In color

Read carefully the copy in this ad from 1960 and ask yourself: "Who'd be so thick to order one of these?"

The ad talks about a screen that fits over you current black-and-white TV screen, and produces "...brilliant, eye-filling colors..."

And your friends will like it too - they'll get to make jokes about you and your "color TV".

"Thrilling color", 1960
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TV tennis

Thirty-five years ago, playing anything on your own TV set was all the rage, and legends were born.

We're talking about PONG, of course. Back then it was a revolutionary device, but as the following advertorial warns "...this is one of those novelties everyone will shortly get tired of..."

Yeah. Right. 35 years later, the video game industry is bigger than Hollywood, and one of those original little consoles is worth a small fortune.

I wish I had one.

"TV tennis", 1976
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All your circuits belong to us

This ad could be called "the insane march of technology" - on a closer inspection, that is really what happens here.

On a previous ad from 1949, for the princely sum of $229.95 you could buy a 10-inch TV - now in 1954 you can become the proud owner of a 24-incher for the same money. Considering inflation, it's actually cheaper to buy a bigger TV.

The mechanics of the markets are the same -it's always cheaper to buy later in the cycle of adoption of a product, be it a black-and-white Admiral TV or a spankin' iPhone.

But the really important detail here is in the copy.

"AUTOMATION by Admiral", 1954
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The "Admiral precision circuits" and automated fabrication process is a distinctive selling point. This might be the first-ever advertisement of a printed-circuit product outside the military.

Awesome! Surely, a vision of things to come.

Plug and play

This is a fantastic piece from 1949 - television sets were fairly new back then and the consumerist boom of the 1950's was about to get in full swing.

But prices were still very high.

The smallest set on this ad is $229.95; back then it was 10% of the yearly average wage, or 25% of the average price of a brand new car. So buying a television set is an investment.

How do you sell it?

Make it easy to use. No aerial (antenna) - they all use the Philco Electronic Built-In Aerial System!

Just "Plug and Play". What a wonderful expression: it sold televisions back then, and it's still selling computers and operating systems right now.

"Just plug in and play", 1949
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