ABSTRACT
Red belts or red Stingrays, one of the dynamic forces behind the pressure toward color telecasting—especially in the early days of the 1960s—was the demand for color programming exerted upon stations and networks by advertisers. The advertiser—justifiably proud of his avant garde position in the use of color TV materials—needed a suitable showcase for those color commercials he had made, tested and found highly rewarding. The quick switch from black-and-white to color commercial production came almost as fast as the response to that red belt. Some advertisers, notably those who sponsored NBC's early color programming, have made no B & W commercials since 1956. The production of color TV commercials also accomplished an important plus factor for all advertisers: they had brilliant, exciting films to show for the advertising portion of sales meetings, trade shows and dealer conventions.
