[Dean's World] Dean: Call For Philip Morris

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Posted by Dean:
Call For Philip Morris
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1159233527.shtml


   [EMBED]

   This bit of television history fascinates me on several levels at
   once.

   First off, the U.S. banned all cigarette ads on television in 1971.
   Which means that if you're under 35 you've never seen such ads (and
   really, if you're under 40 you probably have only the vaguest memory
   if any at all). To the younger set, these ads seem outright startling.
   But they were once utterly ordinary and commonplace.

   Indeed, you don't quite get it when watching the above cartoons, but
   these were actually part of the "I Love Lucy" program. They've just
   been taken out of the syndicated distribution. So even if you're a fan
   of the old "I Love Lucy" show and have seen every episode, you didn't
   see these ads unless you were there when they originally aired some 55
   or so years ago.

   Which brings me to my second point: this illustrates something that
   was once common on television and radio series, which I think we are
   likely to see become popular again. No, not cigarette ads per se, but
   embedding ads straight into programs and in having the stars of shows
   do ads for the show's sponsors. What with internet file sharing and
   the increasing use of DVRs, the show producers will have to find new
   ways of getting advertisers. Direct sponsorship embedded right in the
   content is probably the most effective way to do that, don't you
   think? Rather than attacking file sharers, anyway, which is a
   long-term losing proposition.