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]

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KiwiDan · 31-35, M

I'm glad cigarette ads are illegal now

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DrWatson · 70-79, M

@KiwiDan An awful lot of them were in the form of cartoons. And they had catchy jingles, and a lot of humor. In retrospect, it seems clear that they wanted children to pay attention to the ads, as well as the adults.

bijouxbroussard · F

@KiwiDan This was one very popular ad when I was a kid.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33fSU2Q_ZUY]

Mamapolo2016 · F

@bijouxbroussard It all comes flooding back.

And candy cigarettes! Smh.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Mamapolo2016 Yes ! I had those. And we had no idea what a bad idea they were.

Mamapolo2016 · F

@bijouxbroussard Not a clue. Crazy.

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@MarmeeMarch But it did curb cigarette use. Not just the elimination of the commercials, of course. But their elimination was part of a huge cultural shift in which we stopped normalizing smoking: no more commercials, no more routine smoking by television characters and personalities, etc. This led to the acceptability of smoking bans in restaurants and public places. Tobacco use has dropped dramatically, and American tobacco companies have had to increase their exports in order to compensate.

bowman81 · M

@DrWatson I wonder what came first the Chicken or the Egg? The ban could only have been put in place with rising concern over smoking. Did the culture change lead to the bans and lower smoking rates, or did the ban on adds lead to lower smoking rates?
No matter we smoke less now.

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.

Lostpoet · M

@Mamapolo2016 We had cigarette candies in the 90s but I think they rebranded them.

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.'