Het zelfbeeld van reclamemakers in de Nederlandse reclamevakpers 1967-1972

Abstract

This article discusses the self-image of Dutch advertisers in the 1960s and 1970s, with the views of Dutch advertisers on what was then a new phenomenon, television advertisements, as the starting point. Articles from the Dutch specialist publications for advertising show that tv advertisements were not judged solely on the basis of commercial criteria by some professionals. Many of them were of the opinion that tv advertisements should also satisfy certain cultural and artistic norms. Employees of advertising agencies particularly placed growing emphasis on the importance of creativity during the period researched. The article claims that it would not be correct to consider advertisers as cultural intermediaries based on this alone. The attitude seems instead to be linked to the rivalry between leading advertising agencies such as Prad and Intermarco, and production companies such as Toonder Studio’s, Geesink Studio and Top Spot. The focus on the cultural and artistic dimensions of tv advertising seems to result in part from the attempts of employees of advertising agencies to promote themselves as the experts in this new field.