WM Arte answers
What was Carosello, and why did it produce so many advertising characters?
Carosello was RAI's nightly advertising slot, from 3 February 1957 to 1 January 1977. Each episode had about 100 seconds of entertainment in which the product could not appear, then a short closing "codino" for the product. That rule pushed advertisers to invent characters, from Calimero to Bialetti's "Omino coi baffi".
Calimero, the little black chick, was created by the Pagot brothers for Mira Lanza (1963); Paul Film of Modena made the Bialetti moustached man; Osvaldo Cavandoli's La Linea was made for Lagostina; and Armando Testa's characters grew up on the programme. Carosello ended partly because advertisers wanted shorter, cheaper spots.