subject: Infomercials [print this page] By producing programming to go with their commercials, companies create ads that are similar to infomercials as a way of ensuring that the ads will not be lost in the clutter of other messages. Valvoline Inc., makers of Valvoline motor oil, had its advertising agency, Bozell, create both the Second Annual Valvoline National Driving Test and the ads for it. Because the program bore the sponsor's name, it, too, was a form of advertising. The Valvoline Driving Test, which aired in late MBT Shoes On Sale August 1990, harks back to an earlier age in broadcasting. The Dinah Shore Show was sponsored by Chevrolet and featured the tune "See the USA in Your Chevrolet." During the 1940s and 1950s, radio shows routinely carried the names of their sponsors.
