Remember When? And Wonder Now?

 

For some reason this Rockwell cover stuck
in my mind. It shows how quickly Americans
became, well, Americans no matter where they
came from. Having a German father helped.

When I was a kid growing up, TV was brand new so we depended on the daily newspaper, the weekly magazine and the newsreels that started every Saturday matinee movie. Being visual, I can remember pouring over THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, LIFE Magazine and at my grandparents some pretty lurid cops and robbers magazines my Grandfather had.

   Billboards were actually the major advertising venues after magazines. I can remember ads such as the one with Jack Webb extolling the virtues of his Chesterfield cigarettes. You have to remember the first real warnings about cigarettes and the relationship to cancer didn't appear until 1959. I can remember in my high school freshman biology class we were all required to watch a movie about the dangers of cigarettes. It was pretty graphic. The poor soul on the operating table had to have one very black lung removed and on the way out they tickled his heart. All the school's football players passed out while geeks, like me, sat grim faced. BTW, the football coach was our biology teacher.

 

Everyone watched DRAGNET back in the day so this endorsement
hadclout. Webb died of heart failure at 61. Many feel cigarettes
were the cause.

 Many ads simply were not allowed ... no lawyers, no advertising doctors and definitely no patent medicines. They were forbidden and soon the first warnings about cigarette smoking came out with finally a total ban. Beer could be advertised but you could never be seen actually drinking it!!!

  Using the guise of "free speech" lawyers finally were granted the right to advertise, at first just their name and number but soon that was jacked up to some memorable ambulance chasing ads. Generally they have replaced the soaps as denizens of daytime TV.

This ad speaks for itself!

   That brings to mind the soaps. When I was growing up "soaps" ruled the airways. Most women were stay at home Mom's despite what MAD MEN would have you believe. Every station had soap operas, called that because soap manufacturer's were the principle advertisers. Most soaps are gone now but to hear our mother's talk, what so and so did on such and such show had the ring of reality! In many ways, those were the good old days.

 When cable arrived with even more opportunities for advertising, more and more late nights shows and shopping networks were invented. Late night became the playgound of "infomercials" where all kinds of things were huckstered. These are the guys that sold things not deemed suitable for the average store like Sears, Kmart or even Walmart ... then. 

   Tonight watching the CBS evening news I was startled to see all in a row ads for the "Hover Cover", "Flawless", and "The Wonder Bible." I had seen them before but not in that order. Those, even five years ago, would have been relegated to the late show format with their ... "Wait there's more" cry. When did AS SEEN ON TV ads make it to prime time? Even more, when could these companies afford the usurious rates that Ford, Bud or Viagra can afford?

Hover Cover ... buy it at
Walmart. Its cheaper.

Watching women pluck their mustaches is not dinner fare.
Will the husband and wife that shave together stay together?

   Actually I shudder to imagine what the next wave of ads will bring. What we are subjected to now is pretty bad. These informercials that go on forever are bad enough.

 But the most recent wave is the one that, from experience, drives our doctors crazy. I'm taking about ads for medicines. Now, from my own experience it does pay to ask questions but, as I wrote in an earlier blog, even if you're not sick by the time they list all the side-effects you might get from taking them, you will be.

If this didn't make men squirm
 I don't know what else would.

           Remember when Viagra hit the airwaves? That provided fodder for late night TV for months if not years. Since men are far more reticent to discuss personal health issues you had to wonder who those ads were really aimed at? One little Viagra pill could set you back up to $60.00 as pharmacy insurance didn't cover it!

   With the release of Viagra on TV, the gold rush began. Just about every disorder you could think of was talked about. Bladder leakage, heart attacks, memory loss, eye vitamins, insulin, pneumonia, even adult diapers sweetly called Depends ... the list goes on and on.

   I don't know about you but I would rather see suds, drive the USA in my Chevrolet, plop plop, fizz fizz oh what a relief it is, Bucky Beaver shilling Ipana toothpaste ... you get the picture. Tonight, I felt that I was at the carnival on the midway and all that was missing was the bearded lady!

   In 1976 the movie NETWORK was released. In it a TV news anchor-man, played by Peter Finch, went crazy by what television had become. His memorable line was, "I'm mad as hell and I won't take it anymore." He won the Oscar post mortem, he passed before the movie released, as the anchor-man who lost it. In many ways, Paddy Chayefsky's script predicted the FOX Network. All they need to add now is the fortune teller. Maybe that's next. Infomercials have hit big time!

   TV certainly is a time capsule of our life and times. Watching those ads tonight, I wonder what is left? 

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where the emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! Be sure to check my re-opened ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible products. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!