Sponsor (July-Sept 1959)

Commercial commentary continued For instance, on these stations you cannot advertise tip sheets, race track publications, lotteries, fortune telling, astrology, palmistry or character reading. You cannot advertise institutions or enterprises which in their offers of instruction, imply promises of employment. You cannot (under a Code Interpretation dated 7 June 1956) advertise hemorrhoid remedies, products used in connection with feminine hygiene, or other products which are "generally regarded as unsuitable conversational topics in mixed social groups." The Code forbids the use of "bait switch" advertising, the "pitchman technique" in copy, and the portrayal of doctors, dentists, or nurses, except by accredited members of these professions. Under the Code you may not run contests based on chance rather than skill, or offer premiums which appeal to superstition on the basis of their "luck bearing" powers. Stations subscribing to the Code have spelled out for them in exact detail the amount of time which mav be devoted to commercials in all types of programs from five to 120 minutes in length, with stricter limitations on "AA" and "A" time periods. There are a number of other Code provisions which deserve stud\ and respect. Why advertisers should support it I don't think, of course, that the TV Code is perfect as it now stands, and I doubt if you will when you read it. In certain areas it obviously does not yet go far enough. Some of its provisions need to be amended, expanded or rephrased, as I am sure they will be. But taken as a whole, the NAB's TV Code does emerge as an intelligent, honest effort by honorable men to draw up a decent set of ground rules for a turblent young industry which has unique social responsibilities. It is a better code, better drawn, better accepted and better policed than any yet devised by such older, prouder media as magazines and newspapers. As such it deserves. I think, far more attention and support from agencies and advertisers than it has yet received. If advertising men are sincerely concerned about their industry's public image (and I think the best of them are) then they should support the TV Code both in principle and in practice. Endorsements in principle can be made through the machinerj of the ANA and the 4A's, and I hope that these groups will work closel) and sympathetically with the members of the NAB's Code Committee in an effort to get more understanding and support for Code provisions. As to endorsements in practice, these are simple matters for every agency and advertiser buying tv time. All that is needed is an insistence by managements, and by ad managers and time buyers, that all stations appearing on their spot tv lineups be TV Code subscribers. It is certainly in their best interests to do this. As Douu Smith, advertising and merchandising director of S. C. Johnson pointed out recently, "Tv is one of the greatest assets which we. the advertisers possess. We must be careful to respect, maintain and even cherish it." The support of a decent, honorable TV Code is one of the finest ways of cherishing the tv medium, and insuring its future. ^ Hoodoo 5k/ Ar»a in Oregon Nearly ]/4 of Oregon's buying families watch KVAL-TV KPIC-TV The only clear-picture in the Eugene Springfield Roseburg market is on KVAL-KPIC. One order to your Hollingbery man or Art Moore and Associates (Portland-Seattle' covers both stations. KVAL-TV fugene NBC Affiliate Channel IE v KPIC-TV Roseburg • Channel 4 Satsllile For 35 Years No. 1 in the Roanoke Market! WDBJ has been on the air in Roanoke, Virginia continuously since 1924. In every audience survey ever made in those 35 years, WDBJ has always proved to be first in coverage and audience. W3 look forward to serving even better in the future our long list of loyal national advertisers who demand the best in radio promotion. Ray P. Jordan, V. P. Broadcasting Times-World Corporation WDBJ CBS RADIO Roanoke, Virginia 960 Kc. 94.9 Mc. 5000 watts 14,000 watts j-y. PETERS, GRIFFIN, WOODWARD, INC, National Rfprtitntati»ts i SPONSOR 4 JULY 1959 25