Blog Post #8: Animated Ads

This week, we discussed how the business of animation really began to evolve in the fifties when televisions began to pop up in homes. During this time period, a new market formed that animators quickly took advantage of- advertising.  Even Walt Disney opened up a studio for advertising and even changed from his realistic advertising style to adapt to it. Animated cartoons got their start in movie theaters; so, it is appropriate that once this market began to take off, so did the advertisements in movie theaters. They did especially well in a trend sweeping the nation: Drive In Movie Theaters. In the fifties, the drive-in movie theater used animated commercials to remind people that their favorite snacks were just a small walk away.

These commercials would run during intermission to try to entice many of the movie-goers to go to the snack bar to pick up their favorite snack. They would make sure to assure them that they would not miss any of the movie. While these animations were not necessarily the greatest, they featured much of the characteristics of the UPA animation style that we saw in class this week. These commercials also included interesting characters, like talking hot dogs. Of course, like most animations at the time, these commercials featured catchy jingles that would keep people humming the tune that they heard and possibly want to get some popcorn. Overall, drive-in movies were another example of  a place that started the use of the cartoons, opening this advertising market even more for animators.

I commented on Emily Witt and Bonnie Hansen’s Post.

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