Abstract

" “Razzmatazz Is Okay, But Hocus-Pocus Is OUT!”: The Advertising Industry and Deceptive Television Commercials, 1959-62"

Cynthia Meyers, University of Mount St. Vincent (cynmey@gmail.com)

In late 1959, the Federal Trade Commission, the federal agency empowered to investigate false, fraudulent, or deceptive advertising, turned its attention to television commercials. FTC officials claimed that viewers’ letters of complaint about deceptive advertising on television had increased from about 20 to about 1,000 per month after news broke in 1958 that many quiz shows had been rigged. Although the FTC had no jurisdiction over program content, it did have jurisdiction over deceptive advertising.

The FTC investigated several commercials produced by the Ted Bates agency. In one, the efficacy of Colgate-Palmolive shaving cream was demonstrated by shaving “sand paper” that proved to be a sheet of glass covered in sand. In another, the protective power of Colgate toothpaste’s “Gardol” ingredient was demonstrated by the blocking of thrown objects by a clear “invisible” shield.

My purpose here is not to explore the intricacies of advertising regulation but to examine 1) the challenges faced by advertisers in representing products truthfully on what was then a low-resolution visual medium; 2) the ad industry’s responses to accusations of deception, including their debates over the distinctions between “cosmetic glorification” and fraud; 3) the efforts of ad and broadcast industry trade organizations to institute more self-regulation in order to rebuild public trust; and 4) how FTC investigations may have been a factor in changing television advertising strategies. By the end of the 1960s, the so-called Creative Revolution in advertising was evident in the number of commercials centered on emotional appeals, eliding specific product claims altogether and so avoiding making any product claims that the FTC could investigate.