Television Commercials

The first commercial ever broadcasted on television was in The United States, at 2:29PM on the 1st of July, 1941. The Bulova Watch Company had paid a mere $9 to the New York City NBC for a twenty-second airtime before a baseball game.

At that time, 66 years ago, the commercial simply displayed a Bulova watch over a map of the United States and a voiceover recording of their company's slogan. However, it is not as easy and convenient trying to create an effective advertisement in the present age - in order for a television commercial to be the most effective, it must be attractive and also believable. Usually, present-day commercials also have a theme or a catchphrase that the viewer can associate with the product, not just a company slogan.

The everyday television commercial has many factors that contribute to its effectiveness. Firstly, it reaches out to the widest audience base available in our modern society through the effective screen in the living room that almost every household possesses. Secondly, it is fully able to capture the attention of the viewer through a combination of sound, colour, words, movement and the ability to focus on the object or product it desires to promote.

Needless to say, the television commercial is one of the most effective, if not the most effective, in the broadcasting and communication of ideas to the masses, be it sales pitches or propaganda from companies or the government. Thus, over the years, it has been able to advertise almost every product imaginable; goods, services and political campaigns. In the United States, every political campaign requires a good television commercial to be considered effective and successful!

Though every television commercial is different and unique from each other, they all possess almost the same features. Catchy tunes, catchphrases, movements easy to remember, notions related to popular culture, trendy jargon - anything that is current or popular will appear on television commercials due to its flexibility to showcase a multitude of subjects. This 'adaptation’ to current popular ideals allows it to better reach out to its viewers, in turn allowing them to understand the message communicated better.

Television commercials have airtimes that are strategically placed during dramatic moments in a show or interrupt shows at seemingly random intervals. This technique ensures that the viewers will sit through and watch the advertisement instead of skipping or switching television channels to avoid the commercials so that when the show they were watching comes back on, they can continue without missing it.

Sometimes, television commercials are also very effective for propaganda or propaganda-like advertisements used in political campaigns or through the repeated use of a certain slogan for a particular advertisement that sustains through months or even years, eventually becoming so embedded in our culture that youngsters can associate with it. Once that has happened, we can say that the particular advertisement is successful in broadcasting its ideas.

Because of the above mentioned factors, television has become a popular, effective and widely available medium through which ideas are communicated to the populace or viewer group.