You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …
The Product:
Kellogg’s cereal
The Promotions:
The Pitch:
The favorite cereal of Superman … ‘s friends.
Sometimes, a commercial’s ambitions exceed its grasp. Kellogg’s certainly had the right idea with these ads, using the then-very popular Adventures of Superman TV show to promote their products. As a program enjoyed both by the kids eating the big boxes of sugar, and by the parents who’d need to buy said boxes, it’s a terrific way to appeal to consumers.
Problem is … they couldn’t get Superman. They were able to get Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White, but Superman themself was bizarrely absent (probably busy at Little Ricky’s birthday party). Closest we got to seeing the Man of Steel was some stock footage of Superman in flight and a gust of wind used to imply Supes had just passed through.
Beyond that, there’s not hide nor hair of the larger-than-life hero that kids love. Instead, we’ve just got a bunch of the newspaper reporters that Superman likes to hang out with. And if they’d leaned into these ads being brought to you by Superman’s Pals, maybe that’d be alright (though still a letdown compared to seeing Superman in person). But that wasn’t good enough for Kellogg’s, no siree. They wanted the star of the Superman TV show, and if they couldn’t get Superman … well, they’ll gaslight you into believing Clark Kent is the real star.
It’s astounding in its sheer audacity. Trying to make us believe that mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent could be the star of a superhero show. A couple times they even imply Clark is using X-ray vision, just like Superman. They seriously expect us to believe this milquetoast of a man, who can’t see past their own glasses, is suddenly able to look through solid objects.
Sorry, Kellogg’s, but I’m just not buying it. Clark Kent is a mighty fine fellow, but c’mon – that guy could never be Superman. You don’t need to lie to the kids of the world to sell them your cereal – it’s pure sugar, it sells itself!
(SIDE NOTE: I don’t have a reliable source on this, but what I’ve heard is that second commercial was originally supposed to feature Clark and Lois at the breakfast table, but there were concerns that them eating breakfast together would imply they’d spent the night together, which obviously wouldn’t fly on 1950’s TV. So they changed Lois to Jimmy, and saw no problem with implying two men had spent the night together.)