a new advertising avenue and the ability to reach
a desired demographic to which they previously
lacked direct access. On average, consumers who
watched public television were highly educated and
earned high household incomes. They were also a
more difficult demographic to reach, since they
watched less commercial television. Underwriting
public television programming provided a much-
sought-after way for advertisers to deliver their mes-
sages to this demographic. The Reagan administra-
tion promoted less government interference with
broadcasting and the arts and decreased federal
funding of public broadcasting. This decrease
caused public broadcasters gladly to accept gener-
ous corporate sponsorships. In 1973, public broad-
casters received approximately 3.3 percent of their
funding from private sources; by 1991, 16 percent of
their funding came from corporate underwriting.
Finally, since cable television did not broadcast
over the public airwaves, cable channels were im-
mune to many of the advertising rules and restric-
tions imposed by the FTC and the FCC, including
the restrictions on commercial minutes per hour.
Cable television therefore witnessed an explosion
of infomercials, or program-length commercials,
which promoted products for whatever amount of
time the advertiser could afford and the channel
had to offer. Suddenly, people could watch hour-
long infomercials that were not held accountable to
broadcast-advertising guidelines. By virtue of nar-
rowcasting, cable was also able to fragment its audi-
ence into valuable niche demographics, supplying
special-interest programming to viewers and creat-
ing specialized audiences for specific types of adver-
tisers. Such a strategy previously had been available
only through magazines.
New Advertising Outlets As Americans in the
1980’s acquired more disposable income and tech-
nologies in the home, advertisers had to find new av-
enues through which to deliver their message. As
consumers discovered their new entertainment op-
tions, they began listening to Walkmans, watching
videotapes, and spending more time and money on
recreation rather than watching television. Unfortu-
nately for advertisers, the consumers whose finan-
cial resources made it possible to replace television
with other luxuries were precisely the consumers
that the advertisers most wanted to reach. Realizing
the problem, advertisers began focusing more on
sponsorships of events, rather than relying primarily
on television commercials.
Sporting events, rock festivals and tours, and art
exhibits became venues for corporate messages.
Sporting-event sponsorships proved most valuable
to advertisers: Sports audiences were loyal, and spon-
sorships at the events themselves allowed advertisers
to reach the fans they had begun to lose to the re-
mote control, which allowed sports fans to watch
events on television all day without ever viewing a
commercial. Advertisers began pouring huge sums
into sponsorship of sporting events and other activi-
ties surrounding professional sports. Budweiser cre-
ated the Bud Bowl; Nike and other logos began
appearing on team jerseys; tobacco companies clev-
erly appeared on television, circumventing the ban
on cigarette commercials, by sponsoring NASCAR
drivers. Every inch of playing fields and stadiums was
suddenly for sale, and there were plenty of advertis-
ers ready to buy.
Corporations and companies also began sponsor-
ing music and art events, which enabled them not
only to deliver their messages but also to replace gov-
ernment sponsorship of the arts, allowing arts pro-
grams to continue despite federal budget cuts. As a
result of the 1980’s distrust of big government, some
Americans did not mind the government allowing
corporations instead of the National Endowment
for the Arts to sponsor cultural events.Impact The 1980’s witnessed a pervasive apparent
empowerment of the consumer. Consumers had
more entertainment choices, new hardware to help
them enjoy their entertainment, and more dispos-
able income with which to entertain themselves. Ad-
vertisers in the 1980’s had to meet and overcome the
challenges posed by the expansion of entertainment
options first by redefining their demographics and
then by changing their practices in response to these
newly defined target audiences. Changes in FCC
and FTC regulations, along with an increase in me-
dia options, provided advertisers with more ways to
spread their message, even as they prevented them
from relying on any single medium or method. The
rise of narrowcasting made possible by cable televi-
sion led to an explosion by the end of the decade
in both niche marketing and the use of targeted ad-
vertising to reach extemely lucrative demographics
with greater efficiency.
The 1980’s continued a trend long established in20 Advertising The Eighties in America