Back in 1963, pregnancy was taboo on TV — especially when it came to cartoon characters. When Wilma got pregnant on The Flinstones, frequent advertiser Winston cigarettes pulled their ad. Can you imagine a world without Pebbles? Yup, neither can we.

http://www.y100.com/cc-common/news/sections/entertainmentarticle.html?feed=104665&article=8105708

http://yourfamilyviewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Birth-of-Pebbles_22784_2459.jpg

Hey I'll take a world without cigarette ads over a world without Pebbles Flintstone any day!

...Miles Laboratories [Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day] and R.J. Reynolds [Winston], decided to end their joint sponsorship after the second season- whether this had anything to do with the "expecting" episodes planned for the second half of season three, I don't know. Perhaps the idea of a cigarette company sponsoring a situation where a woman was shown as pregnant was something Reynolds didn't want to pursue {however, it didn't stop Philip Morris from sponsoring the second season of "I LOVE LUCY" when Lucy Ricardo's pregnancy was a major part of the story line that season; they did insist that Lucille Ball NOT be shown smoking during those "expectant" episodes}- they merely shifted their alternate sponsorship to CBS' "THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" in the fall of 1962. I do know that when the show moved to Thursday nights in the fall of 1963, Welch's [Grape Juice, Grape Jelly] and Best Foods [Skippy, Niagara starch] became the alternate sponsors...and they were more "family-friendly" as well.

:tv:

Cigarette adds, those were the days.


Of course that controversy is nothing compared to whats on TV nowadays.

Showing Fred and Barney smoking cigarettes isn't considered controversial, but showing a pregnant Wilma is. Go figure...

Showing Fred and Barney smoking cigarettes isn't considered controversial, but showing a pregnant Wilma is. Go figure...

And the word "pregnant" was never used in a "Flintstones episode!" :lol:

They treated the whole thing like they did in I Love Lucy even when the time had come to take Wilma to the hospital.

They treated the whole thing like they did in I Love Lucy even when the time had come to take Wilma to the hospital.

Except that Fred wasn't dressed as a payaso and Ricky didn't have a car. Ricky didn't get a blood sample drawn that turned out to be rubbing alcohol, either. :D

Oh, the crazy politics over these cartoons. Cartoons, mind you? LOL.

Oh, the crazy politics over these cartoons. Cartoons, mind you? LOL.

:lol:

:lol:
Pebbles surely caused an uproar alright among audiences---once she was BORN, Fred became too nice, in order to set an example for Pebbles (contrast with a comment made by Jackie Gleason of the prototype show, "The Honeymooners", that the Honeymooners stayed childfree and enjoyable). Then the "Scooby/Archie" like 1971 Pebbles and Bamm Bamm show.,.;(

Fred and Wilma sired. Barney and Betty adopted. Fred and Wilma had a girl. Barney and Betty had a boy. How obvious . . . :lol:

When Wilma got pregnant on The Flinstones, frequent advertiser Winston cigarettes pulled their ad.
http://www.y100.com/cc-common/news/sections/entertainmentarticle.html?feed=104665&article=8105708

http://yourfamilyviewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Birth-of-Pebbles_22784_2459.jpg

Not that it mattered, as cigarette ads were banned from television less than a decade later! :eek: