Celebrating 60 years of television ads in Kiwi living rooms

Some of those ads have stuck with us more than others.

It's been 60 years since adverts started appearing on television screens in Kiwi living rooms.

The first locally produced television advertisement was for apples and pears and was also one of the first to hit our small screens.

From April 1961, New Zealand television went commercial and adverts were only played two nights a week.

The Auckland Star reported 72 commercials played in four hours on the first night television went commercial, which was Saturday April 4, 1961.

Eventually, adverts played four nights per week with a limit of six advertising minutes per hour.

From 1989, when the Broadcasting Act passed, television adverts started playing all nights of the week.

“Love them or hate them, adverts are such a part of our collective memory as a nation. Everyone will have a favourite they remember from years and years ago,” said David Klein from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.

The organisation is the New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound, and has thousands of Kiwi ads stored.

“Those classic items capture different parts of the country... it can be a jingle or a phrase or even a word like bugger... everyone would know what that means.”

Media commentator Irene Gardiner said the state of television advertising is very different now than when it first began.

“You had a lot of classic ones made in the '80s and '90s. There were a lot of people watching free-to-air TV, so it was worth investing the money,” she said.

The model has since changed with the introduction of streaming.

“People are trying to make broader campaigns and include social media,” Gardiner said.

But with 60 years of television advertising up our sleeves there’s no denying some will remain stuck in our heads for a lifetime.

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