Or rather, how they were broadcast on television.
They had a space and a time, they were not uncomfortably specific, you could make the decision not to watch them by changing the channel or go to the bathroom for a while and come back. Programs and movies were designed or edited in such a way that rather than an interruption, they felt like a pause.
Because that’s what they were: Advertising Pauses.
Not like now, which are Advertising Interruptions, Advertising Invasions.
Advertising “Disrespect for the Privacy and Time of the Users”.
EDIT: I love how almost everyone assumed that by “old” I meant commercials from the last century (90s, 80s) when I was thinking more like mid 2000s
Every once in a while I’ll see some advertising from 30-some years ago when I watched a lot of TV and it’ll be instantly familiar. Mostly it just makes me wonder what similar kind of garbage is filling up the heads of people still habitually subjecting themselves to TV commercials today, which they’ll be stuck with for the rest of their lives.