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The
first commercial shown on TV in Britain Viewers saw a tube of toothpaste embedded in a block of ice and a woman called Meg Smith brushing her teeth in the approved manner, "up and down and round the gums". The immaculate tones of Alex Macintosh delivered the newly-minted slogan: "It's tingling fresh. It's fresh as ice. It's Gibbs SR toothpaste." The commercial owed its prime placing to chance. The Gibbs advertisement had come first in a lottery drawn with 23 other advertisements, including those for Guinness, Surf, National Benzole, Brown & Polson Custard and Summer County Margarine. |
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Murray Mints, Murray Mints, the too-good-to-hurry mints. Why make haste? When you can taste the hint of mint in Murray Mints (1955). Jingle was recorded by The Stargazers. Cliff Adams and the Stargazers appeared on Sunday Night at the London Palladium about three months after the start of commercial television. They took a chance and ended their act on what they called their 'latest recording'. They came on in bearskins and re-enacted the commercial on the stage. Then they pulled off the bearskins and inside them they had packets of Murray Mints which they threw to the audience. It caused a sensation, and showed the power that commercials had, even within three months. |
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Rice Krispies - Snap, Crackle and Pop (1955) |
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Don't
forget the Fruit Gums Mum!
(1956)
The authorities later forced Rowntrees to change the slogan because of unfair pressure on mums. They cleverly came up with "don't forget the fruit gums, chum" instead. (The actor was Denis Gilmore ) |
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You're never alone with a Strand (1959). This jingle was again written by Cliff Adams. The actor was Terence Brooks who looked like Frank Sinatra, standing on a street in London, wearing a trench coat, with a hat on the back of his head, stopping to light a cigarette. This was followed by the theme tune. As soon as the commercial went on the air, enquiries started coming in, people ringing up and asking if there was a record of the music available. So Cliff Adams quickly went to a studio and recorded "The Lonely Man Theme". The released record contained no vocals and nothing was mentioned about cigarettes, just the musical theme. It is known that another version was recorded including some vocals but this was never released. |
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Rael-Brook Shirts - Written by Johnny
Johnston, the theme was devised when he met Harry
Raelbrook who was just starting up his shirt business. 'I
want to advertise on television and I want a jingle. I
make shirts.' he said. Johnny said 'What's so special
about your shirts?'. He said 'You don't have to iron
them.' So Johnny sat at his piano and played and sang these seven words - 'Rael-Brook Toplin, the shirt you don't iron'.... repeated three times and then again in a changed key. Harry was delighted and said 'That's what I want, don't change anything', and they never did! |
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Altogether now! "Coates comes up from Somerset, where the cider apples grow.....!" |
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Butlins - still going strong today! |
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Brooke Bond PG Tips starred the Brooke Bond chimps (1956). The first of these adverts was set in an elegant country house and showed an immaculately dressed 'boy' and 'girl' sitting at a Regency table and drinking tea from a silver service in dainty china cups. The voiceover came from Peter Sellers. |
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"Never go without a Capstan" |
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Joe, the tongue-tied Esso Blue paraffin salesman who called himself the 'Esso Blee Dooler'. Joe was created in 1958 when paraffin was a relatively common household fuel, but its use steadily declined over the years, as did Joe. |
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Cadum for Madam, toilet soap introduced into the UK by Colgate-Palmolive in 1955 from France where it had been an established brand since 1907. |
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"Go
to Work on an Egg!" When the British Egg Marketing Board launched the ‘Go to Work on an Egg' ads, no-one could have anticipated just how famous they would become. Watch the ads and find out for yourself. The 1950s ads starred Tony Hancock, the legendary comedian, and the ‘Go to work on an egg’ slogan is attributed to Fay Weldon, although she claims she was just the manager of the team who created the famous line. Tony Hancock is probably most famous for Hancock's Half Hour which kicked off in November 1954, becoming a British institution for almost two decades. You can now see Hancock in action, along with Patricia Hayes and Pat Coombs - eight of the ads from the original Go to Work on an Egg campaign are available to watch. Click on the link above! |
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This OXO advert pre-dates the Katie and Philip series which was to follow on in the late 1950s (see below) |
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OXO - Katie was launched as a TV advertising feature in October 1958, with the actress Mary Holland (at first on Sunday evening, in three sequential episodes). In 1960 a stouter husband replaced the willowy orginal. |
1959 saw the soap powder war hot up
as the White Tide Man faced Mrs. Bradshaw. White Tide was claimed
to 'get your clothes clean. Not only clean but deep-down clean'
while Surf featured Mrs. Bradshaw with her pile of washing who
would declare 'Hold it up to the light. Not a stain and shining
bright!'. We could be 
