TV advertisements

TV  advertisements

Remember the days when TV advertisements were something that would never be forgotten. They had a distinctive theme to them, varying shades of wholesome originality, imagery and symbolism that remained in your subconscious for months and years. You'd walk into school, university or work whistling the tune, humming the melody and then realising that your colleagues or friends were imitating you and you weren't the only one. So you indulged yourself in that fantastic moment when everybody around you couldn't help but join in.

In the pioneering USA they were creating soap opera masterpieces from whence came the expression of the soap opera. On the screen would appear Camay's Soap followed by Palmolive Soup and an iconic signature tune of our lives had suddenly entered our subconscious. TV ads have been around for seemingly ages, decades, time frames that simply can't be measured. They are always jolly and frivolous, brief, short but sweet but meaningful and profound, baffling and cryptic quite recently. And yet we just can't get enough of the traditional advert, a ringing endorsement of everything commercial, food, drink, furniture, cars, holidays, free offers and, perhaps, quite disturbingly, sports betting in recent times. 

From the moment ITV was born on the 22nd September 1955, the advert has entered our soul, something subliminally at the back of our mind. On that momentous day, the first ever British TV advert was for toothpaste. Naturally. It could hardly have been anything else since the brushing of teeth is either a daily, morning or late night ritual which happened every day. For the first time those dynamic advertising executives could never have imagined the resounding impact TV advertising would have on the whole of Britain.

SR Gibbs was a minty- flavoured nugget of chloride gold. So here's how it goes. Find a large ice cube and then a tube of SR Gibbs toothpaste before incorporating the message of white, gleaming teeth, golden gnashers, munching molars, combine the two memorable themes and you'll never go wrong. And that was the catalyst for a brand new generation of consumers and shoppers at home who could now see what they were buying and not be afraid to add to the shopping basket because TV thought it might be the best idea in the world.

So from toothpaste on ITV everything became available, neatly packaged, seductively presented in lovely wrappers, boxes and bunches, merchandise you simply couldn't resist because it somehow looked stunningly attractive. During those early days of the mid 1950s it was very much a learning curve for TV but then the men and women in suits gathered around their tables, figured out a way of capturing a captive audience, the perfect demographic and the market who couldn't wait to rush out of their homes and hit the supermarkets.

Suddenly we were bombarded with adverts for chocolates, thousands and millions of brands of chocolate, bars of chocolate coated with cholesterol and at the time, pretty good for you. Then the 21st century arrived and told us to stop stuffing our faces with any kind of chocolate since they were guaranteed to put several stones on us, making us overweight, bloated and deeply uncomfortable. So you developed a guilty conscience for even thinking of chocolate.

The brands became domestically familiar and wonderfully tempting. There were hundreds of ads for Milky Way, Mars, Dairy Milk, dark chocolate, Fry's Turkish Delight, boxes of chocolates and then the elaborate advertising campaign. One day somebody thought it might be a good idea to use a James Bond style to promote their chocolate so here's the deal.

Here's what you do. Find a dashing, dapper, fearless stuntman, dress him in black, give him a set of knives and then a balaclava to disguise his appearance. One of the main stipulations for the advert is that you wait until late at night. Cue advert. A man in black starts running before diving into shark infested waters, climbing up what looked like thick and taut ropes before ultimately ending up in a woman's bedroom. This is where things get very intriguing. He produces from his hand a box of Black Magic chocolates carefully placing the box on the bedside table next to a lamp where the woman can see them quite clearly.

In a sense boxes of chocolates tap into the innermost recesses of romanticism, a reward after a candlelit meal for two, a way of expressing our enduring love for our sweetheart. But chocolates weren't the only vehicle for our attentions. Advertisers hit upon a whole series of warm, reassuring family oriented campaigns. Besides we were hungry and our appetites had been whetted for a good, old fashioned evening meal in the living room or kitchen. We knew we just had to watch this classic piece of advertising because it was out there and ready to be bought on impulse.

The Oxo meat cube advert became an almost cultural institution that still brings back pleasant memories of our childhood. The mother of the family the late British actress Linda Bellingham would relish gathering her nearest and dearest around the dinner table and tell a delightful story about the archetypal family of four. Here the main discussions of the day would revolve around the kind of day they'd had. It was a simple but effective format. And we were enchanted because we could identify with who they were and their lifestyles.

Before you knew there were adverts for DIY, hammers, Black and Decker saws, chisels, kitchen pots and pans, crockery and cutlery and of course fish fingers. Who could ever forget them? Captain Birds Eye was a deliberate attempt to persuade us into thinking that a man with a thick white beard and a naval outfit would be sufficient to make fish fingers irresistible. There were adverts for fridges, toasters, blenders, biscuits and cakes, lawnmowers, hundreds of different brands of toothpaste, soap and windows with men in helicopters being lowered down to double glazing windows.

And then there were the legendary adverts that still induce gales of laughter whenever we think of them. During the 1970s potatoes were given a whole new dimension. For years we wouldn't have thought twice about filling our heaving trolleys  with spuds, big bags, huge quantities of spuds. What we hadn't bargained for was that potatoes would come as readily made mashed varieties. One day we were confronted with what looked like very weird and bizarre space age aliens or creatures with funny voices. Then there was the punchline and strapline. FOR MASH GET SMASH. It was an ad that would capture our imagination for ever more.

Who remembers the most famous commercial product of them all? At the beginning of the 1970s our celebrated advertisers were looking for a way of glamorising the world's favourite drink with a globally uplifting theme to it. Hundreds of children and adults were summoned to this vast field in the middle of nowhere and then told that they had to promote Coca Cola, extolling its virtues with some of the cleverest lyrics imaginable. Soon we were teaching the world to not only drink Coca Cola but drink it in perfect harmony. Absolute genius.

Then there were the multitude of car advertisements. Now most car ads are always accompanied by swanky sports cars, perfectly streamlined cars and huge Land Rover cars that had to be filmed in the same location. Before you knew it cars of all shapes and sizes would be seen roaring around winding country lanes at the speed of sound, meandering hillsides, sprinting around tight corners, through muddy quagmires, bumping over ruts, gliding past mountainsides, hairpin bends and chicanes. Then back in the car showroom our managing director would convince us that the said car was full value for money.

Finally there were the unforgettable cinema adverts before our favourite film which continue to weave their magical spell over us. Now there were the beautifully photographed adverts of perfumes, after shave  lotions and anti perspirants that had vivid images of muscular men swimming oceans and climbing cliffsides before claps of thunder and forks of lightning would light up the cinema screen. 

Banks and building societies advertisements have been abundant throughout the ages. But the one that shows a whole procession of horses galloping together across beaches and fields is one that will live in the memory. It is an advert for a major high street bank and the financial ad market still figures prominently in our minds every time we head for our local shopping centre. So don't forget. The next time you switch on your TV and find an extensive ad sequence for hair gel or shampoo. It's for your amusement and benefit. You'll never get a better offer.