Interesting tidbit I found while researching kids cartoon regulation. Seems in the 1970's the National Association of Broadcasters passed guidelines for kids shows. One of those was a rule that a 5 second bumper indicating that commercials were starting and ending be inserted so kiddies could identify the show and what was toy commercials.

That's why TV kids shows kid these little bumpers going into and out of commercial breaks.

Another one I found while going over ABC's advertising guidelines. Ever wonder why kids toy commercials seem to be formulaic? Starts with a animation, then kids playing with the toys, then a shot of the toys standing static at the end?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeNf3jQ1zdw

Read these guidelines on how they require commercials:

Page not found - ABC All Access - ABC All Access

 

That explains a lot.

I'm not liking that they're assuming kids are stupid though.

 

Yeah, commercial laws are funny sometimes. To this day, you still can't advertise the toys for the show during the airing of that same show.

 

What have you ever seen to disprove the idea that 80+% of all people -- kids or otherwise -- are idiots?

 

I don't think that worked out too bad for Hasbro in the 80s as they advertised GI Joe toys during Transformers cartoons and vice versa.

 

I say that if the kids are too stupid to tell the difference between the advertisement and the show they are watching, they deserve to be confused as hell.

 

i kind'a wish, no i DO wish they still were required to do that now. that way when i am fast forwarding through i'll know exactly when i should stop fast forwarding! lol

besides the bumpers were pretty cool.

 

Because I know I'm smart enough to know the difference and I feel that other people should as well.

Exactly...if you're that stupid, it's your own fault.

 

"If I can do it, everyone should be able to do it, regardless of circumstance!"

Yes, because kids are totally responsible themselves if they were insufficiently educated?

 

I check out the history of these rules, and they came into effect in the late 60's and early 70's after worries about TV being too violent when it was broadcasting all the violence of riots. They started making parent groups that were protesting that TV be controlled. The shows that set them off were the

1. 1960's Hotwheels show, because it was basically a commercial for Hot Wheels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjrWvfzK57A

2. Romper Room, because the host would also do the commercials, and the parents thought it was horrible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYuAarJTKoI

3. Also, children's vitamin commercials were said to be trying to see vitamins like candy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLCkQYY3yBE

They actually asked the FCC to ban ALL commercials aimed at children in children's programming (I guess beer and feminine hygiene commercials would be okay, but don't advertise toys to kids!) Then later were successful in limiting the number of minutes of commercials in half hour.

It was a group called ACT (Action for Children's Television) that got all this stuff banned. Some of it got lifted under FCC chair Mark S. Fowler who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, because Fowler was a big believer in letting the free market control TV as much as possible, so he dropped a lot of the FCC rules in 1982.

 

Guys, I think it depends on the age and level of understanding of the kids. The younger the kid, the more likely they won't understand the difference (especially if there's animation like TF commercials had). A 9yr old will get it, but will a 5yr old? And then there are kids with developmental issues. Yeah, it seems silly, but my guess is lumping all kid ages together for a commercial law was easier than having a disclaimer stating "we know ages 8 and up probably get the difference between a show and a commercial. Now for you younger ones, here's the difference: Blah blah blah, blah-blah b-blah, blah blah b-blah blah-b-blah. *COMMERCIAL STARTS NOW*"

 

 

Yep I'm pretty sure cartoons like Transformers and GI Joe would not have been possible without the relaxing of these rules.

 

Also remember that the 80s commercials often included animation identical to the show animation, using the same voice actors. So it's not that "out there" that a young kid wouldn't be able to discern the difference.

Though the show has always been a toy commercial anyway, sooo . . .

 

Yeah, same here. Or at least more obvious bumpers. Cartoon Network/Adult Swim always seems to have a random number of different bumpers each break, so it's a bit hard to tell if I'm supposed to stop at the endlessly repeated 1-second clip, the awkward facecam kids, or the stack of bears.

 

I hate that shit, I try to fast forward and sometimes I assume it's the last commercials but it's not and then i try to fast forward and i end up right into the show i'm watching off by a few seconds. Man that's annoying.

First World Problems man.

 

I think your missing the bigger picture here, companies don't do this because they think "kids are stupid" it's to prevent law suits from parents who buy toys based on a) a 5 year olds interpretation of an ad or b) a parents interpretation of an ad for an item they know/care little about. In short they have these rules not because kids are stupid but because parents are  

 

"Companies" or the National Association of Broadcasters? It was my understanding that the discussion was with regards to (what seemed to me to be FCC-style) regs on the commercials running during children's shows, as opposed to product manufacturers and distributors regulating themselves.

 

 

I think we have to remember that in the early days of TV, especially 60's and 70's the target audience for ads weren't kids for the most part- it was adults & parents... who drank, smoked, cooked and needed those hygiene supplies.
For at least 6 1/2 days a week cigarette ads were on one after the other, one Marlboro Man ad, then the Camel had to ride in as well, followed by a beer ad to wash it all down.  

I mention that because we also need to remember other than Saturday mornings, most cartoons were not aired. So in all honestly, there weren't that many ads they had to watch/control, but at least they did try to control what the kiddies were seeing for those few hours each weekend. But I bet the ones that did air were seen dozens of times every Saturday.

Ahhhh, the good ol days. Bwhahaha.