On the 1st of July 1941, at 2:30 p.m., the history of television advertising began with a simple test pattern that looked like a clock. This was not a movie, a news broadcast, or a game show, but the first official paid television advertisement in the United States. It aired over the New York station WNBT, which would later become WNBC, just before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. The company behind this historic moment was Bulova, a watchmaker that paid between four and nine dollars for the airtime. The advertisement itself was a modification of the station's test pattern, featuring a clock face with hands that moved to show the time. The Bulova logo and the phrase Bulova Watch Time appeared in the lower right-hand quadrant, while the second hand swept around the dial for a full minute. This brief, one-minute spot cost the company a fraction of what modern advertisers pay, yet it marked the beginning of a global industry that would eventually generate nearly seventy billion dollars in spending alone in the United States by 2018. The medium was still in its experimental phase, but the potential to sell goods, services, and ideas was already clear to those watching the screen.
Global Broadcasts and Political Lines
While the United States launched its first commercial in 1941, the rest of the world followed at different paces and with different rules. The first television advertisement in the United Kingdom went on air on the 22nd of September 1955, advertising Gibbs SR toothpaste on the new ITV network. In Asia, the first TV ad appeared on Nippon Television in Tokyo on the 28th of August 1953, advertising Seikosha, which later became Seiko, and it also displayed a clock with the current time. These early broadcasts established a global market, but the rules governing what could be sold varied wildly from country to country. In the United States, television campaign advertisements became a commonplace tool for political campaigns, allowing candidates to reach voters directly. In contrast, countries like France heavily restricted political advertising on television, and Norway went so far as to completely ban political advertisements. The regulatory landscape also dictated how ads were cleared for broadcast. In the UK, clearance had to be given by the body Clearcast, while in Venezuela, it was governed by El Centro Nacional Autónomo de la Cinematografía. These bodies provided a guarantee to broadcasters that the content met legal guidelines, often requiring extended clearance for sensitive topics like food, medical products, and gambling. The television market grew to such an extent that by 2018, TV ad spending in the United States was estimated to reach 69.87 billion dollars, a testament to the medium's power to shape economies and cultures.
As the technology of television evolved, so did the methods used to capture the viewer's attention. The invention of the video cassette recorder in the 1980s changed the game, allowing users to fast-forward through commercials. In response, advertising agencies fought back by making their spots more entertaining, hoping to keep viewers from changing the channel. The introduction of digital video recorders, such as TiVo and services like Sky+, further enabled viewers to skip advertisements automatically. Despite these challenges, data from the SkyView panel of more than 33,000 households showed that once a household got a digital video recorder, they watched 17% more television overall. While 82% of their viewing was to normal, linear, broadcast TV without fast-forwarding the ads, the 18% of time-shifted viewing still resulted in viewers watching 30% of the ads at normal speed. The net result was that viewers watched 2% more ads at normal speed than they did before the digital video recorder was installed. To combat the trend of channel surfing, networks like Fox experimented with shorter commercial breaks, dubbing the strategy Remote-Free TV. Episodes of shows like Fringe and Dollhouse contained approximately ten minutes of advertisements, four to six minutes fewer than other hour-long programs. The network hoped that shorter breaks would keep viewers more engaged and improve brand recall, but the strategy was not as successful as hoped. By 2018, Fox Networks Group and NBC began trying one-minute commercial breaks, known as prime pods, during sports events and shows, charging advertisers more for the privilege of reaching a captive audience.
The Psychology of the Jingle
Beyond the visual spectacle, the sound of television advertising has left an indelible mark on pop culture. Many commercials feature songs or melodies, known as jingles, designed to be striking and memorable, remaining in the minds of viewers long after the campaign ends. The phrase Winston tastes good like a cigarette should, from an eighteen-year campaign for Winston cigarettes from the 1950s to the 1970s, took on a life of its own, appearing in films and literature decades after the campaign expired. The catchphrase Where's the Beef? grew so popular it was used in the 1984 presidential election by Walter Mondale. The use of popular music in television advertisements began in earnest in 1985 when Burger King used the original recording of Aretha Franklin's song Freeway of Love. This trend continued with Nike using The Beatles' song Revolution in 1987, and later with Microsoft using Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones. The cost of licensing original recordings remained prohibitive until the late 1980s, but once the barrier was broken, songs became a primary tool for associating good feelings with a product. Sometimes the original meaning of the song was irrelevant or even opposite to the implication of the use, such as Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, a song about heroin addiction, used to advertise Royal Caribbean International. The power of these musical elements was so great that some songs gained popularity and sales after being used in advertisements, while others sparked controversy when artists lost control of their music publishing.
Animation and the Mascot Era
Animation has provided a unique and enduring form of advertising, protecting campaigns from changes in fashion that would otherwise date them. The series of advertisements for Kellogg's cereals, starring Snap, Crackle and Pop and also Tony the Tiger, have run for decades, achieving lasting popularity. The Energizer Bunny advertisement series, which started in the late 1980s, became a seminal example of long-running animation. It began as a simple comparison where a room full of battery-operated bunnies slowed down except for one, and evolved into a parody of other advertisements where the Energizer bunny intruded on the situation, emphasizing that their battery keeps going and going and going. This campaign lasted for nearly fifteen years and was imitated by others, including a Coors Light Beer advertisement and current ads by GEICO Insurance. Mascots also played a central role in the history of television advertising, though their tenure was often short-lived due to controversy. The Bud Light mascot, Spuds MacKenzie, was removed from advertisements after a two-year lifespan in 1989 due to accusations of negative influence. The Mac Tonight mascot made minimal appearances before retiring from McDonald's commercials in 1989 after being sued by the son of Bobby Darin for infringing on the likeness of the singer. Ronald McDonald, the long-time mascot, was retired from advertisements after 53 years in 2016, following a clown scare and suggestions from 550 physicians that a clown mascot targeting children for fast food was unethical.
The Digital Shift and Targeted Ads
The rise of the Internet and digital platforms has fundamentally altered the television advertising model, creating a new era of addressable television. This technology allows targeted advertising to be used on digital platforms, meaning that two people watching the same show can receive different ads. The emergence of over-the-top media services has turned the Internet itself into a platform for television, and TV attribution has become a key marketing concept for measuring the impact of television ads on consumers. Online video directories have emerged as a form of interactive advertising, helping to recall and respond to advertising produced primarily for television. These directories offer value-added services such as response sheets and click-to-call, enhancing the scope of interaction with the brand. However, researchers have found that for some consumer types and specific ad types, the standard linear advertising format is superior to interactive advertising. The cognitive matching of the system's characteristics and the demands of the customer group appears to be crucial. The television market has grown to such an extent that it was estimated to reach 69.87 billion dollars for TV ad spending in the United States for 2018, but the model was described by Turner Broadcasting System as broken at New York's TV Week in November 2018. The industry continues to grapple with the balance between traditional broadcast methods and the new possibilities offered by digital integration.
Controversy and the Changing Landscape
Television advertising has frequently been the subject of controversy, with several ads banned shortly after being televised due to their nature. In 2005, the notorious Blood on the Carpet commercial for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks was pulled for its depicted mutilation. The Snickers commercial featuring Mr. T shooting Snickers at a feminine speed walker was quickly pulled for being homophobic. The Cocoa Pebbles commercial featuring a caricature based on Hulk Hogan was removed after Hogan filed a lawsuit against Post for plagiarizing his image. In 2020, a Match.com commercial depicting a woman dating Satan was only shown once before it was withdrawn, deemed religiously insensitive. The slogan for Dr Pepper Ten It's not for women was no longer used for subsequent ads after it was deemed too sexist. The slogan for Kotex Kotex fits. Period. was terminated from subsequent ads as of 2005 due to the term period, referring to both punctuation and menstruation, being taken as a result of verbal abuse due to being publicized in front of children. Commercials on children's underwear, such as Underoos, featuring clad child models had since gained criticism by parents due to concerns of child sexual exploitation. The industry has also faced challenges regarding the use of children in advertising, with young children under two years old unable to distinguish between television programs and advertisements, and children between the ages of three and six able to do so. Children between the ages of 7 and 11 can grasp that they are being sold something, can identify sales tactics, and are willing to buy items with poor selling points, while teenagers between the ages of 12 and 13 can typically understand what they are being sold and decide whether they want to purchase it based on what they were told.