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Do you remember "The Flintstones?" Who was their original sponsor?

Of course, that TV show has been in syndication for decades. But when it debuted in the 1960's, it was actually a primetime show, aimed at families. This was a new idea: a cartoon show that was not just for children; a show that families would watch the same way they watched "sitcoms" with live actors.

And so...the commercials were aimed at the parents. The show's sponsor was Winston cigarettes. Back then, cigarette ads were ubiquitous on television, so this did not seem unusual to audiences at the time.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAExoSozc2c]
DrWatson
70-79, M
53 replies 141 views Nov 29, 2021
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Edited: 2 yrs ago
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bowman81 · M
My old Doctor smoked like a chimney. Great guy, great doctor but just couldn't kick the habit. He tried everything that came along, patches, pills, hypnotism, and would still sneak out back for a smoke between patients.

He didn't start smoking until a Sr. in college, said that the picture of a medical student in the 60's was a guy bent over a book with a cup of coffee and a lit cigarette. At that time more than half the men in the country smoked....a lot of women too. 45% of the total population smoked.

Even as late as the mid 70's cigarettes were included in C-rations for military field use. Yes, the Army was supplying tobacco to every soldier 10 years after the Surgeon General warnings appeared on the packs.
+ 4 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@bowman81 I remember attending a World War I exhibit at a museum a few years ago. There had been a drive in the US for people to donate cigarettes to be sent to the troops in Europe. One of the "motivations" for this was that smoking was seen as a less serious vice than booze or sex! So supposedly cigarettes would help keep our boys wholesome.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
bowman81 · M
@DrWatson When I was in the Army most tried to sample all of the them. Wholesomeness seemed a lot less appealing.
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@bowman81 I'm shocked.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
KiwiDan · 31-35, M
I'm glad cigarette ads are illegal now
+ 5 · Reply · Translate · Nov 29, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@bowman81 I think there was a progression. As I remember it, concerns over medical evidence connecting smoking and cancer led to the ban on ads, but the ban on public smoking came much later. Smoking use declined in the intervening period.

If I understand your question, I would guess that the removal of ads on TV was both a response to people's changing attitudes toward smoking and a catalyst to accelerating that change.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
Lostpoet · M
@Mamapolo2016 We had cigarette candies in the 90s but I think they rebranded them.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
Mamapolo2016 · F
@Lostpoet In Stephen King's [i]The Institute[/i], children with suspected psychic powers are kidnapped, their parents are murdered, and the kids are taken to a 'research facility' in Maine. There they are, among other worse abuses, given access to vending machines that dispense cigarettes and alcohol aimed at keeping them 'calm.'
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
graphite · 61-69, M
Cigarette ads weren't banned on TV until 1971, I think.
+ 4 · Reply · Translate · Nov 29, 2021
bijouxbroussard · F
@graphite Yes. January 1, 1971.
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
bookerdana · M
The Stone Ages answer to the "Honeymooners",even Doctors made🚬 ads
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard It seems odd to me today that such a lawsuit was contemplated. TV shows have always been copying each other: The Munsters and the Addams' Family are a prime example. But detective shows and courtroom dramas have largely copied each other as well. And then there was the very successful "Mr. Ed" ( a guy has a talking horse who will not talk to anyone but him) which generated an ill-conceived and ill-fated response on another network, "My Mother the Car" (a guy has a talking car, which is the reincarnation of his mother, but she will not talk to anyone but him.) It lasted less than one season!
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
bijouxbroussard · F
@DrWatson I remember My Mother The Car—Jerry VanDyke’s claim to fame while Dick had his own show.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard I actually can still sing the theme song! 😂
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021 · Edited: 2 yrs ago
Mamapolo2016 · F
It all seems so bizarre now.
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@bijouxbroussard Do you remember how, long ago, I had the mistaken impression that you lived in France?

Well, I might resurrect that theory. Wine at work with the boss? 😂
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021
bijouxbroussard · F
@DrWatson Yes, lol. This was a little cafe across the street where I worked over in the South of Market ([b]not[/b] the South of France, alas). The glasses were huge, too. The amazing thing was that we’d go back to work and function perfectly well.
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021 · Edited: 2 yrs ago
Mamapolo2016 · F
@bijouxbroussard Sighing. Those were the days, my friend. 😂
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021
SW-User
So fucking bizarre.
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · Nov 29, 2021
Peaches · F
Right! Now that they know cigarettes will kill ya they don't play such ads anymore on TV. I used to think they'd shut down the tobacco industry when they found proof that cigarettes would kill people......but then I realized money was more important.😔
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021
SW-User
I watched it years later — in the early 2000s. I must've been 11 or 12. Back then I thought it was fun and not some kiddy stuff aimed at little children.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
bijouxbroussard · F
Gawd, I even remember that jingle.
+ 4 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
Piper · 61-69, F
Yeah, but not that commercial and Winston being the show's original sponsor. Sure seems odd now, seeing it.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 4, 2021
JimBeam · M

Let's not forget candy & bubble gum cigarettes.

+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
I remember seeing that cigarette commercial. And I'm not sure if they acknowledged it, but I'm pretty sure the concept for the show was to take Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooner" and set in back in the Stone Age.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
dancingtongue · 80-89, M
Yeah, Big Tobacco was aiming the advertising at the parents. You betcha. They would never have been interested in getting the kids hooked early. THAT'S SARCASM< FOLKS!
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@dancingtongue Yes, that has been commented on in this thread as well. Of course, simply by placing any kind of ad on a cartoon show, the cigarette companies knew exactly what they were doing.

What I meant in my post is that the ads were not for toys and such, as on other cartoon shows. The ads were meant to generate revenue for the cigarette companies by encouraging parents to buy cigarettes for themselves. Of course, appealing to children was an added bonus for them, but if the companies were not confident that parents were sitting in the living room watching with the kids, I doubt it they would have spent advertising dollars on that particular time slot.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Dec 1, 2021
SatyrService · M
lets not forget that Fred flintstone was a Knock off of Ralph Cramden in "the Honeymooners" a live action staring.Jackie Gleason
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
DrWatson · 70-79, M
@SatyrService Yes, that is already being discussed by some of us in this thread.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · Nov 30, 2021
Azlotto · M
I have no idea, but this is pretty dang hot.

[image]
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · Dec 4, 2021
 
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