cosby's first advertisement was for white owl cigars. his agent approached them in 1965, before the debut of "i spy", but after several appearances on the late-night talk program "the tonight show", a signifier of success in american comedy. he told agent norman brokaw of william morris agency that he liked their tagline, "we're going to get you." cosby later said there were no commercials "with a black person holding something, buying a product, so the absence of pictures, in retrospect, said a lot". despite the stigma among advertisers around using a black spokesperson, sales of the product rose. according to an entry in "ad age encyclopedia", the public acceptance of cosby and robert culp appearing as equals on "i spy" made it possible for advertisers to show black people and white people together in their commercials.