TV Commercials: Past and Present
While watching cable television, the video advertisements that play in between the show you are watching are called commercials.
Numerous companies have utilized commercials to advertise a product, their overall business, etc. Companies normally hire actors for their commercials, or they may need to utilize a whole production team and set depending on what the commercial entails.
Although commercials are meant to advertise, a lot of people find them entertaining, and people may even have a favorite commercial that comes on while watching cable. Usually, my favorite commercials are the ones with dogs in them.
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| Screenshot from Verizon Commerical with a Dog |
According to an article by Project Muse, television made its grand public debut at the 1939 New York World's Fair. An estimated 1,000 people viewed the telecast of the fair's opening day address on about 200 television sets scattered throughout the New York area.
The article also explains that the first actual television commercial is believed to have been a promotional spot for Bulova watches on July 1, 1941, broadcast on WNBT (New York) as a part of a baseball game. This advertisement is nine seconds long, and they paid 9 dollars for the ad to be played.
Watch the First-Ever Commercial
The commercials that aired in the 1950s were mostly live presentations that spoke about the products. For instance, a news presenter named John Cameron Swayze presented Timex's commercial message.
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| The Timex Live Presentation Commercial |
Commercials have gone a long way since these advertisements aired, and companies now spend millions to have their commercials produced and aired on television.
All types of companies or organizations create commercials, and some are supposed to make you sad, hungry, or make you want to spend money.
One of the saddest commercials that played for numerous years was an SPCA End Animal Cruelty campaign with the song "Angel" in the background. The commercial aired to encourage people to donate money to the organization. The commercial linked below aired in 2006.
An example of a commercial that would make you hungry is the commercial that aired when Mcdonald's came out with a new crispy chicken sandwich. They show close-up shots and use words like "tender" or "juicy" to further persuade people to buy the sandwich.
McDonald's Chicken Sandwich Commercial
A commercial that "makes people want to spend their money" is the Apple commercial that introduced the iPhone 13. This ad reveals all of the great qualities that the new model has, such as water resistance, cinematic mode, a ceramic shield, etc. Since the commercial is showing people the best qualities of the iPhone in the video, the ad's goal is to show the audience that the phone is worth buying.
The Super Bowl which is the final game in every NFL season showcases commercials while the championship game is airing, and for a lot of people, the commercials are their favorite part of the annual event.
People enjoy the Super Bowl Commercials because they are well made and meant to entertain the millions of people watching the Super Bowl.
According to sportingnews.com, it costed companies $6,500,000 to have one commercial aired in the 2022 Super Bowl. So naturally, these commercials are usually top-notch productions.
These commercials usually include celebrities or well-known products. For instance, one of the Super Bowl commercials was a comedic Lays commercial featuring famous actors Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan.
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| Lays Super Bowl Commercial 2022 |
Even though some streaming services such as Hulu still play advertisements, the ads are focused on shows or movies that are exclusive to the service. Since commercials originated on cable television, they may die alongside cable television in the future because of these services.
More Information on why Cable Television is Dying
Although commercials that air on cable television may dissipate in the next decade, video advertisements will still play when people watch youtube or some streaming services, so commercials will still exist, just in a different form than how they originated.
The future of advertising is most likely going to be within the social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, through the apps themselves, or through influencers.
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| Two TikTok Influencers' Sponsored Ads for Princess Polly Brand |
Everyone knows and loves commercials, but the forms of advertising are constantly evolving, and soon people will be buying all of their products because influencers on social media are saying so.
For now, commercials are still alive and well, so enjoy them while you can, especially the ones with dogs in them.
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| Photo from Dentastix Dog Commercial |
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