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1941
THE BEGINNING OF TIME: During a Dodgers-Phillies baseball game, Bulova pays $9 to air the first official TV ad -- a 20-second shot of a ticking clock.
1948
BOOGIE IN THEIR BUTTS: Sixteen cigarettes square-dance in a barn, as Lucky Strike sparks a trend with stop-motion photography.
WE LIKE THE SPRITES IN THEM: The pointy-eared Ajax Pixies become the first signature spokestoons, singing, ''You'll stop paying the elbow tax, when you start cleaning with Ajax.''
1949
SMOKE GETS IN OUR EYES: Cigarettes lead the 'Camel News Caravan' when, at the sponsor's request, NBC anchor John Cameron Swayze keeps a smoldering butt on his desk during broadcasts.
1952
KELLOGG'S SHOWS ITS STRIPES: Gr-r-reat news for lovers of irritating catchphrases. Tony the Tiger debuts for Frosted Flakes, eventually killing off co-mascot Katy the Kangaroo.
1954
BREAKING THE COLOR BARRIER: Pall Mall kicks off advertising in the color-TV age.
RELIEF PITCHER: Speedy -- a smiling, tablet-topped munchkin -- marches for Alka- Seltzer in the first of more than 200 spots. Series goes ''fizz, fizz'' in 1964.
1956
PEPSODENT'S BRIGHT IDEA: The company targets the teen market with adolescents chirping ''You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.''
1958
LIQUID ASSETS: Mr. Clean's buff, bald, anal-retentive cartoon spokesguy debuts and soon cleans up in the profits department.
SEND IN THE CLOWN: Future 'Today' goofball Willard Scott inaugurates Ronald McDonald in Washington, D.C.; he's replaced when the ads go national.
1963
BLACK-AND-WHITE TV: Bowing to pressure from civil rights advocates, Wisk detergent features an African-American boy at play with a white friend.
1964
FLOWER POWER: An ad titled ''Daisy'' pioneers political mudslinging on TV. Elect LBJ over Barry Goldwater, it implied, or your little girl will become atomic toast.
1967
PRICE HIKE: Ads in the first Super Bowl go for a bargain-basement $40,000 per 30 seconds (current price: an estimated $1.2 million). NBC misses the second-half kickoff thanks to a Winston commercial.
1969
OY, OY OY OY: The Frito Bandito (he of ''Ai, yi yi yi!'') steals his first corn chip, and Latino leaders blast the cartoon as a stereotype.
1971
UP IN SMOKE: Cigarette ads are extinguished by Congress. The TV industry loses roughly $200 million in ad revenues.
POP MUSIC: Coca-Cola strikes a chord with its harmonious youth anthem ''I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.'' Later that year, an altered version hits the charts. Even later (1994), Oasis pay homage to the melody with their song ''Shakermaker.''
1973
PEAS IN THE VALLEY: The Jolly Green Giant discovers Little Green Sprout in a pea pod. The teensy guy was an attempt to make the 25-year-old campaign more friendly.
1975
