How Social Cultural And Historical Events Effect

How Social, Cultural And Historical Events Effect Adverts Essay, Research Paper

In this essay I am going to show how

social, cultural and historical events can effect adverts on TV.? Lots of factors effect adverts such as the

economy, teenage culture and oil shortages.?

All these things caused adverts to evolve over the years to what they

are today.Background of advertsThe first adverts on TV appeared in

1955 when the first commercial network ? ITV was launched.? In 1955 televisions were still a novelty as

there was not much money around and rationing was still in force so only the

middle classes could afford them.? In

this time life was more gentile and the adverts followed this, all the advert

personalities were well-spoken middle class people who set an example.? This is reflected in the first advert which

was for Persil ? it was aimed at middle class women as they could afford

televisions and played on the mothers instinct to do the best for her

children.? Then in the middle 50?s a

company called radio rentals started renting out televisions so more and more

people could afford them. 1950?sIn the 1950?s commercials were very

different than they are today ? they were short and repetitive and very

innocent not like today?s.? They relied

heavily on Jingles as they stuck in people?s minds and reminded them of the

product while they were shopping.? There

importance is shown in this quote:?Jingles, jingles, jingles ? part of

the culture of the 1950?s?? – Dr Newson,

Child research unit Nottingham University.?

Children quickly picked up on these

Jingles so much so that they began to replace nursery rhymes as entertainment

for the children. The innocence of the day is shown in

adverts where puppets were used in any scenes that used hugging or kissing

because adults doing it was considered too obscene for television. All the children were properly

dressed so that they all looked like mini adults and this reflects the culture

of the time where all children were perfect, and men went out to work while the

women stayed at home cooking and cleaning.The

use of children to sell to the mother In the 1950?s it was still legal for

adverts to tell mothers that unless they bought a certain product then they

were bad mothers. In this time there was no central

heating and illness was more common and the advertisers picked up this. The adverts sold health to the

mothers by claiming things that weren?t true but sounded good such as the

Bovril adverts. This increased when the Flu eperdemic

broke out and adverts such as lucozade and Vic vapour rub played on the mothers

fears, and they bought the products so people didn?t think they were bad

parents.Children were also very useful

because they could repeat things by asking questions and this allowed

advertisers to hammer there points into mothers many times.? If the information was just repeated it

would be annoying and obvious but children asking questions is natural and

innocent, and so was very effective. Also because of the innocence of the

age a lot of adverts were allowed on TV that wouldn?t be now.? A cereal advert promised to give away a

penknife in every box, which would be considered atrocious now.? Also there was a blow up Noddy given away

with the slogan ?Ring my bell?.? Today

Noddy is considered a gay icon and was banned for a time and a blow up version

with that slogan would have made it much worse.? 1960?sIn the 1960?s pocket money started to

take because the economy was stabilising of so children had there own money to

spend.? Advertisers soon picked up on

this with adverts aimed specifically at children.? Walls ice cream split children into three discrete groups ?

Adventurers, Hungry horreses and Little madams and produced an advert for

each.? The adventurers ice creams were

shaped like rockets and things and the adverts involved adventure.? Hungry horreses wanted as much ice cream

they could get with their money so the adverts showed large ice creams.? Little madams wanted to be awkward and the adverts

displayed this with the child getting what they wanted at the end. In the 1960?s legislation was passed

which meant that advertisers could not tell mothers to buy things or they were

bad parents.? So the advertisers used

words to try to get around this.? It

also said that kids weren?t allowed to pester mum for things.? Rowntrees could no longer use there phrase

?don?t forget the fruit gums mum? so they changed mum to chum to get around the

legislation.? This kind of clever word

use is still in use toady ? Carlsberg probably the best

lager in the world. Advertisers also started to use

cartoons in their adverts this was for a number of reasons.? If children didn?t like the presenter of an

advert they didn?t buy the product so cartoons were used instead of people.? They could also get away with more in

cartoons ? violence, kissing etc. Cartoons still had their limits

though as was shown with Kellogg?s Tony the Tiger.? He started out aggressive with sharp teeth but this didn?t work

so he was turned into a loveable loser with filled down teeth.?Children under the age of 11 are

very sex stereotypical? ? Felicity Randolph, Managing director of Young

Directions.This quote explains the style of

adverts for young children that is still used today ? boys have macho toys

(action man) and girls have homely toys (dolls houses). Most of the adverts for children were

competitive between boys and girls and advertisers discovered something, which

can be seen all through these adverts.?

Boys cannot accept a girl winning and will not buy the product as a result

whereas girls can accept boys winning so it doesn?t change their view of the

product. Another change in adverts in the 60?s

was that children in adverts were no longer perfect and more adverts used

mischievous ones instead because of the changes in discipline especially in

schools.However only mischievous boys were

used and not girls but all the children were no longer middle class. They also

used gangs of these children that appealed to the children. In 1965 there was a big leap in

advertising when they started using pop songs in the adverts and they also had

children imitate the bands, as it was popular.?

Also toddlers were used for the first time because mums found them cute

so they sold products. Another massive leap in 1965 was the

introduction of colour television because it meant adverts could present their

ideas in a whole new dimension. In the 60?s many things were

different than they are today which affected the adverts.? Things include the use of Golly wogs and

people washing behind screens whereas now adverts use full nudity with strategically

placed limbs and bottles. Selling

to teenagers In the 1960?s teenagers began to