The Beginning of Television Advertising

In the late 1950s, network quiz shows were all the rage. Unfortunately, they were also rigged. Advertisers were largely responsible for this rigging. They wanted to seek the largest audience possible for their advertisements, thus they put the most appealing people on the air as possible. With the ensuing controversy the networks took control of commercial entertainment from the advertising agencies, and thus during the 1960s television "spots" were born. Spots are what is seen on television to this day--fifteen, thirty, even sixty second commercials placed at intervals between programming (Sivulka, 1998).

The 1960s was dubbed the "creative revolution" and the players of this revolution were the four leading admen-Rosser Reeves, Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy, and Bill Bernbach (Sivulka, 1998).

Reeves and Ogilvy both credit Hopkins as their mentor and first true advertising copywriter (O'Toole, 1980). The two also claimed to respect each other, but both ascribed to different methodologies as to what advertising should look like. Reeves believed that advertising is more about science and research than "arts and crafts" as he would put it. Reeves hated creative advertising. His ads typically featured simple repetition of a single theme. For a time his advertising worked and brought in millions for Ted Bates & Co. At the time, the average American preferred realism over abstract expressionism and pop art; however, image and personality advertising was close on the heels of realism. Campaigns from Burnett, Ogilvy, and Bernbach all reflected the new shift in advertising, the shift from the science and research to art and personal expression (Sivulka, 1998).

However, Reeves stuck to his way of advertising for the remainder of his career. Yet, Reeves did retire at the age of 55, which came as a shock to the industry. He claimed that he always wanted to retire at the age of 55, yet with the billings of Ted Bates and Company on a constant and sharp decline many feel that he quit because his way of advertising was no longer working (1998).