Commercials: on Swiss television for 60 years

Sixty years ago, Televisione della Svizzera italiana (TSI), now Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI), broadcast its first advertisement. Prof. Gabriele Balbi, Full Professor at USI Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society, retraced the history of advertising on the small screen in Ticino in a feature for Quotidiano.

The first commercials were broadcast exclusively in the evening and aired only once a day. "Telespot was scheduled at a specific time and not throughout the entire programme," explained Professor Gabriele Balbi. "There was a playful aspect to these commercials, which focused not just on directly promoting the product but on creating a narrative around it."

Analysing the early commercials provides us with insights into the societal norms of that era. Professor Balbi noted, "The understanding of gender roles was very different from today; advertisements frequently featured a stereotypical housewife. In many ways, advertising serves as a reflection of society, helping us understand what behaviours and perceptions were accepted and considered normal at the time."

Despite the considerable financial contribution made by advertising, Swiss television initially chose to forgo it: "Swiss publishers decided to pay two million francs a year to the SRG SSR in order not to have advertising on television. This behaviour shows how there was a battle between the written press and radio-television."

The audience of RSI was not limited to the people of Ticino; it also included many Italian-speaking migrants living across the Alps. "Some advertisements clearly targeted the Italian emigrant," explains Professor Balbi. However, he also notes that there were commercials designed explicitly for the Ticino audience.

The style of advertising underwent a transformation with the introduction of colour television. Advertising in black and white was often more posed and constrained, featuring longer durations and a slower pace. In contrast, colour brought a new vibrancy, allowing products to be promoted through their visual appeal."

Advertisers played a key role in introducing the concept of ratings, marking the beginning of commercial television. "Even in public service broadcasting, there was a shift in thinking. Creators started to consider moving certain types of programmes, such as cultural shows, to less popular time slots and scheduling quiz shows and entertainment programs during peak viewing hours—typically in the late afternoon and evenings." Despite this strategic adjustment, Swiss television does not seem to have relegated the less popular programmes to the periphery of the programme schedule, as Professor Balbi also pointed out: "recent research indicates that cultural programmes still hold a significant place in the SRG SSR programming lineup."

A publication detailing the history of RSI is available at this link, originating from a research project a few years ago involving Professor Balbi and USI in general.