Rust to riches: DC Thomson's forgotten vintage adverts

Back in 2016, the Archives team at DC Thomson made a remarkable discovery. We found a collection of approximately 80 film canisters, rusted shut. These canisters carry the familiar titles of beloved comics and magazines. Titles such as 'Bunty', 'The Dandy', 'The People's Friend', 'My Weekly', 'Jackie', and 'The Hotspur'.

What might they contain?

Initially, we wondered if these might be old TV adverts. But with the passage of time, there was little recollection within the company about their production or contents. We just couldn't be sure.

What was clear, though, was that we lacked the equipment to view these films, as well as the proper conditions to store and preserve them. So, we knocked on the door of the National Library of Scotland, leading to a pivotal collaboration with their Moving Image Archive.

This partnership has breathed new life into, as we suspected, some of the earliest surviving commercial TV advertisements. In 2022, Preservation Technician Sophie Tupholme began the technical work on these films to make them accessible to the public. She cleaned, processed, and prepared the delicate films for digitisation. This was complemented by DC Thomson's deep knowledge of their own brands and histories, as I provided crucial identification and context from that side.

This collaboration unearthed further information within the archive, piecing together the history of these films. It also allowed for accurate dating and description of the films, enriching the cataloguing process and delving deeper into the DC Thomson archive for comprehensive research.

The project has resulted in over 90 advertising films from the late 1950s and early 1960s being digitised, catalogued, and made available online.

These films are not only entertaining but also showcase the technical and advertising innovations of their time. They offer a wealth of research material for those interested in the history of TV advertising, brand presentation, marketing, and filmmaking.

Once we were able to see all the films, a noticeable pattern emerged in terms of their content. For the most part, they had been commissioned to accompany launches or "pushes".

Launches of new titles had traditionally been trailed in DC Thomson's existing publications. But adding the power of television to the process really gave the newbies a lift with 'Romeo', 'Judy', 'Annabel' and 'Jackie' all greatly benefiting from the boost in publicity.

Launched at the peak of Beatlemania, Jackie magazine in particular was well placed to build on the success of DC Thomson's earliest teen girls' magazines, 'Romeo' and 'Cherie'. Whereas these earlier titles had been printed on traditional newsprint, Jackie was printed using the company's new Gravure machines, giving the pages a glossier look. Both the timing of the launch and the more vibrant look gave 'Jackie' distinct advantages over its predecessors.
For just sixpence (roughly 50p today), readers could dive into a world of fashion, beauty tips, and pop pinups. The magazine's debut cover featured a young Cliff Richard, setting the tone for its pop culture focus.

As well as this up-to-the minute content, free gifts or 'covermounts' were also a major draw for 'Jackie' readers. These items had to be small, lightweight, and easy to attach to or placed inside the magazine by hand.

Among the most popular freebies on 'Jackie' were various types of jewellery. The Twin Heart Ring, a St Christopher's Charm (popularised by Cliff!) and the Going Steady Ring became treasured (and now very collectible) items. Likewise, more established titles such as 'The Dandy', 'The People's Friend', 'My Weekly' and 'Rover' could see huge spikes in sales by combining sales pushes (usually accompanied by free gifts or covermounts) with TV adverts.

These giveaways covered a vast range of items and interests. From egg whisks, tape measures and beauty capes to super squirt rings, boomerangs and Thunderbangs. The style and pace of the adverts would often reflect not just the title but the nature of the gifts on offer.

Contrasting the more subdued approach to the 'People's Friend' adverts, 'Jackie's' ads were known for their vibrant pop soundtracks and flashy visuals, capturing the energetic spirit of the era. 'Annabel's' more feature-lead content lent itself to the news-gathering vox-pop style taken by their adverts. But the 1960 ad for 'The Dandy' Thunderbang featured a cast of actors portraying teachers, policemen, and excited children, reflecting a different, more narrative-driven approach. The sound design and editing perfectly captured the energy, noise and dynamism of the target audience and the raucous free gift.

Adverts also revealed stories beyond marketing and filmmaking. Those aimed at teenage girls (such as 'Romeo', 'Cherie', and 'Jackie') and women's titles ('The People's Friend', 'My Weekly', and 'Annabel') reflected the progressive attitudes of the era. This influenced the tone and content of the adverts.

Comparing the oldest advert in the collection ('Romeo', 1957) with later films provides fascinating insights into societal changes over time. Bigger production values, more sophisticated storytelling, pacier editing and (slightly) racier content tell us something about changing societal values as well as the expectations of an increasingly sophisticated, media-literate audience.

As more information about these films emerges, it's become clear to me that this project is just the beginning. It's amazing that some rusted film canisters resulted in not only a great partnership, but a deeper exploration into DC Thomson's rich history of embracing and exploiting emerging media technologies.

Barry Sullivan is the Assistant Archivist with DC Thomson. He is part of a small team managing the care of extensive newspaper, magazine and comics collections, along with photographs, original artworks and associated business records. Barry has a general interest in publishing history and has studied cinema, literature and photography.