One can only imagine how many young people chose Advertising as a career path because of the Betwitched tv show that ran from 1964 to 1972 and many years after that in reruns. The creativeness and deadline pressure of the field is brought to life and made sexy — moreso than maybe any other tv show or movie has done.
Darrin Stephens — played by Dick York for the first 5 seasons (left due to bad back and addiction to pain medications), and Dick Sargent for the last 3 seasons — works as an account executive at the New York advertising firm McMann & Tate. The advertising firm is led by the perpetually anxious Larry Tate (played by David White).
Darrin’s job is to design slogans, layouts, and full campaigns for clients ranging from soup and candy makers to perfume and appliance companies.
This created some fertile ground for comedy — as Darrin’s human, deadline-driven creativity gets accidentally aided or subverted by the well-meaning help of his witch wife Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and her family.
Madison Avenue pitches turn into chaotic, comedic stories. Clients demand modern updates or traditional appeals — while magic creates living models, protest marches, or last-minute slogan breakthroughs. Darrin’s pride in doing things “the mortal way” clashes with Samantha’s witch powers.
It’s funny stuff — and was a theme to many of the episodes — over 20. Here are Darrin’s clients and advertising campaigns:
1. Caldwell Soup
Season 1, Episode 5
Darrin faces a mental block on a campaign for longtime client Caldwell Soups, whose sales are slipping against dozens of competitors. He produces layouts featuring an old-fashioned farm kitchen and captions like “What was good enough for Dad is good enough for me,” aiming for traditional warmth. Samantha improves the ideas with sharper, more appealing angles, but Darrin immediately figures that she used witchcraft. He refuses to submit them, pisses Sam off, and nearly loses the account — then discovers the client rejects even the improved versions for lacking “old-fashioned romance.”
Reconciliation brings a new slogan —“Why let a can of soup come between us?”— that Darrin successfully pitches.
2. Brinkman Candy
Season 1, Episode 7
For a Halloween candy campaign, client Mr. Brinkman (Shelley Berman) wants the classic ugly, wart-covered, crooked-nosed witch on billboards. Samantha, joined by fellow witches including Aunt Clara, objects strongly to the ugly stereotype that has long hurt their community. Darrin initially goes along with the client, sparking a heated argument about prejudice.
The witches stage a magical protest (complete with signs reading “We Demand a New Image”) and give Brinkman a nightmare in which he becomes the crone.
Darrin pivots to a beautiful, well-dressed witch as the trademark. Research later shows fathers buy the candy and sales jump 27 percent thanks to the glamorous figure.
Beyond the well-known Halloween episode “The Witches Are Out,” Brinkman Candy returns in other pitches in other episodes. Darrin continues refining ideas for the confectionery client, balancing seasonal themes with year-round appeal. The character of Mr. Brinkman remains demanding, and any witch-related imagery still risks Samantha’s disapproval, keeping the tension alive across seasons.
3. “Jewel of the East”
Season 1, Episode 21
Darrin needs an exotic model for a client campaign tied to a “Jewel of the East” product. Samantha transforms the family’s cat into a glamorous Oriental siren named Ling Ling to fill the role. The living, talking model creates immediate complications at the photo shoot and around the office, as Ling Ling behaves more like a cat than a professional.
The episode delivers pure farce as the magical model’s feline instincts clash with advertising deadlines, forcing Samantha to manage the chaos while Darrin tries to land the account.
4. Sloucom Soup
Season 4, Episode 32
Huckster’s Club’s Advertising Men of the Year. Endora casts a spell so that people near Darrin enthusiastically agree with whatever he says. When difficult client O.J. Slocum (played by George Ives) arrives for a soup campaign brainstorm, Darrin pitches the slogan “We’re nuts about our soup” — including a group photo of the workers who make the soup — the entire production team — bean dumpers, chili shovelers, stirrers, canners, and labelers. Slocum loves it because of the spell.
The client loves the folksy, proud-of-our-product approach and puts Darrin in charge.
5. Brawn Cologne
Season 5, Episode 22
A chimpanzee follows Samantha and Tabitha home from the park. To learn where the animal belongs, Samantha turns him into a human named Harry. At that moment, Larry arrives with client Evelyn Tucker of Brawn cologne, who is looking for a rugged male model. Encouraged by Endora, Tucker decides Harry is perfect. Harry is thrilled to live as a man for a day, but after a grueling photo shoot he wants to return to being a chimpanzee. Samantha must get him fired from the commercial while still saving the Brawn account for Darrin (who is out of town). She succeeds by having Harry behave like a wild ape on set, after which the client accepts a revised campaign concept and Harry is returned to his owner.
The episode features guest stars including Lou Antonio and a young Danny Bonaduce.
6. Barker’s Baby Food
Season 1, Episode 3
Darrin is preparing for an important dinner with client Rex Barker of Barker’s Baby Food. Barker is a heavy drinker and notorious lecher. At the dinner, he makes repeated passes at Samantha. Fed up, she transforms him into a dog. The dog runs away, forcing Samantha and Darrin to search the neighborhood while trying to keep the situation secret from the Tates and the Kravitzes.
Once Barker is restored to human form, he is chastened enough to sign the account with McMann & Tate.
7. Jasmine Perfume
Season 1, Episode 11
Darrin is searching for the perfect model for the Jasmine perfume campaign (“Miss Jasmine”). Endora sees an opportunity and arranges for a glamorous witch named Sarah Baker (posing as Janine Fleur) to win the role and attempt to seduce both Darrin and Larry. Samantha quickly recognizes her.
At a working session at Janine’s apartment, the model drugs the drinks so Larry falls asleep while she tries to kiss Darrin. Samantha intervenes by turning Darrin into a large, ugly fish just as the kiss is about to happen. She later forces Sarah to leave and, once the campaign photos are completed, magically alters the finished “Miss Jasmine” advertisement into a caricature of Janine as a final warning.
8. Marshall Cosmetics
Season 1, Episode 18
Darrin must fly to Chicago at the last minute to close a quarter-million-dollar campaign for Margaret Marshall of Marshall Cosmetics, forcing him to cancel a seven-month anniversary dinner with Samantha. Margaret is clearly interested in Darrin personally and invites him onto her yacht. A Siamese cat appears on the dock and follows him aboard; Darrin becomes convinced it is Samantha spying on him (encouraged by Endora). A pelican also shows up, which he suspects might be Endora. Despite the awkwardness and his distracted behavior, Margaret ultimately accepts the campaign once she realizes Darrin is devoted to his wife. He returns home with the cat, still unsure whether the animals were magical or ordinary.
9. The Woolfe Brothers Dept Store
Season 1, Episode 20
Darrin’s new assistant steals his ideas for the Woolfe Bros. department store / home furnishings campaign. It starts with Darrin refusing to let Samantha attend a cousin’s wedding in Egypt. Endora warns him he is “in big trouble.”
Shortly afterward, Larry assigns Darrin a new assistant, Gideon Whitsett, for the Woolfe Bros. department-store campaign. Gideon steals Darrin’s ideas and presents them as his own, making Darrin look incompetent in front of the client. Darrin becomes convinced Gideon is a warlock sent by Endora.
Samantha investigates and discovers Gideon is simply an ambitious mortal. During a presentation involving a model home, a fire breaks out; Samantha uses magic to force Gideon to confess. Darrin punches him, the client accepts Darrin’s original ideas, and the account is saved.
10. Feather Touch Electric Typewriters
Season 1, Episode 30
While Darrin spends time helping neighbor Danger O’Riley (Pleasure O’Riley’s younger sister), Endora recruits one of Samantha’s old warlock boyfriends, George, to try to lure her away. When that fails, George transforms himself into a talented raven and creates a perfect photographic image for Darrin’s Feather Touch electric typewriter campaign.
The raven even types on the machine and whistles the Bewitched theme. Once Samantha reveals the bird’s identity to Darrin, George reverts to human form and shifts his romantic attention to Danger instead. The typewriter account is secured with the striking image George created, though Darrin is less than thrilled about the source.
11. Mario’s Restaurant
Season 1, Episode 35
Samantha and Endora try to save their favorite Italian restaurant, Mario’s, which is struggling. Samantha magically places a large, attractive advertisement in the newspaper promoting the restaurant. The ad is so successful it draws business away from a pizza chain owned by a McMann & Tate client, putting Darrin’s job at risk.
Darrin is furious that witchcraft was used without his knowledge. Samantha eventually finds a way to resolve the situation so the restaurant is helped without permanently damaging the client’s account.
12. The Wright Pen Account
Season 3, Episode 8
Darrin and Larry have spent weeks developing a campaign for the Wright Pen account. Just before their presentation, a rival agency pitches the exact same ideas. The culprit is “Diaper Dan,” the family’s diaper-service man, who is secretly working for the competing agency. He has planted a listening device inside Tabitha’s rattle and has been stealing McMann & Tate’s concepts.
Samantha discovers the bug, confronts Dan, and uses magic to teach him a lesson and recover the account. The episode is one of the more straightforward “industrial espionage” plots, with the baby’s rattle serving as the unexpected spy tool.
13. Madame Marushka Lipstick
Season 3, Episode 30
Success on the Madame Marushka lipstick campaign would earn Darrin a bonus and a long-promised vacation to Bermuda. Endora, wanting Samantha to have the trip, places a spell on the client’s representative, Arch Wilkerson, so he is completely enchanted by Darrin and ignores Larry. When the reclusive Madame Marushka herself visits the office and praises Darrin, he is convinced she is Endora in disguise and angrily throws her out, losing the account. Samantha must then use her own magic to win the eccentric client back. The episode is a classic example of Endora’s “help” creating a bigger problem that only Samantha can solve.
14. Zoom Detergent
Season 5, Episode 7
Uncle Arthur tries to conjure napoleons (the pastry) for a dinner and instead brings the historical Napoleon Bonaparte into the present. Unable to send him back immediately, Arthur and Samantha try to keep the emperor hidden. Larry, however, sees Napoleon and immediately wants to feature “Henri” (Napoleon’s cover identity) in a television commercial for the firm’s Zoom Detergent account. The client is Mr. Bradley.
Larry’s proposed slogan is along the lines of “Put Zoom Detergent in your dishwater and you’ll never meet your Waterloo.” They even attempt to film the commercial with Napoleon reading cue cards about Zoom making a home “your palace,” but Napoleon’s performance is disastrous and the whole idea falls apart before he is sent back to his own time.
Samantha eventually finds the right magical words to return him to his own time just as the commercial is about to be filmed, preserving both history and Darrin’s account.
15. Tinkerbell Disposable Diapers
Season 5, Episode 8
Darrin’s mother insists Samantha enter a slogan contest for Tinkerbell disposable diapers. Samantha wins with a clever entry. Darrin immediately accuses her of using witchcraft. The winning slogan is so strong that a related client (Barton Industries) abandons McMann & Tate’s campaign in favor of the contest idea. Darrin is furious until he learns the slogan’s success has mixed results; he eventually apologizes, and the episode ends with the usual reconciliation.
16. Bigelow Tires
Season 4, Episode 5
Darrin handles the Bigelow Tire account, whose owner, Mr. Bigelow (Parley Baer), is an extreme tightwad. Endora, annoyed that Darrin made Samantha return an expensive coat, enchants Darrin into becoming the world’s cheapest man. He thrills the client by insisting on black-and-white ads (no color costs) and minimal spending, but the spell backfires during a dinner party. Samantha’s attempt to reverse it lands on Bigelow instead, making the client suddenly extravagant.
17. Stanwyck Soap
Season 2, Episode 2
Endora casts a spell that causes Darrin to experience all of Samantha’s pregnancy symptoms. While meeting with Mr. Martin of Stanwyck Soap (an account worth more than half a million dollars a year to McMann & Tate), the suddenly ravenous and hormonal Darrin becomes fixated on Mr. Martin’s pickle. He repeatedly asks for it, grows increasingly insistent, and eventually shouts about the pickle, ruining the meeting. Larry has to drag him out of the conference room, leaving the client stunned.
18. Mother Jenny’s Jam
Season 2
Darrin works on the Mother Jenny’s line of health-food products (including jam) for client Charles Barlow. Aunt Clara’s well-meaning but faulty magic causes clothing to vanish at an awkward dinner, nearly derailing the client relationship.
19. Barker’s Baby Foods
Building on the early “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog” episode, Barker’s Baby Food remains a recurring client. Later pitches involve product updates and family-oriented slogans. Darrin continues managing the account, with the original dinner-party disaster (and the client’s temporary transformation into a dog) serving as a lasting reminder of how easily magic can complicate even baby-food advertising.
20. Whirlaway Washing Machines
Season 8, Parts 1 & 2
When Esmeralda accidentally brings George Washington (and later Martha) into the present, Larry immediately sees an advertising opportunity. He proposes renaming the product “Washington Whirlaway Washing Machines” and using the honest, truthful image of the first president as the spokesperson. Washington refuses to endorse any exaggerated claims, nearly losing the account.
21. Bobbins Bon Bons
Season 7, Episode 14
Client Bernard Bobbins of Bobbins Bonbons is frustrated that sponsorship of a popular TV show isn’t boosting candy sales. Endora enchants Darrin into pitching a “Mother-in-Law’s Day” concept (with Bobbins as the gift of choice) and then positions herself as “Mother-in-Law of the Year” for a live commercial. When she skips the shoot for a ski date, Samantha impersonates her on camera—until the real Endora appears. The resulting magical spectacle unexpectedly sells Bobbins on the idea, saving the account while delivering classic Endora-centered farce.
22. Morgan Mattress Company
In multiple office meetings featured in client compilations, Darrin and Larry pitch campaigns to Mr. Morgan of the Morgan Mattress Company. The discussions revolve around comfort, restful sleep, and modern design, with the usual back-and-forth as Larry pushes aggressive sales tactics while Darrin tries to keep the ideas practical and believable. These shorter scenes show the everyday grind of account work at McMann & Tate—reviewing layouts, debating slogans, and walking the tightrope between client demands and creative integrity—before any magical interference has a chance to complicate things.
23. Benson’s Chili Sauce
Darrin and Larry meet with Mr. Benson of Benson’s Chili Sauce to develop a campaign that emphasizes bold flavor and family appeal. The pitch sessions highlight the product’s heat and homemade quality, with Larry eager to close the deal quickly and Darrin refining the copy to make it more memorable. As with many brief client interactions, the scene captures the standard office dynamic of the series: professional pressure, competing ideas, and the ever-present risk that one of Samantha’s relatives will turn a straightforward food-product presentation into comic chaos.
24. Hotchkiss & Gregson Home Appliances
Across several short client meetings, Darrin works on campaigns for appliance makers such as Hotchkiss Appliances and Gregson Home Appliances. The pitches focus on convenience, modern living, and time-saving features—typical of 1960s consumer advertising. Larry often presses for flashier presentations, while Darrin advocates for straightforward demonstrations of the products’ benefits. These scenes serve as background workplace moments that illustrate the volume of accounts Darrin juggles, setting up the frequent contrast with the magical disasters that erupt once the campaigns leave the office and enter the Stephens household.
25. Rockfield Furniture
In pitches to Mr. Rockfield of Rockfield Furniture, Darrin and Larry develop ideas centered on style, durability, and domestic comfort. The client discussions involve reviewing ad layouts and debating whether to emphasize luxury or practicality. These brief office scenes showcase the routine creative process at McMann & Tate and the careful client handling required to keep accounts, providing a grounded counterpoint to the more elaborate, magic-driven campaigns that dominate the series’ major storylines.
26. School Reporter Fascinated with Darrin’s Advertising Job
Darrin’s Advertising job appears in most episodes — as that is what he does for a living and is doing it in the background most of the time. And so we come to the episode that garnered the picture for this article — Witch or Wife” — where a female high school reporter interviews Darrin and is smitten with him, and then her boyfriend comes to the house, and becomes smitten with Samantha. The episode starts out with Sam and her mom Endora having popped into Paris for lunch where they meet Larry Tate and his wife. The show is really quite funny — hysterical even.
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