origins of TV advertising

The first television advertisement was broadcast in the United States on July 1, 1941. The watchmaker Bulova paid $9 for a placement on New York station WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The 20-second spot displayed a picture of a clock superimposed on a map of the United States, accompanied by the voice-over "America runs on Bulova time." The first TV ad broadcast in the UK was on ITV on 21 September 1955, advertising Gibbs SR toothpaste. The early advertisers were unsure of how to make the transition between radio and TV adverts, so they were much like radio ads, with pictures and diagrams to aid the dialogue. They were also on the whole the "demonstration" style advert, simply used to show the products use. The commercial owed its prime placing to chance. The Gibbs advertisement had come first in a lottery drawn with 23 other advertisements, including those for Guinness, Surf, National Benzole, Brown & Polson Custard and Summer County Margarine. I have found a few early adverts to look at and quickly analyse, jsu tto pick out there main features, and how this is different from today's adverts.

 

 

• This is the earliest advert promoting eggs, filmed to show their versatility and nutrition
• . It is a strange advert in that it does not fit in one of the 12 categories very comfortably, as it is very different from todays adverts. Part of it is concerned with promoting eggs, and their use, which is typical of a demonstration style advert, however part of it is complaining of a problem caused by the product, something slightly unusual and not really seen in present day adverts, as it is fairly negative.
• There is some mild humour in it, because of the umbrella indoors and the man with the mac and hat, which is a nice touch but unrelated to the product.
• It is unusual of the time in that there is no voiceover or narrator, so it is a step up from the earliest 50's adverts.
• The use of the slogan "go to work on an egg" is connecting with the audience. 

 

 

 - early animation - involving the family element

- shows how to use the product - unusual for today, as the whole instructions for use are included

- simple

- repititon of "double rich" and "carnation", so the main points taken away from the advert are the product name and its USP - effective advertising

- radio style - not much is added from the pictures - typical of early adverts

- fun jingle - catchy and will stay in audiences minds.

 

 

- fairly long advert, not punchy, wouldnt be succesful on TV these days where adverts need to excite the viewers and grab their attention

- problem leads to product style advert, also with associated user imagery style, in that the couple advertising the product are "the girl everyone wants to get" and " the guy everyone wants to be

- voiceover, very radio style, little diegetic sound at all.

- odd ending, stop motion dolls or figures - advert changes in its style, and seems disjointed into the live action and stop motion elements.

- jingle - common of early adverts- relates back to radio style where jingles were vital. Less common now than in the 50's

 

- first ever advert shown on TV
- product shown in block of ice because it so fresh - symbolism
- pictures aid the voiceover entirely, could be listened to rather than viewed, exactly how the early advert were. Little diegetic sound and the whole thing narrated.
- a lot of product information - too much for average viewers. the products ingredients are explained a little too thoroughly, losing the itnerest of viewers and lacking and pace. too long and slow for modern viewers.
-  product demonstration when lady brushes

I wanted to look back at early advertising to see where all modern adverts stem from, and how far they have come. I wanted to see if techniques had changed and how advertising had developed. I have noticed that animation and hand drawn elements were fairly popular in early adverts, and i think this type of advert comes in and out of trend. They were very long and slow paced, with wordy slow narration. They also tended to be product demonstration, fairly obvious ideas and much less out of the box than these days, preferring to show the products capabilities. I think this has been useful for research to consider how advertising has changed, and what the future may be, how it could evolve further. I will go on to properly analyse some modern adverts and may refer back to these in my analysis to see a contrast.