This is a 30-second black-and-white television advertisement from 1959 for Cadbury’s Crunchie chocolate bar.

It features a group of performers, each holding a Crunchie bar, in a studio with a large Crunchie bar prop. They dance and mime to a song about Crunchie.

A male voice-over describes the bar and we see the product both in and out of its wrapper. The price of the bar – one shilling – appears in the final shot. Summary by Poppy De Souza.

This advertisement for Schweppes carbonated drinks and fruit cordials features a series of social occasions in which people enjoy the beverages. The locations include a luxury liner, an international air service, hotel lobby, garden restaurant and house party.

A voice-over emphasises the drink’s quality, recognisability and versatility. Over a shot of a Schweppes laboratory, the narrator says that '163 years of product research and manufacturing experience’ guarantees a high standard of quality.

We also see Schweppes’s fruit cordial products and then the ad concludes with a product shot and the line 'Schweppes is truly best’. 

Summary by Poppy De Souza

This is a complete colour Tandaco Prepared Stuffing cinema advertisement from approximately 1942. It begins like a feature film with a title and melodramatic music and cuts to a woman crying as she peels onions for her roast chicken stuffing.

Having trouble finding the herbs in her kitchen, she imagines the consequences of serving the roast chicken without stuffing. She sees her husband and his boss look at her with disgust. The voice-over concurs that ‘you can’t have that happen’ and a packet of Tandaco Prepared Stuffing appears in her hand. She adds boiling water, mixes it and stuffs the chicken.

Later that night, her husband’s boss compliments her cooking saying that ‘you can’t beat this homemade stuffing’. The ad suggests various meals where you can use Tandaco Prepared Stuffing including cutlets, stuffed baked rabbit, leg of mutton and stuffed tomatoes. The advertisement ends with a packet shot of Tandaco Prepared Stuffing.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers

This television advertisement for General Motors Holden emphasises the Holden sedan’s suitability to the needs of the family.

A family of six walk out of their house to the car. One of the sons helps his father pack the luggage into the boot as a voice-over narrator describes the spacious interior of the car, which can seat six people.

The family, now in a studio, are seated in a car with no exterior body and appear to travel on air, through clouds. The carriage rocks gently from side to side to simulate movement on the roads.

The narrator emphasises interior features including the wide seats, increased leg room, soft foam padding and seat springs. The narrator reminds the viewer of the car’s style, comfort and value for money before the Holden slogan appears on the screen – 'Australia’s Own Car’.

Summary by Poppy de Souza

This colour cinema advertisement by Litchfield Film Productions launches the new model Holden sedan, the 1956 FE. This clip shows the whole advertisement minus the opening and closing titles.

A curtain parts to reveal the new model Holden FE on display on a turntable in a car showroom. As the car spins around, a male voice-over lists the model’s many new features.

A couple inspect the car. The woman sits behind the wheel as the man closes the door. The narration concludes by saying that Holden is 'Australia’s own car, Australia’s finest value’.

Summary by Poppy de Souza

This late 1940s colour cinema advertisment for women's stockings spends much of its running time focused on the qualities that a young woman needs to compete in the Miss Australia pageant.

She must possess natural beauty, good health, fine deportment, a pleasing personality, a photogenic look, education and culture, a good figure and impeccable dress sense. All these qualities represent 'all that is finest in Australian womanhood'.

Finally, the advertisement mentions the importance of the correct hosiery and the part it plays in supporting the ideal woman.

Like many cinema advertisements of the 1940s this ad for Beau Monde (fashionable society) hosiery plays like a short film with opening titles and closing credits, and features a formal-sounding narration.

It also reinforces then-prevalent gender stereotypes, showing young women being evaluated by mostly older males.

For single women in the 1940s, the apparent goal was to be attractive and accomplished in order to have the best chances of catching a good husband.

And, as can be seen by other advertisements – such as Rinso and Persil – once they were married, their place was in the home: cooking, doing housework and looking after their husband and children.

This is a colour animated cinema advertisement for Bushells tea from 1941. It reassures viewers that no matter what the future holds, you can rely on Bushells tea to remain the same.

The ad starts with a map of the world and a voice-over that invites the viewer to 'the world of the future’. We see international travel using fast planes, ocean liners and cars.

Aeroplane passengers sit in armchairs drinking tea and we see an airport runway on the top floor of a high-rise building.

A hostess tells the viewer that they always serve Bushells tea on their aeroplanes because Bushells tea means contented passengers.

The advertisement leaves us with the message that though the world may change, Bushells tea will always stay the same.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers

This animated cinema advertisement for Aeroplane Pure Fruit Jellies shows Bertie the Jet taking part in a popularity air race around Australia. The secret to his energy and stamina is Aeroplane Jelly.

The 'Popularity Cup’ air race is contested between planes from all around the world, including the crowd favourite from Australia – Bertie the Jet. Broadcaster Ken Howard calls the race from his elevated podium. As the race begins, Bertie is left at the post, unaware the others have taken off. However, after a slow start, he breaks the sound barrier, flies past the Three Sisters and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge to cross the finish line in first place.

Little Bertie explains to the broadcaster and the crowd that he has energy and stamina because he ‘always eats Aeroplane Jelly’. As the crowd cheers Bertie, he bursts into song. The next shot shows a table display of jelly-based desserts as the voice-over explains that Aeroplane Jelly sells over ten million packets annually.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

This short and amusing animated Aeroplane Jelly advertisement is also notable for its product name, jingle and reflection of the time when it was made.

Bert Appleroth created Aeroplane Jelly in 1927. He was an aviation fan at a time when planes were relatively new. He even used a Tiger Moth plane to make deliveries to rural areas in 1934.

The jingle – or 'haunting Earth song' – sung by the alien in this clip is a fragment of the famous Aeroplane Jelly song. The original was recorded in 1937 and featured the voice of five-year-old Joy King. It was played on radio over 100 times per day in the 1940s and is one of Australia's longest running and best-loved jingles.

Finally, when this advertisement was made, the world was gripped in a space race with the United States and Soviet Union (USSR) competing to land a crew on the Moon. The United States made it first when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969.

A children’s chorus promotes the health properties of Vegemite, a popular Australian yeast spread, in this radio jingle from the late 1950s.

The Vegemite jingle is performed by Betty Parker, Stephen Parker, Julia Parker and Linda Marcy.

Summary by Maryanne Doyle

A black-and-white cinema advertisement for Kraft Vegemite outlines the benefits it has if added to one’s diet, especially for children and infants.

As young mothers take their children to baby health centres, clinics and day nurseries around the country, a male voice-over outlines the good work that these places are doing for young Australians. In the waiting room of a baby health centre the mothers and their children wait for expert advice about common complaints. Inside the consultation room a young mother asks for advice from the nursing sister about her son Albert. The male voice-over says, ‘Let’s listen in on this conversation. We might get some good advice’.

Albert has stopped drinking his milk and the nurse advises to mix a little Vegemite with his milk and spread some on his bread and butter. Back at home in his highchair, Albert’s appetite has returned and he happily drinks his Vegemite-flavoured milk. The voice-over announces ‘that sister was right’.

Vegemite is then shown to be a tasty product that ‘costs less’ and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

‘Louie the Fly’ first appeared on Australian television in 1957, going on to become one of the most recognisable characters in Australian advertising.

The iconic ‘Louie the Fly’ jingle debuted in 1962. The campaign was devised by McCann Erickson advertising agency and the jingle featured lyrics and music by James 'Jimmy' Joseph White. It was originally voiced by Sydney singer Neil Williams and later actor and comedian Ross Higgins (Kingswood Country).

The jingle, sung in a distinctive gravelly voice, was an instantly recognisable part of Mortein TV and radio advertisements for 55 years, becoming one of the world's longest running television advertising campaigns. In 2006 the Advertising Federation of Australia awarded ‘Louie the Fly’ fifth place in its ‘50 best advertisements of all time’.

This commercial for the Nabisco-owned breakfast cereal Rice Krinkles features an 18-year-old Jacki Weaver.

In the early days of television advertising, corporate brands identified the teenage market as a growing business opportunity, and turned to popular stars as a way to enter the world of youth culture.

In this highly effective 30-second advertisement, Jacki Weaver dances her way around a modern-looking kitchen. The music is generic, but reminiscent of the pop hits of the day.

Not only is Weaver the star of the advertisement but the message is successfully reinforced in-store by having her face on the actual box, smiling back at potential customers from the supermarket shelves.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement; the brand hoped to become 'cool' by association, while the star gained valuable exposure.

Narrating the life of bachelor Henry, this cartoon-style advertisement for Rinso washing powder shows how this miraculous laundry product can turn anyone’s life around!

Henry is a bachelor who lives alone in a small apartment. He has a ‘lady help’ who does his cooking and cleaning but will not wash his clothes. Henry is a ‘natty dresser’. But because he can’t get the laundry to call around anymore, he is forced to do the washing himself. However, rubbing and scrubbing wears out his clothes, towels, shirts and linen until finally his temper wears out too! Henry’s outburst prompts his ‘lady help’ to bring him home a packet of Rinso washing powder and show him how to get things clean, possible ‘even if you haven’t got a laundry in your flat’.

The narrator says ‘it’s marvellous what you can get from a packet of Rinso’ – Henry’s lady help finally gets him as a husband and they continue on to have many children. All the while the wife, who now takes on the extra washing, never complains because of Rinso.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

A cinema advertisement for Sennitt’s Ice Cream with the popular Melbourne radio announcers Nicky (Clifford Nicholls Whitta) and Graham (Kennedy).

This is a full 1940s colour cinema advertisement for CE Miller & Co., a removalist and storage company based in Melbourne.

Titled Know Your Melbourne, the opening sequences of the ad could easily be mistaken for a tourism commercial.

The ad features shots of the Yarra River, Scotts Hotel, the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, Government House in Jolimont, the Botanical Gardens, the Old Treasury building, the State Library, Parliament House, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Flinders Street Station. It also provides some of the vital statistics about Melbourne's older civic buildings and streets around the inner city.

It then shifts focus to the suburbs of Melbourne with sweeping views of houses and men lifting furniture into a van. The narrator talks about Melburnians as people who love their homes and like to stay settled, before leading up to a strong recommendation to use the services of CE Miller & Co. when you move into a new house.

This black-and-white and colour Kraft Cheddar Cheese advertisement looks at food preparation, food value and how Kraft cheese can make the difference to nutrition. Kraft cleverly positions its processed cheese as a product which can contribute to a household’s ability to increase its food value.

The advertisement begins with a black-and-white sequence of the Australian landscape inside a map of the country. The male voice-over announces that while in the past we were a ‘land of plenty’, a Federal Parliamentary Committee has warned that the country now faces a food shortage. The purpose of the advertisement, according to the noble narrator, is to advise viewers how to get the best foods and the best food value.

In a colour sequence, ‘correct’ and ‘completely wrong’ methods of cooking are demonstrated by a woman in a staged kitchen. The narrator continues in his authoritative tone to provide tips on improving the nutritional value of foods when cooking. Combining leftovers with ‘nourishing cheese’ is just one way of doing this. Kraft Cheddar cheese is used as an ingredient in a range of meals shown to the camera. Rich in calcium, Kraft Cheddar cheese is shown to contain the equivalent of four pints (roughly 2.2 litres) of milk in every eight ounce (roughly 225 gram) block of cheese.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

The Brylcreem advertising campaign of the early 1960s focused on the chemistry of 'boy meets girl'. Each advertisement takes place in the type of casual social setting where that initial attraction might flourish – such as a bowling alley or, as in this particular ad, an outdoor barbecue with friends. 

The barbecue provides the perfect set-up for the Brylcreem concept, where the young man cooking the barbecue in his chef's hat catches the eye of a young woman (played by Lorraine Bayly). She is initially attracted to him until she catches sight of his unruly, 'lifeless' hair.

A stop-motion sequence with a voice-over effectively shows how the young man's hair can be transformed with Brylcreem. Afterwards, he is seen dancing with the young woman ... surefire proof that the product works!

The jingle 'Brylcreem - a little dab'll do ya, and you'll find the gals'll all pursue ya' sends a clear message to men that just a tiny amount of Brylcreem can reverse their dating fortunes in an instant.

In this mostly black-and-white cinema advertisement for Nestlé's packaged soups, entertainer Bobby Limb is a singing chef, impressing a table of guests for dinner.

In the kitchen of a small restaurant, while watching over boiling pots of soup, Limb shares the secret of his delicious evening meals – he uses Nestlé's packaged soups. 

As the soup impresses the diners in his restaurant, they are converted to the quick, cheap and nutritious meal. A product shot ends the cinema advertisement.

Summary by Poppy De Souza.

This cinema advertisement for MILO shows how to get a good night’s rest and plenty of energy for the morning – just drink a cup of MILO before bedtime!

To be bright and full of energy in the mornings, it is crucial to get a good night’s rest.

A man who has a heavy dinner, reads horror books and tosses and turns all night is the perfect illustration of ‘how not to enjoy a good night’s rest’.

At the chemist where a woman buys a tin of MILO, she is told to follow the ‘golden rules for sleeping well’. These are taking your mind off things by reading a little, having a light supper, and drinking a cup of MILO before bed, which ‘soothes the body and nerve’. She has a full night’s rest.

The voice-over saying that MILO ‘helps build up reserves of energy’ accompanies images of an ice skater. Children are shown who love MILO because it is a delicious chocolate flavoured drink.

The ad lists MILO’s added vitamins and minerals before the final line: 'MILO, it’s the tonic of the times’. 

Summary by Poppy De Souza.

This black-and-white cinema advertisement for Persil Washing Powder uses the style of a romantic musical to literally sing the praises of the powder’s effectiveness.

In their bridal suite, a newly married couple on their honeymoon (Muriel Howard and Albert Chappelle) retell in song the story of how Persil Washing Powder brought them together and transformed a ‘drab and dreary’ Miss into a Mrs!

The husband and wife duo, accompanied by sing-a-long subtitles and orchestra, pack and unpack their suitcases of newly washed clothes before happily revealing the box of Persil Washing Powder.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

This late 1940s cinema advertisement touts the versatility of Pimms – a gin-based, fruit cup liqueur – for any occasion. 

The ad opens with a horse race and we see a group of well-dressed young people enjoying their day at the races and ordering Pimms from the waiter. The race course setting indicates luxury and class.

The drink is also recommended as a relaxing beverage after a gruelling day at work, as a popular drink at large social gatherings and for more relaxed and casual affairs, such as a friendly card game.

We also get a practical demonstration on how to mix the perfect Pimms according to personal preference.

Did you know that in 1949, ice cream was ‘the health food of the nation’?  

This ad for Peter’s Ice Cream opens like a film of the Hollywood Golden Era, with a richly bound book opening us to show us its title, The Best Things in Life. There follows a full minute-and-a-half of ice cream-free reflections on the wonder of being human, celebrating our experiences of children, animals, nature and art, and illustrated with film of flowers, sheepdogs, mountains, oceans and sunsets.   

Are you ready for the long bow? Here it comes: ‘our sense of taste’ leads us to a children’s party, with various mites in bows and pirate hats tucking in to elaborate ice cream cakes as the voice-over extols Peter’s Ice Cream as ‘nature’s (almost) perfect food … it provides the necessary milk and cream.’ Fortunately, the children who are gobbling down their ‘health food’ are mostly absorbing it by osmosis, as none of them are too good at getting it in their mouths.   

The gorgeous production values and lofty philosophical treatise of The Best Things in Life (almost) have us ready to swap out our breakfast oats for a cat-in-a-boot ice cream cake. Mmmm, necessary cream!  

This charming 1950s television ad for Cadbury’s chocolates relies on the audience’s familiarity with the style of love song made famous by 1930s French romantic singer Maurice Chevalier.

It shows a man dressed in hat and gloves, carrying a cane and singing to three women as he offers them each a box of Roses chocolates. The set is in the style of a European café courtyard.

Summary by Poppy De Souza.

The influence of Jean-Luc Godard's science fiction cult classic Alphaville (1965) is evident in this television ad for Berlei.

The narrator says, 'This is the fashion picture as Berlei sees it. Are you ready? ... Under plastic you need a figure.'

Notes by Beth Taylor

This black-and-white television advertisement for the Berlei ‘Sarong Body Magic’ girdle demonstrates the wonders of a girdle that adjusts to the figure, no matter what your shape.

A woman’s voice-over accompanies a figure seen from the waist down wearing a Berlei ‘Sarong Body Magic’ girdle. Two versions of the girdle – a pant and panty girdle – are shown on the figures.

As the girdle adjusts to fit the figure that wears it, the voice-over says it ‘controls and smooths you everywhere’.

Summary by Poppy de Souza

This cinema advertisement from the 1940s illustrates the benefits of cooking with electricity and the new electric kooka range.

‘Mrs Sydney’ (Pat Firman) prepares an evening meal for her husband with her newly acquired electric range while a voice-over emphasises the stove’s economy and efficiency.

At the end of the advertisement, she asks to camera: ‘you’ll all eventually cook with electricity so why not now?’

Summary by Poppy De Souza.

In this animated advertisement for Shell Motor Oil, a cartoon ‘poster man’ comically attempts to secure a Shell poster on the side of a building.

This advertisement was made to screen only in cinemas prior to a feature film program despite being made after the introduction of television.

An animated ‘poster man’ arrives at the front of a building on his bicycle – glue tin, paintbrush, ladder and posters in hand – to erect a poster on its facing wall. In a series of clumsy mishaps, the man gets himself entangled as he puts up each quarter of the poster. After spilling his glue, wearing the paintbrush on his head, and impossibly rotating his ladder and bicycle 360 degrees, the poster man completes his task.

This scene is then revealed to be a mobile set piece which is pushed off stage, revealing a theatre where an audience can be heard applauding to his vaudeville act. As the curtain comes down, the Shell logo and X-100 Motor Oil banner fills the screen, again breaking the illusion of animated reality.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

This Kiwi shoe polish cinema advertisement is a short narrative about two boys who want to apply for the vacant positions at the Imperial Hotel, London. The hotel’s boot staff have departed to join the Army. The two boys lament that they can not clean boots so an Australian soldier buys them a tin of Kiwi boot polish each. The Hotel Manager is so impressed with the boys’ work that he hires them for a trial.

After their trial goes surprisingly well, the hotel manager exclaims 'You boys and Kiwi are the goods’! The advertisement ends with a close-up of an animated drawing of Kiwi Boot Polish and the Kiwi bird that squawks the words 'Kiwi! Kiwi! Kiwi!’.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers

In this animated cinema advertisement from the 1930s, a tradesperson is fixing a broken electric refrigerator in the kitchen.

A male voice-over suggests an ice refrigerator is superior because 'ice never breaks down’.

Men carrying large blocks of ice on their shoulders file into the home. Each block carries a written slogan highlighting the benefits of ice including, ‘ice saves more than it costs’, ‘ice saves food waste’, ‘ice means safe food’ and ‘ice does not dry out the food’.

Summary by Poppy De Souza.

This early cinema ad appeals to the ‘pester power’ of children by using an animated cartoon to promote Sellex products.

In this partly animated advertisement for a Sellex tea set, some of the characters that decorate the crockery appear in the story Red Riding Hood.

This clip begins with an animated cartoon of Pam Possum taking a shortcut through the forest to see Granny Platypus, despite the warning from her animal friends about the dangerous Willy Wildcat. Pam reaches Granny’s house only to find Willy Wildcat there in her place. Pam Possum blows a whistle and the other animals come running to her rescue. Willy Wildcat’s plan is foiled.

A male narrator then promotes the Sellex tea set decorated with characters from the cartoon. A live action shot of the tea set is followed by other kitchen products from the Sellex range.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

In this 1940s cinema advertisement, Mrs Howard and her daughter Nancy visit a dentist for a check-up.

As they sit in the waiting room, the narrator asks Mrs Howard if Nancy brushes her teeth correctly. A close-up of Nancy brushing her teeth in a sideways motion is frowned upon by the narrator who instructs Nancy in the correct way to brush and suggests she use Kolynos Dental Cream. We see half an inch of dental cream applied to a toothbrush.

The narrator concludes by saying that by brushing her teeth correctly and selecting the right toothpaste, Nancy’s teeth will be in ‘perfect condition’ on her next visit. This is illustrated by her dentist report card.

Summary by Poppy De Souza

'The richest, reddest, roundest, tastiest, tomato there is for soup.'

Jack Grimsley composed this jingle for Heinz Tomato Soup.

Advertising proclaimed that the soup was produced from the ‘Heinz Tomato', a special breed of tomato developed by Heinz.

Image: Detail from Heinz Big Red advertisement in The Australian Women's Weekly, 1 December 1969.

Jack Grimsley composed this jingle for Brockhoff Chocolate Biscuits.

Brockhoff Biscuits was a Melbourne-based company founded in 1880. In the 1950s it combined with Arnott’s and Guest’s to compete with American-owned Nabisco, which had entered the Australian market.

The combined company became Arnott’s Biscuits in 1966 and the Brockhoff name disappeared from supermarket shelves over the next few years.

Image: detail from Brockhoff advertisement in The Australian Women's Weekly, 9 May 1962.

This cinema ad for the 1946 federal election encourages Australians to stay with the Labor Party, which has successfully led the country through the end of the Second World War. The clip shows the ad in its entirety.

Summary by Adrienne Parr.

A glass slide promoting Robert Menzies for election as prime minister with caption `Which leader for Australia?' and the name of his political opponent, Labor Party leader HV Evatt, crossed out.

In the early 20th century, political parties discovered a new way to reach a large captive audience of potential voters – the cinema.

Before the start of the advertised feature, political advertisements were projected on the screen using glass slides.

In the 1940s and 50s, slides like this one used strong colours to stand out and convey their message.

Menzies' campaign was successful and his Liberal-Country coalition won the December 1955 election.

This clip shows an entire Maxonol Gramophone cinema advertisement from 1925 in which a couple decide to buy a gramophone to keep their daughter at home.

They visit the Maxonol demonstration room and buy a gramophone. Now their daughter stays at home to dance with friends.

The advertisement ends at the Maxonol Gramophone factory, showing workers making the gramophones and gives the store’s address in Sydney.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers

This silent advertisement promotes the new ‘Touring Talkie Show’ truck operated by Hoyts – with sponsorship from Studebaker Car Corporation and the Shell Oil Company.

A fleet of Studebaker sedans along with executives from Shell, Studebaker and Hoyts meet the ‘Talkie Truck’ as it pulls in to Melbourne. The executives shake hands with the sound technicians and engineers.

The truck then pulls into a service station and fills up with 'Shell Spirit and Oil’. People gather around to watch. The truck then pulls up outside the Regent Theatre where it is farewelled as it embarks on its tour of country centres.

Summary by Poppy De Souza.