I don't remember the Flintstones smoking?

[petek]

But I guess they did

 

[rp2813]

I don't remember this either. I would think that even though The Flintstones was a sitcom as much as it was a cartoon, the viewing audience at the time was more kids than adults. Seems strange they'd have these characters promoting cigarettes but maybe they knew their demographic to be different than the one I've speculated it was. The Flintstones had a prime time slot after all, so I suppose they could have been going after the adults who were viewing along with their kids.

 

[toploader55]

I remember...

I vaguely remember this ad.Even though it is in Black and White. Our family owned a restaurant in New Jersey and I think it was around 1963, we had one of the first color TVs in town. My Dad's bar would be packed to the rafters to watch the NBC Peacock do the"in living color" thing and they all would watch the Flintstones because it was one of the first few broadcasted color TV shows.

 

[toploader55]

I remember...

I vaguely remember this ad. Our family owned a restaurant in New Jersey and I think it was around 1963, we had one of the first color TVs in town. My Dad's bar would be packed to the rafters to watch the NBC Peacock do the"in living color" thing and they all would watch the Flintstones because it was one of the first few broadcasted color TV shows.

 

[MikeS]

Flintstones Ad History

When "The Flintstones" went on the air in 1960, ABC promoted the show as an "adult cartoon"--so it found a pair of sponsors selling grown-up products. R.J.Reynolds (Winston cigarettes) and Miles Laboratories (Bactine; One-A-Day vitamins; Alka-Seltzer--now owned by Bayer) sponsored "The Flintstones" for its first few seasons (and yes, the gang did animated spots for the sponsors, including Winston and its famous "filter blend" that "tastes good like a cigarette should"). A few years later, "The Flintstones" moved to an earlier timeslot and ABC found more "family friendly" sponsors (Welch's Grape Juice; Skippy peanut butter; Best Foods/Hellman's mayonaise).
"The Flintstones" was shot in color from the first episode, but ABC--which was a poor third in both the ratings and revenues--had no interest in broadcasting shows in color. ("The Jetsons" was the first ABC series to air in color two years later, but many ABC affiliates broadcast the program in black and white because they lacked the proper color transmission equipment.) ABC remained behind NBC and CBS in color programming until the fall of 1966, when all three networks began airing their entire prime time lineups in full color.

 

[filterflo]

The Flintstones were a cartoon sitcom, in its inital showing aimed at adults and not children. The show made its debut in the early 60's in the primetime television lineup. Therefore the sponsers advertising was aimed at the adult market, not children. The Jetsons were also shown the same way, with primetime showings once a week aimed at the adult viewing audience. Both shows were an instant hit and later transferred to Saturday morning cartoons aimed for the younger audience.

 

[toploader55]

I wonder...

How many people have the Welch's grape Jelly Glasses with the Flinstones cartoons on the side.Our 1960s GE rolltub Dishwasher with the impeller on the bottom use to scrub the cartoons off after 6 months of washings.

 

[laundryshark]

Flintstones Smoking Winston Cigarettes

I have several Windows audio and video ads of Ole Fred puffing on his Winston smokes. Go into my profile and email me, and I would be more than happy to share these.--Laundry Shark