Fred/Alan MTV Network Advertising Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Ha! Comedy Network.
label: Creator
content: Goodman, Alan
label: Creator
content: VH-1.
label: Creator
content: Nickelodeon.
label: Creator
content: Seibert, Fred
label: Creator
content: MTV Network.
label: Creator
content: Fred/Alan, Inc.
topic: label: Topic
content: Music in advertising -- 1980-2000
label: Topic
content: Motion picture producers and directors
label: Topic
content: Marketing -- 1980-2000
label: Topic
content: Humor in advertising -- 1980-2000
label: Topic
content: Copywriters
label: Topic
content: advertising -- 1980-2000
label: Topic
content: Television advertising -- 1980-2000
label: Topic
content: Sex in advertising -- 1980-2000
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Fred Seibert, President of the Fred/Alan advertising agency in New York City, February 15, 1992.
creator: label: Creator
content: Ha! Comedy Network.
label: Creator
content: Goodman, Alan
label: Creator
content: VH-1.
label: Creator
content: Nickelodeon.
label: Creator
content: Seibert, Fred
label: Creator
content: MTV Network.
label: Creator
content: Fred/Alan, Inc.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Fred/Alan MTV Network Advertising Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection contains advertising and promotional materials primarily created by the Fred/Alan Advertising Agency, 1981-1992, for the MTV Network. Also advertising and promotional materials for Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, VH-1 and Ha! Comedy Networks.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Cubic feet (15 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1981-1992
container: label: Container
content: Box 7
label: Container
content: Box 8
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0453
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Tear sheets
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: the collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1: Print Advertising and Promotional Material

Subseries 1.1: Music Television, 1981-1991

Subseries 1.2: Nickelodeon, 1988-1992

Subseries 1.3: Nick at Nite, 1987-1991

Subseries 1.4: Video Hits-1, 1987-1991

Subseries 1.5: Ha! Comedy Network, 1990-1991

Subseries 1.6: The Disney Channel, 1981

Subseries 1.7: The Movie Channel, 1982

Subseries 1.8: Fred/Alan and other clients, 1987-1989

Series 2: Videotaped Commercials

Series 3: Photographic Materials 

Subseries 3.1: 2x2 color slides

Subseries 3.2: Still photos
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by NMAH Staff, 2003.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1980-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Tear sheets -- 1980-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs) -- 1980-2000
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials created by the Fred/Alan advertising agency between 1981 and 1992 for the MTV network, which includes Music Television, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, VH-1, and Ha! Comedy Network.  Also included are advertising and promotional material for the Disney Channel, the Movie Channel, Showtime, Home Box Office and other Fred/Alan clients including Miller Beer, General Foods and Myers Rum.  The materials demonstrate the intersection between American popular culture and advertising in several ways.  First, because many of the advertisements were designed for trade publications of the cable television and advertising industries, they reveal some of the thinking behind the cable television industry's attempts to establish and stabilize its market during the 1980s, a decade which witnessed the emergence and spectacular rise of cable programming.  Secondly, because MTV Networks began as a commercial proposition to attract a difficult-to-reach teenage audience and later, to capture the baby boom generation, the collection also provides evidence of the 1980s trend toward market segmentation. Finally, both in content and style, MTV Networks pioneered a new aesthetic which has had repercussions throughout American popular culture, and particularly in television programming and advertising.