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A History of US TV Advertising – commercials go where money go

“Follow the money” is a truth made famous by various investigation of corruption, political scandals, and other human behaviors. As the thief Willy Horton explained:” I rob banks because that is where the money are.” TV advertising is no exception. A company spends money for advertising because they think the image/message the ad presents will target the right audience and produce revenue. In the 50s, models featured in advertising are almost uniformly projecting the WASP (White Angelo Saxon Protestant) image. Then by the passage of civil rights laws and the rise of African-Americans in the mid 60s and early 70s, African-American models began to appear in TV advertisings.

Next the rise of Asian countries in the 90s and this century bring Asian models to the TV. Particularly in real estate advertising, almost always one member of the family is Asian or Chinese for understandable reasons. Finally since the 2010s, mixed race couple and LGBT persons appear in Ads and as TV hosts. I assert this is a reflection of the progress of racial environment and society value system for the past 65+ years in the US.