Museum of Broadcast Communications Debuts New Online Exhibit: 'We'll Be Right Back...60 Years of Television Commercials'

CHICAGO, Jan. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC), will debut a new online exhibit at museum.tv, "We'll be Right Back: 60 years of Television Commercials" on January 12, 2011. The online exhibit has been culled from the MBC's archives of more than 10,000 commercials and nearly 100,000 hours of content.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click:  http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/museum/48106/

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110112/MM28085)

"We'll be Right Back: 60 years of Television Commercials" spans more than six decades, and showcases more than 100 of the best television commercials from the 1940s through today. Visitors will be treated to some of the most creative, innovative, and ground breaking advertising work from the "Cool 50's" through "The 2k's." The online exhibit features classic spots from iconic brands such as Tootsie Roll Pops, Chevrolet, Texaco, Tang, Life Cereal, McDonalds, Alka Seltzer, Dunkin Donuts, Coca Cola, Budweiser, American Express, Lexus, Gillette, Apple, Target and others. It also offers a look at Super Bowl advertising featuring the most memorable spots from 1969 to 2010, Political advertising, Infomercials, Public Service Announcements and examples of Product Placement on programs like "I Love Lucy" and "Modern Family." There is even a section featuring Chicago's most memorable local advertising including Walter E. Smithe and Empire Today.

Bruce DuMont, President and Founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications says of the new exhibit: "We're very excited about the debut of this online exhibit that both celebrates and preserves our rich television heritage and supports the Museum's educational mission. Television programming and advertising are mirrors that reflect popular culture. Preserving our television heritage is a way of preserving our past, and offers future generations the chance to experience that culture in a very real way."

The exhibit starts in the earliest days of television programming and chronicles the growth of television advertising, from simple product placement to an art form all its own. Each section features links that let visitors watch classic commercials and editorial that provides a brief history of the era or genre and helps visitors put the content they view in context with the times.

"From the beginning, brand sponsorship of television programs was the foundation by which content was produced... providing a decade by decade narrative clearly demonstrates the role advertisers played in the growth of the media," says David Plier, Vice President of the Board of Directors for the MBC, CEO of advertising agency Retail First Corporation and curator of the online exhibit.

In addition to taking a trip back in time at this new exhibit, visitors can also get a look at the future and learn about the progress on the New Museum of Broadcast Communications, now under construction in the heart of downtown Chicago.

About the MBC: The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an Illinois non-profit corporation and manages two subsidiaries. Museum.tv and the National Radio Hall of Fame (NRHOF) and it's website radiohof.org. The MBC is to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain the public through it's archives, public programs, screening, exhibits, publications and online access to it's resources. The MBC is also the author of the Encyclopedia of Advertising, Encyclopedia of Television, the Encyclopedia of Radio and the book, "Chicago Television."

SOURCE Museum of Broadcast Communications