen by a single consumer), the scientific research behind it, which helps determine the exact nature, content and form of a product before it is ever offered nationally; and the selling of that product through the careful focusing of television advertising; examples of research and focus groups are presented, some in what today would seem very sexist terms, with women shown as "unable to balance a checkbook" but able to run a multi-million dollar industry through their decisions in shopping.

Different advertising techniques are shown, to illustrate humor, satire, and other approaches as well as the more creative visual side of TV advertising, with images and words that transform themselves. Commercials include Campbell's Soup, Cracker Jacks (with Jack Gilford), Lays Potato Chips with (Bert Lahr), a Jello ad with a Chinese baby, Hawaiian Punch, and Kleenex Man-Sized Tissues.

"THE SALESMACHINE"--a look at the success of television advertising, narrated by Ed Herlihy, from both a historical and statistical point-of-view, beginning from the year of the invention of the telegraph in the 1840's, up through the development of radio as a popular medium and its eventual rise to an audience level matching newspapers, to 1949 and the emergence of TV stars as spokespersons for various products (Milton Berle for Texaco etc.) to 1952, when television passed radio in audience and advertising revenue, into the 1960's and the ballooning of television programming and audiences. Viewers also get a close look at various television campaigns, demonstrating the growing sophistication of the medium, including Lucky Strike and Bank Americard. The statistics and historical perspective offered are unique and astonishing, and pertain to far more than mere advertising numbers, offering glimpses of our popular culture evolving along with the new advertising medium.

​

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 2 (approx 55 min)

A collection of entries in a national competition for the best locally produced television commercials. Included are: General Telephone (spokesman being hit by eggs), Mitchell Photography of Raleigh, N.C. (photography as means of conquering time), Lone Star Gas (workers brought inside of huge gas-powered air conditioner), Jetzon Tires (cars racing along road to William Tell Overture), Plank Road Farm (kids playing with cows, ducks), Mt. Mercy College (parent of prospective student failing "quiz" about Mt. Mercy and its attributes), Kenny's Bantam Markets (husband of expectant mother goes out after midnight for pickles, ice cream etc. set to "Elephant Walk"), Cascade Electric Water Heaters, B.C. Telephone, Sweeney & Company Jewelers (underwater shots, opera voice comes out of oyster), Prairie Maid (hot dogs and other sausages performing in circus)

 National Bank of Commerce College Fund (scenes of a father and son), Mastercharge (Southern Arizona Bank Mastercharge ad, rapid-fire cartoon presentation of the different kinds of items that can be bought with Mastercharge), White Spot Hamburgers (the Lone Ranger and Native American sidekick ride up to order food while the William Tell Overture plays in background--includes tag-line of "Who was that masked man?"), Rich's Department Store (montage of historic photos, line-drawings etc. pertaining to the Atlanta-based department store), Boston Store (women modeling clothes), Simpson's Department Store (montage of products set to guitar, piano etc.), Abraham & Strauss (Fred Willard as husband discussing gift he bought), Filene's (women on Boston streets), Winkelman's World of Imports (clips of travelog of Italy), Clairol (women using hair rollers), Williamsburg Shop at Wanamaker's (18th century style furniture), Gertz/Stern's stores, Maison Blanche (shots of jewelry and fish), Hutzler's (women in various fashions), Belk Stores (women in back-to-school fashions), Battlestein's (dance production numbers in store)

Higbee's (fast-edited montage of furniture, toys etc.), Dayton's (casual shoes, close-up shots of shoes, women walking etc.), Dupont (shots of auto-racing, car crashes, Mario Andretti voice-over), National Cash Register, Boeing 747 (man kicking tires of jumbo jet), Gulf Oil (child building space station out of wooden construction set), General Electric Super-Bright Street Lights (police at crime-scene), Humble Oil/Esso (drovers taking care of herd on Texas ranch).

Other commercials on this tape include industrial promotional spots from AVCO Industries (Unisystem farm equipment, aircraft), Union Carbide fuel cells (electric motorcycle in operation), IBM Office Products (executive played by Willard Waterman dictating letter with "waste" meter running), Reynolds Aluminum Wrap, Coca-Cola cans, people at party), Rockwell Manufacturing (Arnold Palmer swinging golf club, men at work in construction), B.F. Goodrich (golf balls, domes, subways, operating rooms, nuclear submarines), New York Telephone, Reynolds Aluminum (Saturn V rocket), General Electric (water being wasted), Apex Controls Company (man reading paper, drenched by rain), General Telephone & Electronics International (scenes from Brazil, Iran, Belgium of towns, bridges, jungles, rivers, dancing girls etc.), North American Rockwell (underwater scenes depicting wealth available in the sea).

NOTE: THESE COMMERCIALS, WHICH DATE FROM 1970, ARE SOME OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND CREATIVE EVER MADE FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL ADVERTISERS, AND AS COMMERCIALS FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL CLIENTS, WERE NEVER SEEN ON NATIONAL TELEVISION.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 3 (approx 55 min)

TELEVISION BUREAU OF ADVERTISING: THE VISION OF TELEVISION: A dazzling industrial film dealing with the growth of television, both as a cultural institution and an advertising medium. Beginning with an example of the familiarity of television names (Joe Friday, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, Sergeant Bilko, and Howdy Doody), this 1957 film goes into the explosion in the number of channels and sets in use in the United States from 1953 thru 1957, the ballooning number of advertisers both locally and nationally, and the growth in the average daily viewing time (to 5 hours and nine minutes as of 1957).

The usefulness of television advertising, and its competitive costs with other advertising media are discussed, and viewers are treated to both real and "mock-up" commercials for Castro convertibles, Fab, Good Luck Margarine, Revlon cosmetics, RCA Victor portable television sets, and Snow Drift Wesson Oil shortening, all of which demonstrate different techniques of using television to great effect in selling products. Viewer statistics are analyzed, along with the way in which viewers react to television messages (as opposed to print). Amazingly for 1957, there is a surprising degree of emphasis on color broadcasting, even though only a tiny fraction of receivers in use at that time were color sets, but black-and-white's effectiveness is analyzed as well (257 stations in the U.S. at that time broadcast in color at least part of the time, according to this film).

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 4 (approx. 50 min.)

“WHY SHOULDN’T I STICK WITH NEWSPAPERS?” - A fascinating film by the Television Bureau of Advertising that explains why many advertisers should and must look beyond newspapers. Using the results of many complex surveys of the buying public, coupled with common sense and an understanding of modern sales techniques, the producers make the case that television is the only medium that effectively allows for the use of the same techniques that a salesman might use on a customer in a store. Additionally, using the Montgomery, Alabama-based Montgomery Advertiser-Journal as a jumping off point, the producers cite the paper’s best penetration into the marketplace as 41%, whereas television’s penetration in the same market is never less than 67%.

Viewing statistics support the use of television throughout the year, as audience size doesn’t alter but viewing hours get extended in the summer months. From its beginning as a medium with few sets and lots of viewers per set, television’s growth into a near-saturation medium, with multiple sets per family is profiled, along with the viewer habits that are established, turning television into a personal medium in a way that newspapers never can be. Television’s emotional involvement is spotlighted, along with its ability to deliver messages on levels infinitely more sophisticated and powerful than newspapers. Finally, the development of new markets and television’s ability to reach them is analyzed, along with some of the success stories of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, including Westinghouse and Hallmark.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING: PROLOGUE: A dazzling documentary on the way that television has affected the marketplace for advertisers and sellers, and the manner in which the viewer has been affected. Viewer habits are analyzed along with the way that television - in contrast with all other media - is perceived by the audiences that the advertiser seeks. Breakdowns include the level of television penetration into each segment of the marketplace, and the way that new developments, including color and the integration of music, affect what viewers perceive about products and the medium. Numerous commercials from the 1950’s are shown for contrast and to illustrate the way in which audiences have changed with television.

​

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 5 (approx. 55 min.)

CEREAL HEROES: SUPERMAN AND SPACE PATROL BREAKFAST COMMERCIALS – A panorama of breakfast food and toy TV tie-ins from the early and mid-1950’s, beginning with Kellogg’s 1950’s advertising campaigns built around THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, with star George Reeves appearing as Clark Kent (when Superman shows up, it’s in the form of stock footage from the show of him flying), sometimes with Jack Larson’s Jimmy Olsen and John Hamilton’s Perry White, all about to enjoy Kelloggs’ Sugar Smacks, Corn Flakes, or another of the company’s cereals; Reeves is introduced by Tony the Tiger and Katy the Kangaroo (a now-forgotten animal that also appeared on boxes of Frosted Flakes), and plugs Sugar Frosted Flakes; also included are ads for the Flying Superman toy, and the Superman t-shirt.

Old-time Hollywood actors Zazu Pitts and Donald McBride also appear in commercials for Kelloggs’ Corn Flakes featuring Superman stock footage. Also, there are promotions for cereals involving free miniature Superman comic books inside. More familiar Kelloggs cartoon spokespersons Snap, Crackle and Pop (and their buddy “Pow” for Power). Additionally, this tape presents a series of commercials derived from the SPACE PATROL, starring Edward Kemmer as Buzz Corey--Kemmer appears along with Jack Narz as Cadet Happy, promoting Ralston Purina cereal Wheat Chex and Rice Chex, and such toy tie-ins as a set of space binoculars. Finally, Ronald and Nancy Reagan (and their daughter Patti) are seen plugging General Electric lighting fixtures and other products.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 6 (approx 60 min.)

TELEMPATHY: THE LANGUAGE OF INVOLVEMENT: A late 1960's Television Bureau of Advertising documentary about television as a medium, giving the reasons for television's growth as an advertising medium. Providing concrete examples from television ads dating from the 1950's to the end of the 1960's, the film explains how the medium has evolved, and the manner in which messages are much more sophisticated and, thus, far more effective. The major changes in television, as delineated in this film, include showing rather than telling, and replacing narration with commentary. Ironically, the reason that television became the main outlet of advertising is closely related to the way in which it had become the major source of news as well.

WHY BECOME A TELEVISION SALESMAN: A Television Bureau of Advertising film taking a look at the careers of five salesmen from five different stations from different parts of the country. Each one tells how long he has worked in the area, and what the demands of his job are, and what the rewards are. The requirements and the opportunities compared and contrasted in the different cities and regions, along with the different challenges. Additionally, we get a look at the role that each man plays within his respective community.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 7 (approx 55 min.)

THE TIME OF TELEVISION: A stunning documentary on television and the way that it has affected peoples’ thinking, the shape of their days and nights, and the manner in which they absorb information. Beginning with observations about the way that people absorb information from television, as opposed to print media, the film goes into the changes that have taken place in the nature of television’s images-growing sophistication, subtler messages, more careful and eloquent language (visual and verbal), and generally the reshaping of the public through viewing, which has only risen during the period covered, from the beginning of the 1950’s thru the mid-1960’s.

PLACE STORE NAME HERE: A look at the early success of co-op television advertising, from the standpoint of one small group of clothing stores north of New York City. Working from the most basic materials provided by local television stations and the clothing manufacturer, the retailer crafted and successful campaign that became an entire series of ads, all aimed at bringing people into the store. The advertiser and station representatives discuss the different approaches they’ve taken to customizing commercials, and how those approaches evolved over time.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 8 (approx 5 min.)

PEPSI-COLA AND TELEVISION: A Television Bureau of Advertising film, made in the Philadelphia area, telling of the success that Pepsi-Cola has had advertising on television, and comparing its success with that of other, different products (including Lestoil) that have succeeded through heavy television advertising. Discussion includes examples of the kinds of advertising, and the different focus of the advertising (including emphasizing the unique shape of the Pepsi bottle) and its placement, especially in sports events on television.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING AND SUCCESS: A most unusual 1970's film produced by the Television Bureau of Advertising. Starting off from the premise that success is increasingly difficult to achieve, and, in many instances, impossible for more than one company in a particular field to achieve at any given moment, the film then takes a closer look at the characteristics of each medium. Citing then-new polls (and giving the size of each sample group) telling how the public regards each medium, in terms of honesty, credibility, excitement, color, immediacy etc., and what sorts of products can be sold best in each medium, the film comes to the conclusion that, except for highly specialized local-interest material, or very unusual products, television is the best of all media in which to advertise.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 9 (approx. 55 min.)

COAST TO COAST: A Television Bureau of Advertising film dealing with the success of Coast to Coast, a nationally franchised chain of convenience stores, in moving into television advertising. The film takes a close look at the chain’s successful entry into the television market, and also the way in which the knowledge and experience gained from these campaigns is shared with other parts of the chain.

ADVERTISING ON TV.: A Television Bureau of Advertising film giving the reasons for advertising on television, and how television advertising reaches audiences in a manner completely different from that of advertising in any other medium, in terms of how it is perceived. Statistical research is cited as to the growth of television, in terms of number of sets and viewers, and the amount of time that people spend watching, from 1950 until 1957.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 10 (approx. 55 min.)

SHERWIN WILLIAMS: A film made by the management of the paint company specifically for its employees, in which the company president discusses past successes, future plans, profit levels, and the way in which the company hopes to secure higher levels by innovation in the field of paints. The movie is surprisingly candid, with management admitting to some mistakes and occasional cash squeezes.

RETAILER ON THE MOVE--LEVITS: A look at the growth in sales of Levits Furniture, a Pennsylvania-based retailer that decided to go into television advertising in a big way and made it pay off. From the beginning, the Levits chain carefully tailored its commercials to give an accurate impression of what their stores looked like, which included the glimpses provided of their warehouse space as people enter the stores. Coupled with carefully chosen selections of merchandise and a unified approach to advertising, the company grew into a major regional retailer within just a few years of moving to television advertising.

PURINA: The Purina pet products division of Ralston Purina (which also make cereal) presents its advertising and marketing strategy of the year 1960. Using a spaceship motif as a wrap around image, Purina presents the launching of a new series of campaigns, based on magazine advertising (especially to farmers and professional animal breeders and trainers) for specialized audiences, and television advertising for the general public. Includes clips of new commercials and a careful look at the demographics of the series (THE RIFLEMAN, CHEYENNE etc) shows they are sponsoring.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 11 (approx. 55 min.)

LESTOIL: THE HOUSE THAT TELEVISION BUILT: A TV Bureau of Advertising film detailing one of television advertising’s great successes, the growth of Lestoil from a product selling a few hundred bottles each year to a giant selling 60 million bottles each year by 1958. The inventor of Lestoil, Jacob L. Burowski, talks about the way he started packaging the industrial cleaner for home use, and his gradual move into television advertising, region by region, from a $60,000 annual advertising budget in 1954 to a $5 million budget in 1958, and growth in that same period from 150,000 annual sales to 60 million.

SOCIAL SECURITY IN ACTION (c.1962): A production of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, with special guest Morey Amsterdam, then costarring on the Dick Van Dyke Show. Amsterdam seems in a foul mood here, bad-mouthing guests he’s dealt with on the TONIGHT SHOW and also attacking rock ‘n roll music, and explaining how he came to play the cello by way of the flute, and tells about his then new album, FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK (featuring his DICK VAN DYKE SHOW co-stars Richard Deacon, Rose Marie, and Joan Shawlee). The interview is interrupted by a couple of extended plugs for social security, and Amsterdam also reveals that he was, at that time, a vice president at American International Pictures, and several films they have in production.

KAL KAN PET FOOD: A documentary about Kal Kan pet food, which starts off with a look at dogs throughout history and how Kal Kan nourishes and benefits dogs and cats; a close look at show dogs; an account of dogs trained for the army, and of Sarge, the most decorated dog in U.S. military history, who lived to a ripe old age of 21 after retiring following service during World War II.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 12 (approx. 55 min.)

THE FLORIDA CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION: “DOORS TO PROFIT 1967 - 1968 – A promotional film by the Florida Citrus Growers’ Association, previewing the advertising campaign planned for the year 1967-68. A comic portraying “Dr. O.J. Goldfinger” cavorts amid a group of bikini clad models showing off different Florida citrus fruits; a cartoon commercial shows the weight loss benefits of grapefruits; chilled orange juice is also the subject of a series of radio and television ads, including the use of the jingles “You Are My Sunshine” and the oddly prophetic “Let the Sun Shine Out.” A media list of print advertising outlets is presented (ironically, the first and biggest on the list, LIFE, is the only one on the list that is no longer in business in the 1990’s).

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 13 (approx. 55 min.)

Public service announcements have been a part of American television since the beginning of the 1950's, but they didn't really come into their own until the 1960's, when the campaigns became pretty extensive, including local and regional campaigns. The selection here includes a series of ads devoted to the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign, beginning with the one showing garbage flying at the camera with a voice-over asking, "It's enough to make you sick--isn't it enough to make you stop." Another has the map of the United States slowly covered over by trash, and we see one famous ad with Louis Nye as a garbage man complaining about the way that Americans dump litter, declaring "Every litter bit hurts--YOU!"

A second set of commercials is devoted to the detection and treatment of diabetes, and features such celebrities as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Phil Silvers, Ed Sullivan, Jack Paar, John Daly, Tex Antoine (who uses drawings to show where the pancreas is), and Betsy Palmer. A third set of commercials, from the 1960's for Citgo, the service station chain, announce the company's name change from "City Service" (ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM Citgo NOW!), featuring Ed McMahon and Barbara Walters, both together and separately, plugging Citgo.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 14 (approx. 55 min)

One of the most successful products ever advertised on television was Stokely Van Camp's GATORADE, which was originally sold to athletes and eventually became a popular drink among the general population. This tape includes a good cross-section of the different phases of marketing GATORADE, beginning with its purely sports-oriented approach--a football playing field and a team working out is shown along with a voice over that announces, "This is a laboratory."

The University of Florida Gators football team head coach talks about GATORADE being absorbed into the body 12 times faster than pure water, and its safety as a drink for athletes while they're playing. Another ad shows a man mowing a lawn on a hot day, who can drink GATORADE safely, teenagers playing volleyball, a man running in the hot sun etc. Some of the ads parallel the subsequent successful campaign for light beer, presenting GATORADE as a drink that doesn't fill you up, and show a woman at work in the kitchen, and a senior citizen enjoying GATORADE, others have a funnier approach, showing a matador about to face a bull in the ring, and a distinct non-athlete swinging in a hammock who expresses his appreciation for GATORADE, saying "it leaves room for the pizza." The drink's nickname eventually evolves into "The Professional Thirst Quencher."

Other Van Camp commercials on this tape include their pork and beans, built around the theme of "Simple Pleasures Are the Best," dating from the 1970's and mostly showing families enjoying themselves (with lambs, puppies, kittens, turtles; little girls dressing up in adult clothes and make-up etc.) intercut with shots of Van Camp's Pork and Beans being served and eaten. Commercials from an earlier era feature Van Camp's Beans and Wieners, with teenagers at a Wally Cleaver-style get together enjoying hot-dogs and beans, while a cartoon messenger boy with the name Van Camp's declares, "It's Easy," referring to making the beans etc. Other commercials have families enjoying Van Camp's Beans and Wieners, a boy with his mother in the kitchen while she makes dinner, and Van Camp's Chili Con Carne (introduced by the same messenger boy, on a burro), also explaining what Chili Con Carne is.

 

ADVERTISING TV Vol. 15 (approx. 60 min.)

The 1960’s saw an explosion in sophisticated children’s toys, as the industry began consolidating the phenomenal growth that if had undergone over the previous decade. Children were more sophisticated and aware, and the toys and the commercials selling them had to grow in a similar fashion.

JOHNNY LIGHTNING was a competitor to Mattel’s Hot Wheels, perhaps not as well known but just about as successful. These commercials spotlight the second generation of Johnny Lightning racing cars, the Rocket 500 from 1970 the original Johnny Lightning moved at a scale speed of 300 miles per hour, but the Rocket 500 moved at a scale of 1200, and included maneuvers that took the cars 90 degrees straight up. With track set ups named Indy, Canam, Le Mans, and Cyclone, Johnny Lightning was designed for excitement, and tied for even closer tie-ins with real-life drivers and cars and, in turn, Johnny Lightning is seen in some of these clips getting endorsements from Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser and Rufus Parnelli Jones. Another new feature, the jet powered compressor (building up air-pressure of 150 psi), boosted their speed even higher, and made the Ricochet Raceway even more exciting.

On the girls side of toys, SUZIE HOMEMAKER was the most successful line of children’s kitchen appliances ever marketed. As the commercials here demonstrate in diverse and very funny setting, the Suzy Homemaker Sweet Shoppe--complete with ice-cream maker--is also featured in several ads.

BABY LOVE’N CARE was a less ambitious toy for girls. As its name implied, the doll required love and care, and girls are shown doing just that, including taking care of the doll when she’s “sick.”

DAWN didn’t need taking are of. A rival of Mattel’s Barbie, Dawn was a creation of American Character, and was more far more sophisticated than Barbie, as a character and a doll, with realistic walking action, a wardrobe that exuded late 1960’s glamour, and a rich circle of girlfriends (Angie, Dale and Glory), and no Ken or Ken equivalent) of all races, all as stylish as she was. Additionally, Dawn was programmed to engage in real conversation.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 16 (approx. 60 min.)

NEW YORK STATE SAVINGS BANKS: A series of television ads from the late 1960’s pushing the virtues of New York Savings Bank, emphasizing their stability, reliability and the good they do for the community.

COUGH AND COLD REMEDIES: From the late 1950’s some of the first modern commercials for cold remedies, some taken from WBEN (owned by the Buffalo Evening News) in Buffalo, NY., including what may be the precursors to Contac’s tiny time pills, also includes early Contac commercials (Contac, incidentally, stands for continuous action, and spots for Isodette, Tri Span and Poractin.

GENERAL INSURANCE: More of ex-football star Tom Harmon plugging SAFECO INSURANCE, as general and home-owner insurance specialists. Some accidents at home, in the car, and even on the boat are depicted along with SAFECO’s swift handling of them.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 17 (approx. 55 min.)

The commercials for most upset stomach remedies during the 1950’s and early 1960’s were serious in tone, but SQUIBB had unexpected success with these commercials for Antacil antacid, which were funny. The basic emphasis was that while most antacids had an unpleasant taste, Antacil actually tasted good-so good, according to the commercial, that people wanted to use more than what they needed. It was a clever campaign, reminiscent of the Lays Potato Chip “Bet You Can’t East Just One” commercials. The people themselves are never seen, but a husband and wife are heard arguing, as he tries to take one more Antacil tablet than he needs; in another, the wife keeps slapping the husband’s hand away as he tries to sneak another Antacil. And in the last, a hand holding a roll of Antacil tablets remains clenched even as a screwdriver tries to pry the fingers open.

The BROXODENT automatic toothbrush was one of a large number of electric toothbrushes that were sold to the public during the middle - and late - 1960’s, as people became increasingly aware of new levels of health and dental care; Broxodent and other electric toothbrushes were sold, in particular, as a solution to minor gum problems. Another, more successful device as a brand, was the WATER PIK, which is seen here in two distinctly different kinds of ads, one a group of local-origination commercials with limited moving footage, lots of still frames, and a rough, informal feel; the second the national campaign ads, which are slicker, more informative, and feature elaborate graphics.

SPEC-T. was a new cough treatment during the early 1960’s, in lozenges colored red, yellow, and green that were designed to treat different kinds of sore throat, all relieved by the different kinds of Spec-T. In a second one, a group of women stand at attention taking a pledge, like soldiers being sworn into the armed forces, involving the use of Spec-T. to relieve colds and coughs.

SAFECO INSURANCE is represented by a series of commercials dramatizing various household disasters (a boat engine catching fire, a tree thrown through the side of a house by a cyclone, pipes bursting, chimney fires etc.) that the company paid off claims on within days. Actress Jinx Falkenburg is seen in a series of commercials for gas ovens, including those made by Gaffers & Sattler, Tappan (with rotisserie), the Magic Chef Double-oven, the Roper Range, and Caloric. All of the commercials push the advantages of gas as a cleaner, faster, more sophisticated heating medium.

NATIONWIDE INSURANCE of Akron, Ohio (with lots of black and white footage of the streets of Akron from the late 1950’s) presents its national network of claims offices: it also offers a symbolic commercial showing a motorist lost in the wilderness, being assisted by an Indian. The company’s life insurance offering, and its Family Securance Services, are also presented. CONGESTAID was a very successful aerosol medication during the 1960’s, and was especially popular for use on children. These ads show a mother helping to ease her son’s cold with the product.

Finally, in an infomercial that was obviously intended for use by the company’s marketing staff, OLD CROW BOURBON and its virtues are trumpeted by Broadway actress/dancer/singer Anita Gillette. She sings and dances her way through a 15 minute infomercial from 1968 on a set resembling a political convention, With delegates chiming in about the long history of Old Crow (it was apparently the first bourbon made in the US using “scientific principals” back in the early 19th century) and Gillette acting as cheerleader, we are led into a mock sales meeting where the executives boost their successes and the potential for growth, including the fact that, while bourbon sales grew by only 4% in the pervious year, Old Crow’s growth represented 20% of that total, and that 25% of bourbon drinkers were aware of the company’s most popular product--as someone says, think of what the sales would be if half of their potential customers knew of the product.

​

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 18 (approx. 55 min.)

FLORIDA ORANGE JUICE: Orange juice has been a favorite breakfast drink for much of the twentieth century, but it wasn’t until the 1960’s that the Florida Citrus Growers Association began pushing Florida orange juice as something special. There were several advertising campaigns, the longest lasting and the most successful of which featured wholesome singing star Anita Bryant, who remained virtually a living symbol of Florida orange juice until she began speaking out on political issues (most notably against gay rights) in Dade County, Florida.

This tape features a wide variety of commercials for Florida orange juice, from the early 1960’s when they had the slogan “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine,” but not a fixed spokesperson - orange juice spurts up inside a glass as though shooting from a fountain, intercut with sequences of men and women sunbathing, playing golf, tennis etc. In other early commercials, families are seen enjoying orange juice early in the day, storm clouds clearing up and the sun coming out as they do. The Anita Bryant commercials are a fair cross-section of her work for the association, the first featuring her in an orange grove singing while the camera pulls back to this enormous wide-shot of the entire grove with her at the center. Other commercials, done on behalf of frozen orange juice, have Bryant declaring, of the frozen 12 ounce cans, that they contain the juice from 14 oranges. Other ads show oranges in the processing plant, thousands of them rolling down the assembly line, dissolving to shots of a family enjoying orange juice for breakfast.

Other, non-Bryant ads, feature a wife and mother staring into the mirror saying, “Please tell me I’m pretty I know I’m efficient” we then see scenes of her preparing breakfast for the family using frozen orange juice....... Another ad features an old-style New York City subway, people moving along during rush-hour, and a voice-over asking, “Did you forget to something for your husband this morning?” A voice over asking “You think you’re indispensable, don’t you?” while a camera pans in on an orange juice squeezer, describing the effort that went into designing the machine (longer than it took to design Gemini 2...), all “just to squeeze Florida oranges. A Florida grapefruit is squeezed by hand in one ad, and grapefruit is presented as a diet food in another, with a slender fashion model eating one.

NIAGRA MOHAWK: Electric heat became really popular during the 1960’s partly thanks to advertising campaigns like this one. In a series of ads by Niagara Mohawk (which emulated other advertising campaigns from other regions and power companies), electric heat is touted for its cleanliness, ease of use, and simplicity. In the first, a baby is seen crawling along the floor while a woman’s voice explains, “my son, the explorer....” and presents electric heat for its safety and efficiency, and the guarantee from Niagara Mohawk that if the bills are higher than the stated levels, the installer will pay the difference.

Another ad shows a house with a thermostat in each room, while two catty women’s voices talk about the way the temperature in the house can be controlled in each individual room and adjusted. Another shows a house from the outside, and the voice over explains how each room is heated to a different temperature. But the best one of all opens with a dark, shadowy image of an ominous figure, and a voice over asking, “Is there a monster in your cellar?” The lights come up to reveal...a furnace, as the announcer explains the lower cost and greater cleanliness of electric heat.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 19 (approx. 55 min.)

Back in the 1950’s commercials could be incredibly overt and presented in an extremely aggressive fashion. THE ARTHUR MURRAY SHOW, sponsored by Newport cigarettes, was one of the classic examples - the 30 minutes or so that we have from the program doesn’t feature any spots from the show, but it does have Bill Nimmo, the show’s announcer, insinuating himself into dozens of different live spots plugging Newport. The range of spots for the cigarettes is astonishing. The first features a pair of tin soldiers who are transformed into a male-and-female dance team in soldier outfits.

But most feature Bill Nimmo plugging Newport around various slogans: “Just the right choice: Perfect balance, the coolness of menthol, and a hint of mint, blended with high quality tobacco”, “Newport, the most refreshingly different cigarette ever made”, “ocean breeze freshness.” Nimmo plugs the cigarette from a piano, while playing the accompaniment for a pop quartet for Murray’s wife to sing along in one spot: a man and woman do a soft shoe dance set to a song delineating Newport’s virtues; and he gives us a close-up look at a giant cigarette

STOKELY VAN CAMP is best known for its pork and beans, but the canned goods company has also aggressively pursued the entire canned food market, as can be seen from these commercials dating from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. “Stokely vegetables are like having a farm in your cupboard,” declares a young housewife from an early 1970’s commercial, and as she opens the cupboard, sure enough a silo and field appear, and cans grow out of the soil. The cans popping out of the soil are a favorite image of the company’s in commercials for fruit cocktail, corn, string beans etc. “We only pick when the color’s right” they tell us, and “You can taste a rainbow when you taste Stokely’s.”

Earlier Stokely’s commercials from the 1950’s, taking off from such products as Alka Seltzer and Philip Morris cigarettes, feature a boy messenger declaring “it’s easy,” about preparing dinner with Stokely canned foods, including saladettes.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 20 (approx 55 min) - No details

​

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 21 (approx 55 min)

One of the liveliest, most interesting films devoted to advertising and selling ever created. Hankscraft is the single company most responsible for the use and success of motion displays in stores since the end of World War II, and this film explains the company’s success - that “the secret of sales is to keep on the move.”

The level of innovation achieved by Hankscraft, from its first high efficiency motors to the development of transistorized flasher units, which made the displays stand out even further, is shown off in in-store displays for Post cereals, Seagrams, Hamilton Beach Blenders, Black & Decker Grass Cutters, Campbells and Pillsbury, Alcoa, Schmidt’s Beer, L&M Cigarettes, Kelloggs, Bissell Sweepers, Jello etc., all designed around different customized units.

The psychology behind different kinds of displays is also discussed - how certain categories of products, and household supplies, are impulse purchases and, thus, helped especially by the use of motion displays to attract attention. Motion displays also show how to use certain products, and tell stories behind the products, all analyzed on this tape. And we see how motion displays recreate images used in television advertising-bringing the advertising campaign right into the presence of the customer, in 3-D - thus allowing a more integrated sales campaign than a still store display would permit.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 22 (approx. 55 min)

The adventure into motion displays continues, with this look at specific designs associated with certain products. Motion displays have been a fixture of in store marketing for many years, and the company most responsible for making this format possible and practical is Hankscraft, which makes a small, highly efficient electric motors and other mechanical linkages needed to make motion displays entertaining.

“Ideas In Motion” is the company’s credo, and the title of this tape devoted to Hankscraft’s work. Using front and back, internal and external views of successful displays, the company shows how its vast range of customized designs and specialized electric motors can be used in innumerable combinations and arrays, always surprising the customer and the viewer.

The simplicity of the motion and the complexity of some of the linkages are amazing, as is the diversity of products, from ice cream to beer that benefit from this treatment. We also get a look at the use of motion displays in demonstrating the products, and even the occasional celebrity tie-in, in the form of the CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU contest, utilizing the images of Fred Gwynne and Joe E. Ross from the early 1960’s television series, run by Proctor & Gamble.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 23 (approx 55 min)

Televises political commercials were born during the 1952 presidential campaign with the “I Like Ike” animated commercial for Eisenhower. In the years since, they’ve become more sophisticated, and generally more personal, as exemplified in this collection of spots dating from 1964 thru 1970.

The first set of spots is a collection of commercials done for the campaign of Abraham Beame for Mayor of New York in 1965, featuring endorsements by Hubert Humphrey and Robert Kennedy, as well as Beame himself in a series of question-and-answer session addressing the issues of the day (which, among other things, include a surprisingly early mention of environmental issues, growing out of the then-current New York City water shortage). The second set of spots come from Hubert Humphrey’s 1970 campaign to regain a seat in the U.S. Senate in his home state of Minnesota, built around the catch phrase, “Humphrey-you know he cares” with the former vice president taking on Richard Nixon’s record on economics, the environment, nuclear arms control, social security, and other major issues of the day.

The major part of these spots feature the candidate in seemingly off the cuff encounters with ordinary voters, answering questions from these people. All of the commercials are fairly sophisticated, including spots not featuring the candidate at all, but “typical” voters asking the question in vivid detail. That spot had an opposite version, in which a voter was asked the question, “What has Richard Nixon ever done for you?” and realizing that all of the accomplishments that Nixon was claiming were really results of Humphrey’s work as Senator or Vice President. One of the most successful spots features a partly built house, with voice-overs of the family that was supposed to live there, coupled with an announcer talking about rising interest rates under the Nixon administration, and what Humphrey as a U.S. Senator could do about them.

The next major batch of commercials comes from the 1968 Humphrey campaign for President. In addition to spots featuring Humphrey, commercials (really infomercials) on Senator Muskie, Humphrey’s running mate, are also included, giving a good biographical portrait of the vice presidential candidate.

Also featured are infomercials that include Humphrey’s wife Muriel, and Senator Ted Kennedy’s endorsement; man on the street interviews about the Democrats and what they’ve done for ordinary Americans; and even an appearance by an electronically generated cartoon character similar to “Stanley” from the Garry Moore Show. And Douglas Fairbanks Jr. appears in an appeal for funds for the 1968 Humphrey campaign.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 24 (approx 35 min.)

Political Commercials Volume Two – This second collection of political spots from television includes more spots from the 1968 and 1970 Humphrey campaigns, this time all in color. Also included is the long on air promotional clip for the 1968 presidential convention coverage by NBC, and an excerpt from Walter Cronkite’s coverage of the crisis that erupted over Civil Rights at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, when a group of southern delegates threatened to walk out if any support for a Civil Rights bill were included in the platform.

A brief fragment of a 1970 debate (featuring William Rusher of the National Review and former Senator Frank Moss of Utah) over anti-smoking laws from the house Ways and Means Committee Room is seen, along with footage discussing Kennedy, Nixon, and the so-called Missile Gap during the 1960 campaign; ads attacking Barry Goldwater’s stated position to sell off the Tennessee Valley Authority (an auctioneer takes bids on a dam); glimpses of the 1964 California caucuses; and Maryland Senator Charles Mathias campaigning for his senate seat.

​

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 25 (approx. 55 min.)

Armed Forces Commercials Volume #1 – The Vietnam War and its aftermath led to a huge explosion in commercials on behalf of the armed forces of the United States, because of the build-up of troops during the war and the need to shift to a volunteer force afterward. These commercials, some intended for the general public but many only intended to be viewed over Armed Forces Television, try not only to “sell” the armed services, but various re-enlistment bonuses, equal opportunity protections and programs, education offerings, and also give the serviceman or woman an understanding of their rights and responsibilities, in terms of borrowing money, signing contracts, and conducting themselves overseas

The strangest of all the commercials here is a spot by George Jessel appealing for service people to drive safely in Vietnam, an eerie precursor to Martin Sheen’s line from APOCALYPSE NOW about Vietnam being to killing what the Indy 500 is to speeding). Some of this material is astonishingly crude, while other commercials are surprisingly slick, smooth, and “with it,” especially those from the early 1970’s, when the armed forces were required to reach out to volunteers.

 

ADVERTISING ON TV Vol. 26 (approx 40 min.)

Armed Forces Commercials Volume #2 – The second volume of Armed Forces commercials offers William Conrad pushing support services for the pregnant wives of military personnel serving overseas, declarations of equal opportunity protections, safety tips, and re-enlistment bonuses, all hooked around the computerized army and navy (the machines shown wouldn’t match the performance of a good power book today). Also included are several spots done by the Smothers Brothers--who were considered too dangerously radical to keep on CBS, but not for the armed forces to use as spokespeople--using songs and comedy to push different armed forces education programs.