Do you sometimes turn the sound off on your TV when a commercial comes on? A lot of us do that but back in the 1950s viewers accepted commercials because there were no remote controls and everything about the medium was new and exciting, even ads.

Because I’m a little slow sometimes in hitting the audio button on my remote I did sit through what I consider the worst commercial I’ve seen in 73 years of TV viewing. This is the one for a Medicare advantage plan that features a woman named Martha who is 75 years old but acts like a child of 2 when she is told that to enroll, she has to call the insurance company. As someone who is 78, I would like to see this commercial removed from the air as it demeans all of us septuagenarians.

The commercials I dislike the most are prescription drug ads. Many of these ads show men and women now free of Psoriasis, Psoriatic arthritis, or type 2 diabetes happily living the good life with family and friends. But then 30 to 45 seconds into the commercial when the consumer is not paying close attention “possible” side effects are mentioned in a slightly lower tone of voice. Kind of makes you wonder doesn’t it. They also tell us not to take the medication if we are allergic to any of its ingredients, not something most of us would have any knowledge of.

Only The United States and New Zealand allow drug ads aimed at consumers. In September 1985, the FDA rescinded the moratorium on Direct To Consumer Advertising of prescription drugs and required the advertisements meet the same legal requirements as those directed at physicians who hopefully know more about drugs than a layperson. Today drug companies spend over $6 Billion a year on drug advertising, money that could be better utilized lowering drug prices.

For me the 1950s and ’60s were the golden age of television commercials.

Like our lives back then commercials were simpler. Like the radio commercials that preceded them they used simple repetitive jingles and easily remembered slogans or mottos to sell the product.

Commercials were not allowed on television until 1941, at a time when there was not much broadcast television anyway. The first commercial was broadcast by New York station WNBT, now WNBC on July 1, 1941. It was an advertisement for Bulova Watches before a baseball game between the then Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies at Ebbets Field.

In that commercial viewers saw a watch with a face inside a map of the United States, with the title “Bulova Watch Time.” It only ran for 10 seconds, which was just enough time for the announcer to intone “America runs on Bulova time.” America’s entry into World War II put a stop to television and television ads but by 1950 TV was growing and so were TV ads.

Pepsodent Toothpaste used a jingle that told us that “You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.” Then there was this jingle for Gillette Blue Blades, that brings back memories of the Friday night fights from Madison Square Garden on the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, that went “Mr. how are you fixed for blades, you better check, because a worn out blade makes shaving mighty tough, how are you fixed for blades, Gillette Blue Blades I mean.” The there was the Carling Black Label jingle that went “Hey Mabel, Black Label. Carlings Black Label Beer.”

Greyhound commercials told us to “leave the driving to us,” while Maxwell House Coffee reminded us that it brand “was good to the last drop,” and the Continental Baking Company touted the fact that “Wonder Bread builds bodies 8 ways” later increasing that to 12 ways. Then there were the animated elves who sang “Use Ajax the foaming cleanser, floats dirt right down the drain.”

Cigarette companies were major advertisers in those days because most people smoked. There was the Winston jingle that went, “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should,” or the Camel cigarettes commercial that told us that “More Doctors smoke Camels” without telling us that a lot of them probably died from heart and lung diseases. Or we were told that “You get a lot to like with a Marlboro.” And if you watched Jack Benny in the 1950’s you would have heard Announcer Don Wilson, say “LSMFT Lucky Strike means fine tobacco”

I still remember a lot of these commercials’ years later. I think that a case can be made that in spite of their simplicity and possibly because of it they were more effective than many ads we see on TV today.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com