“Companies pay to get cartoons on the air”
If you’re like me then you read books like The Business of Children’s Entertainment* for both entertainment and to better understand how the toy industry has changed since the seventies. It’s undisputable that the government changing guidelines during the early eighties opened the door to great cartoons like Transformers and G.I. Joe, but what I find surprising is how the debate continued long after those changes.
For example, here’s a newspaper article from February of 1996 in which critics complain about television programming being driven by advertising. I’m constantly amazed at the gullibility of those who don’t understand that money drives television programming. If someone steps in and offers to pay to advertise then take the money and smile.
Related articles
- 1982 Sears Newspaper Advertisement Featuring G.I. Joe Action Figures (battlegrip.com)
- G.I. Joe, Robocop, and COPS in 1989 (battlegrip.com)
- 1989 K-Mart Newspaper Ad Featuring G.I. Joe and Transformers (battlegrip.com)