When I was little I used to come running to the TV set every time I heard a commercial come on. Oddly, I still secretly like commercials to the dismay of everyone else. TV commercials are short entertaining pieces of information. Take a look at how commercials have changed over the years:

In the 1950’s commercials were fun and cute, though a bit unethical. Advertisers would use any means necessary to sell their products, included continuously mentioning in a commercial their brand of cigarettes was the preferred brand among top doctors.

 

The 1960’s pushed out the old tired 1950 commercial with new freshness. They used upbeat musical jingles to capture an audience. The 1960’s had the biggest creation of permanent characters that would remain in the minds of viewers and forever connect that product with a special character, just think Green Giant.

 

The 1970’s brought sex into commercials openly without shame. It was the first time that commercials could use sex appeal to sell their products. Sex in one degree or another has stayed, because in truth we are no longer prudish and let’s be honest sex sales.

 

In the 1980’s advertisers clutched onto the sympathy of others. They began making commercials that played off of how people would feel about businesses that helped others who were less unfortunate than they were. McDonalds took had a famous commercial that has a young man with Downs Syndrome named Mike talking about his life, his friends and family and how much he loves working at McDonalds.

 

In the 1990’s commercials settled down and simply talked about their products and their prices. They basically showed the public exactly how much they could get for the least amount of money. This is a trend that you can still see in our current TV commercials.

 

In modern commercials advertisers have sought to connect with lifestyle choices and desires. A prime example of this is Nike’s Girl Athlete commercial. In the commercial women one by one step up to disclaim that they are athletes, unstoppable, powerful athletes.