Radio

Since the 1920s, snack food and fast food have been advertised on radio. From the manufacturers’ standpoint, radio’s immense power lay in its advertising potential and its relatively low cost. Products advertised on the radio sold. When radio programs became popular in the 1920s, food companies commissioned celebrities, such Jack Benny, to promote their products. Some of the earliest food companies to advertise effectively on radio were cereal makers. In 1926, General Mills (Wheat-ies) was the first advertiser to use a singing radio commercial. In 1933, Wheaties sponsored the program Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy on the radio. The fast food chain White Castle began advertising on radio by the 1930s. Beginning in the 1950s, most fast food chains and junk food manufacturers advertised on radio. For instance, the chocolate drink Ovaltine sponsored the Little Orphan Annie and Captain Midnight radio programs.
Studies have indicated that Americans spend more time listening to the radio than watching television. Because radio advertising is low-cost compared with television advertising, it is frequently used by fast food chains at the local level. Radio advertising is particularly effective during commute times, when many people listen to the radios in their cars. It is estimated that food companies (mainly fast food) expend about 7 percent of their advertising budget on radio advertising.
Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1999).