"Brought to you by....."

[Stanislav]

In the 50's and 60's, it was quite common for a TV show to be sponsored by single product/company, and a "brought to you by..." message was often appended to the opening credits/theme. Some series, as collectors of classic clips know, even incorporated the show's stars (both in and out of character) into commercials. (Who can forget the Flintstones smoking Winstons, or Andy Griffith eating his Post Toasties, to name just two of many examples?)

My questions are, first, when more or less did the trend from having a single sponsor to multiple sponsors take hold? And, two, what were some of the last TV shows to feature characters from the show pitching the sponsor's product on-screen?

 

[RadioMan203]

Something else to keep in mind is that many games shows, especially in the '50's, had the sponsor's name prominently displayed as part of the set dress. These were pretty much single sponsors as well.

 

[KeithE4]

Something else to keep in mind is that many games shows, especially in the '50's, had the sponsor's name prominently displayed as part of the set dress. These were pretty much single sponsors as well.

That, of course, was the norm starting with the beginning of radio in the 1920s.

One of the last fully-sponsored shows I remember was The Beverly Hillbillies, at least through the mid '60s - Winston cigarettes and Kellogg's cereals come to mind immediately. The sponsor's name & jingle were a part of the theme song on their original CBS run, but not when the show went into syndication.

 

[wbhist]

It's this factor of sponsorship that explains the empty corner either on the lower left or lower right on syndicated prints of many shows from the 1960's; what stood there was whatever brand was advertised on the show that week (i.e. Sanka coffee for The Andy Griffith Show, Tide laundry detergent for Petticoat Junction). Or, if not blank, then having an illustration (such as a drawing of Dick Van Dyke on The Dick Van Dyke Show) in said corner.

 

[Stanislav]

One of the last fully-sponsored shows I remember was The Beverly Hillbillies, at least through the mid '60s - Winston cigarettes and Kellogg's cereals come to mind immediately. The sponsor's name & jingle were a part of the theme song on their original CBS run, but not when the show went into syndication.

I remember when Winston was the sponsor. At the end of the opening credit sequence, when Jed nudges Jethro and points off-camera to something, they would cut to drive-by footage showing a Winstons billboard, making it appear that this is what Jed was pointing out to Jethro! I've also seen a first-season commercial with Irene Ryan (Granny), Bea Benaderet (Pearl) and Nancy Kulp (Miss Hathaway) in the Clampett kitchen, all smoking and extolling the virtues of Winstons. It always seemed weird and disconcerting to me to see the characters smoking in a commercial when they never were shown smoking in the actual show.

 

[Stanislav]

It's this factor of sponsorship that explains the empty corner either on the lower left or lower right on syndicated prints of many shows from the 1960's.....

Or also causes full edits -- I know that I Love Lucy cut some product shots and mentions of Philip Morris cigarettes when it went into reruns and syndication. (Although, thankfully, Lucy's parody of PM icon Johnny "Call For Philip Morris" Roventini remains intact.)

 

[CrankyYankee]

To return to the original question:
"when more or less did the trend from having a single sponsor to multiple sponsors take hold?"

That new fangled invention called television took the cue for single sponsor programs from radio.

Many programs on radio were directly named after the sponsor. Shows that featured Burns & Allen were
Maxwell House Coffee Time, or The Ammident Show, but listeners knew them more commonly as "The Burns & Allen Show."

I believe Kellogg's was the original sole sponsor of "The Adventures of Superman" when it was first telecast?

 

[desertv]

In the early years of "Bewitched"-up through 1968, Chevrolet and Quaker Oats were alternating weekly sponsors. I remember the Quaker Man "morphing" into the moon in the opening credits

 

[Tim L]

Game Show Network is now showing the earliest episodes they have of "The Name's The Same" from September 1952. They are sponsored alternately by Swanson's Frozen Dinners one week and Bendix Apploances the next week. One of the last "Character Commercials" may have been The Partridge Family selling Kellogg's cereals in The early 1970's.

 

[Braves2005]

I know that the early Burns and Allan shows from 1950 to 1953 always featured Carnation Evaporated Milk into the episodes of the show and into the commercials that the various announcers talked about the virtues of Carnation Evaporated Milk even showing a few recipes thrown in there.

 

[Tim L]

I believe Kellogg's was the original sole sponsor of "The Adventures of Superman" when it was first telecast?

Most likely. The early Superman TV Series DVD sets have several Kelloggs commercials with the cast in Character as a bonus..

 

[Tim L]

I know that the early Burns and Allan shows from 1950 to 1953 always featured Carnation Evaporated Milk into the episodes of the show and into the commercials that the various announcers talked about the virtues of Carnation Evaporated Milk even showing a few recipes thrown in there.

Our local PBS station Channels 45/49 Youngstown/Akron, Ohio showed a 9 episode Marathon of early Burns and Allen Shows a few years back..They ran it straight through.."Middle Commercial" and all..

 

[mleach]

Something else to keep in mind is that many games shows, especially in the '50's, had the sponsor's name prominently displayed as part of the set dress. These were pretty much single sponsors as well.

That, of course, was the norm starting with the beginning of radio in the 1920s.

One of the last fully-sponsored shows I remember was The Beverly Hillbillies, at least through the mid '60s - Winston cigarettes and Kellogg's cereals come to mind immediately. The sponsor's name & jingle were a part of the theme song on their original CBS run, but not when the show went into syndication.

The Beverly Hillbillies dropped Winston Cigarettes as a sponsor in 1964. According to Paul Henning the reason was due to that famous 1964 Sergeon Gneral press confrence that linked smoking with cancer. From that point on, cigarette smoking among American adults started to go into decline and Henning knew sooner or later those cigarette ads would be an issue, he was right about that.

With that being said after the Hillbillies in 1964, were they any show in the mid to late 60's that continued to be sponsored by a cigarette? The only examples I can think of were Dragnet 67 ( no surprise ) and the American Sportsman. Both were sponsored by Camel and Camel Filters.

of course cigarette ads were banned from TV and radio nationwide in 1971 though the ban took place earlier in a few cities. For example such ads were banned from Baltimore, Maryland TV in 1968 and from Baltimore radio in 1969.

 

[oaktree]

Don't forget TV's biggest advertiser at the time was so huge, it not only advertised on many other shows, but literally "owned" the shows they sponsored:

Proctor & Gamble.

Hence, why "soap operas" were so popular then ... and now.

 

[wbhist]

when more or less did the trend from having a single sponsor to multiple sponsors take hold?

One of the first to have multiple sponsors was Jackie Gleason when he first signed with CBS in 1952. The "multiple sponsors" thing was conceived to ensure that "The Great One" would be able to have the kind of "sky's-the-limit" budget and production values that would characterize his variety shows for the next two decades. The impetus for, and origin of, such a sponsorship deal can be found in the late William Henry III's book The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason.

 

[CrankyYankee]

"With that being said after the Hillbillies in 1964, were they any show in the mid to late 60's that continued to be sponsored by a cigarette?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well...how about the Virginia Slims Classic and Winston Cup Racing? Would those count?

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Regarding game shows, I think "What's My Line?" incorporated sponsor logos on the panel desk and atop the "Sign-in" blackboard until the last couple years of its network run. This practice might be making a comeback, though...Simon, Paula and Randy drink out of Coca-Cola cups on "American Idol", and I think sponsor logos (Red Stripe Beer) are displayed on "Pardon The Interruption" on ESPN. As far as castmember commercials, I can remember them on "Hillbillies" as well as "Green Acres", "Hogan's Heroes", and even "The Partridge Family". Wouldn't it be wild to see those today? (The "CSI" gang settling in for an all-night work session as Grissom makes a fresh pot of Maxwell House coffee?)

Here's another question...How long did "The Tonight Show" have Ed McMahon do on-set commercials for Alpo, among other products?

 

[KeithE4]

As far as castmember commercials, I can remember them on "Hillbillies" as well as "Green Acres", "Hogan's Heroes", and even "The Partridge Family".

Hogan's Heroes?!?!? I don't remember cast-member commercials on that show. How in the world could that happen on a show set in a WW2 German prison camp anyway? Maybe something like...

Robert Clary & John Banner in character advertising Betty Crocker Strudel.

"Hi, I'm Colonel Hogan. When my men and I built our escape tunnel, we used Craftsman tools."

"Zis is Kommandant Klink. Nobody has ever escaped from Stalag 13 because ve use Master Locks on our gates."

;D

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Hogan's Heroes?!?!? I don't remember cast-member commercials on that show. How in the world could that happen on a show set in a WW2 German prison camp anyway? Maybe something like...

Robert Clary & John Banner in character advertising Betty Crocker Strudel.

"Hi, I'm Colonel Hogan. When my men and I built our escape tunnel, we used Craftsman tools."

"Zis is Kommandant Klink. Nobody has ever escaped from Stalag 13 because ve use Master Locks on our gates."
Those are all good. I just remember it was for some sort of food, and it involved LeBeau cooking for the guys.

(Kinch could have been the spokesman for Radio Shack, too...And, since y'all are thinking of it anyway, Bob Crane for Kodak home movie cameras.)

 

[RicoGregg]

Andy Griffith did Ritz Cracker commercials that ran at the end of his show.

"Goo-ooo-ood cracker. I appreciate it and good night."