# First tv ad to employ humor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950 "2014-07-12T21:44:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![common\_good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@common\_good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/common_good)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/1 "2014-07-12T21:44:59Z")
Yea, there is a specific one that is acknowledged by ad men. It was in the 60’s. Anybody recall it and the product ? No prize, offer invalid in Wisconsin (cause I just don’t like those people) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/2 "2014-07-12T22:19:24Z")
I have a DVD full of TV commercials, some of which were humorous long before 1960, so I dispute the premise. The most famous funny one from that time period though was Stan Freburg’s Jeno’s Pizza Roll commercial which you can see [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxeZo7gRkeA) But it was hardly the first. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/3 "2014-07-12T22:22:47Z")
I think we need a strict definition of _humor_ to try to answer this question, because I remember _funny_ TV ads from my earliest days of watching TV (1951 lets’s say). ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/4 "2014-07-13T00:00:48Z")
Your contention is that they went twenty some years before it occurred to someone to use humor in an ad? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/5 "2014-07-13T00:05:17Z")
Did the one you’re thinking of involve Jim Henson? He started doing ads in 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/6 "2014-07-13T00:53:23Z")
I, too dispute your premise. Humorous ads were done for [beer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr_URPYVhYg), [tuna fish](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvgEqlFIn2o), [powdered milk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTzf9l1kL1Q), [bug spray](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdy9qGVGo_k), and a whole host of other stuff you can find on YouTube. Now, to be totally pedantic, there are some advertising folks who think the 1960’s Volkswagen campaigns (like this one, featuring [Dustin Hoffman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGdf9ea2olQ)) were the high point of funny, effective commercials. But even that’s a matter of opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/7 "2014-07-13T00:54:30Z")
I think the OP might mean satirical ads, of which a few scattered examples exist before Freberg, but he defined the genre and pwned it for several years. ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/8 "2014-07-13T01:18:32Z")
> [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > Your contention is that they went twenty some years before it occurred to someone to use humor in an ad? :dubious: No, it’s my contention that Shakespeare was an imposter. And gimme my jacket. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/9 "2014-07-13T01:30:19Z")
Humor was used in radio ads of the 40s (and earlier). The ads were even integrated into the shows. I doubt it took very long for TV to follow suit. ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/10 "2014-07-13T10:56:41Z")
Some sort of oil filters IIRC. Young couples’ car breaks down. He looks at her. We sense romance. She gets out and replaces the \ oil filter, valves whatever. She has oil/grease all over her white dress, pretty face as she cheerfully works on to his bafflement. It was a huge deal that they were making fun and having fun. There was a TV Guide article about it as well. That was when TVG was the arbiter of popular culture. If I had to pick…Framm? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/11 "2014-07-13T13:39:30Z")
Alka-Seltzer was doing funny ones back in the '50s – with Buster Keaton, even. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/12 "2014-07-13T17:27:07Z")
> [@MsKaren](#): > > Some sort of oil filters IIRC. Young couples’ car breaks down. He looks at her. We sense romance. She gets out and replaces the \ oil filter, valves whatever. She has oil/grease all over her white dress, pretty face as she cheerfully works on to his bafflement. > > It was a huge deal that they were making fun and having fun. There was a TV Guide article about it as well. That was when TVG was the arbiter of popular culture. > > If I had to pick…Framm? It was Purolator. [Here it is.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZhn1d0InnA) But I don’t think it was groundbreaking. Here’s an [Arthur Godfrey soup commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAixx8G2wzU) from 1956. If you want something that makes fun of the product, try “And there’s chicken there, too. You won’t find it, but it’s there – Guaranteed, it’s there. If you find any, bring it to us, but it’s there!” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/13 "2014-07-13T18:48:55Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > It was Purolator. [Here it is.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZhn1d0InnA) But I don’t think it was groundbreaking. For people who are not as ancient as I am, they were making fun of a trope, or meme, or whatever, where a guy pretends that the car has broken down, or is out of gas, and they’re stuck, and while they wait for someone to come along and help, they might as well…y’know. I don’t know if men ever tried this in real life, but it got tried in the movies and TV a lot, and got bandied about quite a bit, so that “the car broke down” was a euphemism for “they’re out somewhere doing it.” It’s very funny that this guy tried it with the one woman in the entire 1950s whose father taught her how to work on cars. I think maybe a question that would better get to the OP’s point would be “When did shows stop being sponsored by a particular product (or product label), that would then be hawked by the show’s stars, and instead, products would produce in-house commercials, and buy air time on different shows for the same commercial?” The spots where the stars of a show would say “Hey, by the way, Maxwell House brought you this show; go out and buy some,” were pretty dry. I don’t know the answer, but it happened pretty early on, within a few years of television, and was a big switch from the way radio did things. I guess it happened because TV shows cost more to produce than radio shows did. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/14 "2014-07-13T19:02:49Z")
It’s not the first, but the Alka-Seltzer ‘spicy meatball’ commercial was one an early smash hit that spawned numerous funny commercials. There’s a mention of Jim Henson above, he did coffee commercials in DC when I was very young. I don’t remember the brand, but I remember the Muppets, which I think were supposed to be coffee beans. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/15 "2014-07-13T19:25:12Z")
The Purolator Oil Filter commercial was first shown on November 19, 1962. The actor was Morty Gunty and the actress was Joan Anderson. Here’s an article about it: [http://cdm15957.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15957coll4/id/9988](http://cdm15957.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15957coll4/id/9988) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/16 "2014-07-14T02:00:55Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I think maybe a question that would better get to the OP’s point would be “When did shows stop being sponsored by a particular product (or product label), that would then be hawked by the show’s stars, and instead, products would produce in-house commercials, and buy air time on different shows for the same commercial?” The spots where the stars of a show would say “Hey, by the way, Maxwell House brought you this show; go out and buy some,” were pretty dry. > > I don’t know the answer, but it happened pretty early on, within a few years of television, and was a big switch from the way radio did things. I guess it happened because TV shows cost more to produce than radio shows did. Depending on which TV history you read, credit is given to Pat Weaver, who created the _Today_ show (because no single sponsor could possibly sponsor two hours per day, five days a week) and an ABC executive named Oliver Treyz (because ABC’s ratings were so bad the only way a sponsor would get a big enough audience on ABC was to have its commercials run on several different programs). Either way, it started in the early 1950’s and was pretty much the rule ten years later. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/17 "2014-07-14T02:18:36Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Depending on which TV history you read, credit is given to Pat Weaver, who created the _Today_ show (because no single sponsor could possibly sponsor two hours per day, five days a week) and an ABC executive named Oliver Treyz (because ABC’s ratings were so bad the only way a sponsor would get a big enough audience on ABC was to have its commercials run on several different programs). Either way, it started in the early 1950’s and was pretty much the rule ten years later. I imagine that’s when commercials started to become little eye- and ear-catching skits, and not just “Hey, we brought you this show; buy us if you want more.” Humor probably followed so fast it tripped over the previous advancement. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/18 "2014-07-14T02:39:00Z")
A not so planned funny commercial happened here in LA in the early 1950s on the late movies. There was a car dealer that would do live commercials with a used car brought onto the set (Ralph Williams?). Anyway to get people’s attention he would pound/slap the fender to show what a great car this was. One night for a laugh the stagehands unbolted the fender. The dealer pounded it and the fender fell off. ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/19 "2014-07-14T05:41:59Z")
The host mocking his sponsor like Arthur Godrey is, I think, not what the OP meant. I thought she/he meant the product itself deliberately filming a commercial meant to be funny. The Purolator one (thank you previous posters 🙂 ) is the first I recall as well as the magazine articles about it. Until the OP returns we won’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950/20 "2014-07-14T06:05:23Z")
It’d be easier just to watch all TV commercials in the order of their appearances and stop when you find a funny one. I don’t expect this would take very long. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-tv-ad-to-employ-humor/692950.md?page=2)