Terry O'Reilly

Not all debut commercials happened back in the 50s and 60s.

In the 1980s, we saw several debut commercials for brand new products.

Like the revolutionary Sony Walkman in 1981, which this very first commercial tells us is actually called the Sony Walkman.

Back in 1981, a woman named Liz Mensch was interviewing for a job at Boots Pharmaceuticals.

She was meeting with the president of the company, John Breyer, and they were talking about marketing.

Mensch asked Breyer to describe the company's main customers.

Doctors, the president replied.

Mensch was surprised.

Why isn't it the consumer, she asked.

Breyer sat there silent for a moment, then hired her on the spot.

On May 19, 1983, Boots aired the first broadcast television commercial for a pharmaceutical pain reliever called Rufem, starring the president of Boots.

Within two days, Boots received a cease and desist letter from the FDA, otherwise known as the Food and Drug Administration.

When Boots went to meet with the FDA, it was clear the FDA had never anticipated that a drug company would attempt to advertise directly to the general public.

The FDA didn't exactly know what to do.

Suddenly, dozens of pharma companies were kicking at the door, wanting to advertise.

That's when the FDA was forced to draft regulations and insisted on fair balance, which meant drug companies could advertise, but they had to give equal weight to benefits and the possible side effects.

That's why American drug ads look and sound like they do to this day.

And it all started with that first Boots commercial.

In 1986, AIDS was reaching epidemic levels and couldn't be ignored anymore.

At the time, the public was well aware of AIDS, but didn't fully understand how it spread.