British TV Commercials – Fifty Years of Independent Television Broadcasting

Just after 8 pm on 22 September, 1955, British TV viewers watched actress Meg Smith brush her teeth while the authoritative voice over extolled the benefits of Gibbs SR Toothpaste, ‘the tingling fresh toothpaste that does your gums good too.’ As the dramatic image of a tube of toothpaste encased in a huge block of ice appeared on the screen, the audience was enthralled. Later that evening it enjoyed a further twenty three adverts from many old favourites, including Guinness, Brillo, Cadbury and Oxo.This broadcast by the new Independent Television Authority (now ITV) brought to an end the eighteen year monopoly enjoyed by the BBC. In fact, BBC executives were so worried about the new competition that they chose the same night to kill off Grace Archer from the long-running radio serial, The Archers. They also encouraged claims that commercials would cause unnecessary disruption to viewers and a lowering of broadcasting standards. An advocate for the independent channel addressed these concerns, saying: ‘We shall not be bothered by a violinist stopping in the middle of his solo to advise us of his favourite brand of cigarettes, nor indeed will Hamlet interrupt his soliloquy to tell us of the favourite brand… Read full this story

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