During the 1920s and the era of silent movies, animated commercials started being projected at the cinema Palladium in Stockholm. However, the very first commercial film produced in Sweden, was Kal Napoleons bonntur [Sheer luck of Kal Napoleon] from 1915, starring Sigurd Wallén. Having won lots of money on a lottery, this gentleman went out shopping around Stockholm, with each and every item that he bought, carefully displayed with trademarks and all.

In the database "Reel History" there are more than a hundred Swedish commercials, from early black and white animations to commercials in color from the 1950s. In parallel with the growth of the cinema industry, one can also witness an expansion of the film media as a commercial communication channel. Towards the middle of the 1950s there were a great many commercials being produced for cinemas. Even demon director Ingmar Bergman directed a few commercials advertising the soap "Bris".

The borders between commercials and informative, educational film is, however, not always easy to uphold. The latter category was usually considerably longer, but the "housewife films" of the 1950s, were also fairly extensive, containing both cooking tips, as well as advertisements for particular utensils.

The commercial film to the left, Flytande frukt [Fluid Fruit] from 1954, was for example a sort of "housewife film", produced by an association devoted to non-alcoholic education. Alcohol was banned in the film. Instead it tried to inform about and advertise the consumption of fruit juices.