This is for Rosie from Scotland who grew up watching I believe Andy Pandy on tv?
Were televisions marketed as shown below in Scotland? And why were they marketing televisions in the U.S. with a Highland piper on the screen? I mean, advertising is so calculated that I just wonder what they were trying to express. I can imagine a whole segment of society saying "Oh, noooooo. I don't want any of that piercing piping coming into my house! I'm getting a Zenith!" Or were they trying to appeal to the only market they ever even thought about. The WASP market. As was nicely shown on Mad Men recently, marketing was all about marketing to white folk. It didn't even dawn on them to market to the overall population.
Click on image to see it larger. From 1949 Holiday magazine.
Okay, too much thinking and cringing involved here. This is what it is. A big piece of furniture which was apparently pre-tuned to the Highland Channel, HooTMaN. The piece has nice doors on either side you could close, but then that piping would have just sounded muffled. How many kids stood around opening and closing the doors? Sound...muffled sound. Sound...muffled sound.
"Jimmy! I told you leave that thing alone! Your dad's going to be home soon and he's not going to like knowing you've been messing with his piper! I don't want to tell you again! Go do your homework!"
Snicker. Same kid probably invented the iPod. The entirety of what this box held now in the palm of his hand.
And then there's the company Magnavox. No longer a brand I see. I don't know if it's really still around in any form. I did find the following interesting:
Magnavox (Latin for "great voice") is an American electronics company founded by Edwin Pridham and Peter L. Jensen. They invented a moving-coil loudspeaker in 1915 at their lab in Napa, California and they named their brainchild "Magnavox". The company was formed in 1917 under the same name to market the invention.
So, there was once a sort of Silicon Valley north in the Bay Area? A lab in Napa which is now probably high priced wine acreage. Interesting. To read a bit more about the Magnavox company which is now really nothing more than a shell of what it once was since it's been bought and sold a few times, click on this link.
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I was told I used to sit up in my crib to watch a guy named Pinky Lee. cira 1953
ReplyDeleteYes, yes! Pinky Lee! I loved Pinky. Everything was a bit manic. I imagine he drove adults nuts! It was pure crazy burlesque for kids. I was living in Chula Vista when I remember watching him. You can read more about Pinky here:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinky_Lee
I remember watching Sky King for a total of 10 days each Summer while visiting my grandparents - mid to late Fifties. We didn't have a TV. Sky had a niece named Penny, and my oldest sister was named Penny, so it stuck. That and I liked flying and my mother hated it.
ReplyDeleteLoved Sky King and Penny! And My Friend Flicka and Fury. Can't remember what other shows there were. I liked the live action shows. There was little animated stuff. I enjoyed that there were actors and stories. The cartoons I do remember on tv were Tom Terriffic, Mighty Mouse, and eventually all of the Hanna Barbera in the 60s. I think Tom and Jerry were still only in the movie theaters. Ohhhh, and Bullwinkle. And then there were all the westerns on at night that I loved. I still watch Maverick which is shown on the Western channel. Oh and how could I forget...Popeye! Yeah, thanks for reminding me of Sky and Penny.
ReplyDeleteThat's an impressive telly! I only remember the screen and the fact that everybody spoke with a very strong Queen's english accent. The newsreaders wore black bow ties but the ladies on television were only allowed to make things for decorating Christmas trees.
ReplyDeleteThe wireless we had was huge. "Listen with Mother" You have taken me right back to the fifties.
Oh yes, you would have gotten the Queen's annual holiday message. Some of the upper crust do speak as if they have toast in their mouths. I remember being at a big horse show at Wembley stadium, back behind the scenes with the people who were competing. I couldn't understand a word they were saying! It all sounded like "Fafafa fa fa fafafa." I just smiled and thought "Whoa, am I going to have stories to tell when I get home." Of course I also couldn't understand some people in a bar in the midlands either. Did pretty well in Scotland because everyone, who still had a brogue, just sounded like my paternal relatives. Glad this brought back some good memories.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Scotland too and was brought up on Listen with Mother, Music and Movement on the Wireless and my fave tv show was the Wooden Tops, very dodgy wooden puppets on a farm with a dog called Spotty Dog. I moved from that obsession to the one with Betwitched lol! Great memories, you certainly wouldn't have sold a TV with piper on it in Scotland,ironically we probably would have prefered something American.
ReplyDeleteOh, I so enjoy knowing I have some friends from Scotland. My grandparents would be so thrilled.
ReplyDeleteGetting a kick out of both of you referring to the wireless. That is so foreign to me. Right out of a movie.
Yes, Bewitched. I remember when the show was on and it didn't come on until after my bedtime. I can still remember hearing the music down the hall. My dad watched it each week. Finally during the summer, when I was allowed to stay up later, I got to see it and was hooked. It was a fun silly show.
TV sets are advertised little differently today. Anyway, how could that TV set have been advertised differently to non-Caucasians that would not now be considered racist?
ReplyDeleteAnd "WASP" is offensive, because it is now almost always used in a derogatory fashion.
Also, in advertising, your largest market group is considered your top priority. That is where the largest profit is and is why you're in business in the first place -- to make a profit. And it's only profitability that can keep your business afloat and your employees employed long-term.
Regardless, again I ask, "How could that TV set have been advertised differently to non-Caucasians that would not now be considered racist?"
I do not consider WASP to be an offensive term. And I believe the word you might be looking for is "inclusive" when it comes to marketing to all people. There was marketing done in the '50s for non-Caucasian audiences and it wasn't racist.
ReplyDelete