The original post: /r/television by /u/TMWNN on 2025-02-24 14:44:55.
Original Title: A conspiracy prevented car commercials on British TV in the 1960s. Ford, Vauxhall (GM), Chrysler, and Land Rover secretly agreed to not broadcast automobile advertisements. Datsun arrived from Japan in the 1970s and began running ads on television, breaking the cartel.
British commercial television began in 1955, when ITV ended the commercial-free BBC’s monopoly. From “A short history of British TV advertising”:
The products advertised on television have changed over the years. In the 1950s, advertising was dominated by soap powder manufacturers and food brands. Into the 1960s, there was little car advertising due to a secret cartel agreement between the manufacturers (and virtually no alcoholic spirits advertising, for the same reason). In the 1970s, however, the car manufacturer Datsun arrived from Japan and broke the cosy agreement between Ford, Vauxhall, Chrysler and British Leyland not to advertise.