This article from the former Vintage Broadcasting site shows some classic advertisements, including those from the early days of ITV and Channel 4. Part one of three.
Commercial television was launched in Britain on the 22nd of September 1955 in the London area, and spread right across the UK during the following 7 years. The last area to get commercial television was the Channel Islands in 1962.
Television quickly became a very powerful advertising medium. Some famous film producers / directors started their careers making TV advertisements. Many well known actors and actresses have appeared in or voiced over them.
Click on the screen shots to view the ads in MPEG 1 format.
Gibbs SR Toothpaste - the first ad ever shown on ITV, at 20:12 on the 22nd of September 1955. Filesize 1.94MB
Sarongster Girdles. Filesize 545KB
Pepsodent Toothpaste 1950s animated ad. Filesize 1MB
Flash Cleaner starring (a very young) Valerie Singleton. Filesize 1.54MB
Shell, sung by Bing Crosby. Filesize 1.57MB
Bison Adhesive. This ad was shown on satellite TV. Filesize 695KB
Bass Public Houses - an ad with a really strong ‘feel good’ factor. Filesize 973KB
More ITV and C4 Advertisements On Page 2
