For some reason I just found myself singing this Milk of Magnesia commercial:
What commercials do you remember as favorites? I loved all the Eddie Jemison “Yes I am” Bud Lite commercials, and the Wendy’s “evening wear” commercials were awesome. Oh, and really old Doritos commercials with Avery Schreiber.
When I watched the superbowl ads the last couple of years I just thought they were crude and dull. I sound 95.
Ellie
I am from NW Ohio and there used to be a store called Highland Appliance. They had the best commercials.
https://youtu.be/kKQcZYTZVmI
kindness
Remember cigarette commercials? Alka Seltzer commercials. Crazy Eddie commercials. Little Anthony running through the streets of Boston because Wednesday is Prince spaghetti night? They don’t sell Prince spaghetti out here. Is it still sold back east? Thank the FSM for the dvr so I can ff through commercials.
NoraLenderbee
I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener
That is what I’d truly like to be
‘Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer wiener
Everyone would be in love with me
jeffreyw
That was a spicy meatball!
John Cole
@Ellie: Heubner Chevy in Carrollton ring a bell?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcE9ingoBVA
NoraLenderbee
Mamma mia! That’s a speecy-spicy meat-a balla-a!
Citizen Alan
I am continually surprised at how many people much younger than me know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop even though I don’t think the commercial in question has aired in 30 years or more. And I am gobsmacked at the number of people who know the significance of the phrase “Ancient Chinese secret, huh?”
Just one more canuck
Rainier Beer commercials (out of Seattle) were great, especially the ones with Mickey Rooney
Patricia Kayden
I loved all the Mikey cereal commercials — the ones where Mikey was reputed to eat anything.
Omnes Omnibus
Does School House Rock count?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Not exactly from my youth, but I can’t resist posting these Old Spice commercials:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OHMIsagJ6NY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik9Pr7V5x88
efgoldman
Mike Nichols and Elaine May, back when they were a young (and very funny) standup act, did a number of crudely animated commercials for different regional beers, the dialog adapted, which played during baseball games.
Two I remember specifically: Narragansett on Red Sox broadcasts, and National Bohemian with the Orioles.
Here’s one for Jax.
ETA: Oops forgot like fir Jax, It’s here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2aPIrzSZ_I
jl
I’ve blocked them all out from my memory. I remember some cereal rabbit kept getting its heart broken, punked and rejected.
Also a tuna of some sort. Was discriminated against.
Cruel and heartless commercials. I still bear some psychic scars and dislike commercials. they make me not want to patronize the sponsors.
Poor cartoon rabbit was persecuted. How could they put something like that on, and for poor innocent children?
Grover Gardner
Quite a few years ago I had a termite infestation and called Terminex. The guy came a took care of it, and when he was done he had a little survey, including the question, “How did you hear about us?” I said, “Well, you know, the ad! ‘Termites? Whoop whoop! Call Terminex!” He shook his head and said, “You know, we haven’t run that add in twenty years but people still remember it.”
Also, “HEY CULLIGAN MAN!”
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@jl:
Silly rabbit! Rights are for white American kids!
tom
I loved the Alka Seltzer ads, especially the talking stomach, voiced by Gene Wilder.
Mnemosyne
There was a carpet place in Chicago called Empire Carpets that has gone national since I moved away. It’s a little weird to see that the original spokesman, now passed on, has been turned into a CGI cartoon character.
I recently finished a work project that required me to watch 1950s commercials over … and over … and over again, so instead I’m going to link to a video of an elderly rescue cat (“Grandpa Mason”) wrestling with some kittens. He’s supposed to be in kitty hospice because of his kidney problems, but he seems to love having kittens around.
NoraLenderbee
“You call it corn. We call it maize.” (Mazola corn oil)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Funny this came up, I don’t know why this churned up in my storm-tossed brain today, but I’ve had an ear worm of the Freakies today.
@kindness: I remember the Hallowe’en version, Dracula saying that Wednesday was for Prince spaghetti. And I think an Adam and Eve one, Adam refusing the apple because it was Wednesday
Mnemosyne
Okay, one hint for the Chicagolanders: all y’all will know which suburb I hail from, because it’s “a beautiful place in the country.”
NoraLenderbee
Male chorus/dancers:
Grab a bucket and mop
Scrub it bottom and top
Tell me what does this mean?
That McDonald’s is clean!
You deserve a break today
So get up and get away
to McDonald’s
McD-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-nalds
HyperSphericalCow
Volkswagon’s Cabrio ad, set to Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon”, is not just a great ad, but a legit (very)-short film.
https://vimeo.com/141594401
Major Major Major Major
My husband introduced me to the 90’s commercial for Wet Pets San Pablo, which I guess was an inside joke in his friend group in high school and college.
It’s… a painfully awkward uncool rap song about a pet store, but I think about it a lot more than I probably should.
Davebo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSHo3j72fIo
Grover Gardner
And here’s one for old Pittsburghers. Can any of you guess what show this ran on?
“Who can? Toucan!”
scott alloway
It’s a tie for me.
First, New Country Corn Flakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKSmj2g8shs
Next, CBS Holiday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUWMjUjit_U
debbie
My dad and brothers used to get the giggles over this Mennen Skin Bracer ad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: Vincent Gardenia!
Mnemosyne
Okay, a recent one, but the funny one that helped convince me to buy a Subaru. Make sure to stick around for the punchline.
Cheryl Rofer
@jeffreyw: @NoraLenderbee:
I’ll go with the spicy meat-a-ball-a, but I think I am recalling a parody.
efgoldman
@tom:
Mama mia, that’s some spicy meatball
I can’t believe I ate the Whole Thing
And a classic VW from the same era
debbie
And check out young John Goodman!
Cheryl Rofer
@jeffreyw: @NoraLenderbee:
I’ll go with the spicy meat-a-ball-a, but I think I am recalling a parody.
mai naem mobile
Apparently I’m an old fart but the one I remember is the Coke ‘I’d like to teach the world’
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: Clickhole’s fake right-wing site Patriothole had a brilliant learn english!! right-wing meme about that.
HyperSphericalCow
@Mnemosyne:
Five-eight-eight, two-thee-hundred, Empire!
It doesn’t quite work as well today, since they shoehorned in the “800” number into the jingle.
ETA: They have a page on their website featuring dogs flipping out when the commercial plays: http://www.empirecarpet-chicago.com/the-empire-jingle/
Another Scott
Ac’cent Flavor Enhancer (0:31).
But it’s kinda creepy, actually.
It reminds me of that age-old question – “When does a meat tenderizer stop working?”
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
scott alloway
@efgoldman: National Bo. Best beer in America to us in Maine in the early 70s.
Major Major Major Major
Not a good ad, but it would always come on the radio, and you would just find yourself reciting it along. Tom Shane the diamond importer. Now you have a friend in the diamond business. The Shane Company, just off Arapahoe Road on Emporia street…
JCJ
Purina cat chow
Chow chow chow!
Geoduck
One I’ll always remember is this quickie for Discount Tire-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QjTIm-vSKg
It made into the Guinness World Records for “longest running ad”; it was made in the 70s and ran for at least three decades. Might still be airing somewhere.
Splitting Image
How do they get the caramel inside a caramlik bar?
FlyingToaster
Up Up and Away with TWA
[yes, I was an airline brat]
efgoldman
I can’t find a clip, but there was a 50s deodorant commercial where the camera panned slowly across the famous “discus thrower” statue, especially the armpits, and a portentous, pretentious orator voice intoned “in the mature male… and in the mature female…”
I don’t remember the product, but it cracked my brother and me up every single time.
OldDave
@Major Major Major Major:
If she won’t last forever, why buy her a diamond?
sigaba
Does the ABC Sunday Night Movie Intro count as a commercial?
Oatler.
Commercials all the way down.
sorry, I meant Try it you’ll like it
Wag
Keep America beautiful. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM
Mary G
I don’t have any old ones because I wasn’t allowed to watch TV as a child, but
Budweiser Clydesdale pony
and
Where’s the beef?”
come to mind from adult years
Repatriated
Southern Calfornia regional: The late Cal Worthington* and his “dog” Spot.
“Dog” in quotes because Spot was always some exotic animal (elephant, tiger, etc).
* Worthington Ford
philpm
The original series of commercials for Miller Lite, with the numerous sports and other stars and Rodney Dangerfield. The best was the bowling one. Great commercials for one of the worst excuses for beer ever made.
Life in Queens
Are you old enough for…Granny Goose?
efgoldman
@Repatriated:
Carson referenced Cal so often he became nationally known.
jeffreyw
Pantyhose ad
dexwood
@scott alloway:
Natty Bo, my Baltimore uncles kept Natty Bo, Esskay hot dogs and Koontz milk in their “iceboxes”.
SiubhanDuinne
Today the pits … Tomorrow the wrinkles.
Percysowner
Anything by the late, great Stan Freberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bx4LBz8Xy4
Cheryl Rofer
@Cheryl Rofer: Now I remember! The speecy spicy meat-a-ball-a AlkaSeltzer commercial was a parody of meatball commercials!
philpm
Another one for me is the Norelco Christmas commercial with Santa using a Norelco shaver as a sleigh. Always looked forward to that one.
dmsilev
@OldDave: If anyone tells you diamonds are forever, don’t believe them. My colleagues and I have broken dozens of the things over the years (by accident, usually), with the damage ranging from chips and scratches all the way up to one memorable episode in which a diamond exploded and all we found afterwards was dust.
JCJ
Hot dogs
Armour hot dogs
what kind of kid eats Armour hot dogs?
Fat kids, skinny kids, kids that climb on rocks
Tough kids, sissy kids
Even kids with chicken pox
love hot dogs
Armour hot dogs
the dogs kids love to bite
That sounds so awful.
Jay Noble
“Many parts of a pine tree are edible” Euell Gibbons
“SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!”
“You’re soaking in it right now” Madge
Mrs. Olson the Folgers Lady
“How about a nice Hawiian Punch?”
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: James Bond lied to me?
SiubhanDuinne
“From the land of sky-blue waters….”
Suzanne
My cousins and I really liked the commercial for Super Mario Bros. breakfast cereal. And a Norelco holiday ad for an electric shaver that scooted across the snow.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Jay Noble:
“BE THERE!”
Pete Downunder
“A tank of Chevron gasoline will last a whole year…
If you don’t drive your car.”
Vintage late 50’s I think.
Suzanne
@philpm: LOVE THAT NORELCO COMMERCIAL.
Major Major Major Major
@Jay Noble: @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I like the futurama version, “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! (and saturday)”
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: I’m afraid so. Worse, he doesn’t actually like vodka martinis, shaken or stirred.
Davebo
@dmsilev: The Diamonds are Forever campaign was less about selling diamonds and more about preventing people from selling theirs lest the entire cartel go down the tubes!
cynthia ackerman
Willy Mays in a PSA about blasting caps.
dmsilev
@Jay Noble:
‘We’ve secretly replaced their fresh-brewed coffee with new Folgers Crystals. Let’s see if they notice.’
(I’ve had that stuff, and yeah, I’d notice the difference)
Librarian
“I’m sure you’ll recognize this lovely melody as ‘Stranger in Paradise’. But did you know that the original theme is from the ‘Polovetsian Dance No. 2’ by Borodin?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP9u_7eSlTQ
Suzanne
@Major Major Major Major:
No! On Scottsdale Road at Acoma, one mile south of Bell Road.
Another radio commercial I loved as a teenager was the “I’m JJ, and I’m the KING of beepers!”
patrick II
1950’s. Bucky Beaver, Ipana toothpaste .
I can still sing that jingle after sixty years:
Brusha brusha brusha
here’s the new Ipana
with a brand new flavor
it’s dandy for your teeth.
Original Lee
I think the Riggs Bank commercials from the 90s were some of the best, mostly because I loved the soundtrack. They made all kinds of variations on it for the different kinds of banking services. For instance, the construction loan commercial used saws, power drills, hammers, and so on for percussion. Alas, the soundcloud of the basic theme was the only thing I’ve been able to find.
ETA decade.
Tehanu
Joe Isuzu. Also, the one where “A Volkswagen can go forward. A Volkswagen can go backward.” And Brylcreem, “A little dab’ll do ya!”
RepubAnon
There was a guy in Portland named Tom Peterson – his commercials came on late night TV. The most famous one had him knock on his side of the TV screen and say “Wake Up”! I believe he had a bit part in My Private Idaho
Major Major Major Major
@Suzanne: No, it was definitely one-half-mile east of I-25. :P
Sometimes I’d be somewhere else and I’d hear one and it would be AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION and I’d get this really uncanny feeling.
Scamp Dog
Paramount Potato Chips (which I think was regional, so most won’t know it) had a jingle that went
“I’m Slim Chipley, the guy you see on the Paramount potato chips bright red bag
I’m the flavor deputy, protecting crispness in every pack
They’re delicious, and so nutritious,
Yes siree, they’re pips!
Paramount potato chips!”
Another Scott
“At Beneficial (doop) (doop)
You’re good for more.
At Beneficial (doop) (doop)
You’re good for more…”
Such happy music for what is too often a sleazy business – consumer finance loans that are often far more expensive than people realize…
Cheers,
Scott.
Juice Box
Sexy man and sexy woman making eyes at one another with Un bel di in the background. Sexy man sits sexily on the edge of a beautifully set table full of food and the table tips over sending food flying all over the Dupont Stainmaster carpet. It cracked me up everytime. It’s not that old, but I didn’t have a TV before that.
All time great PSA/earworm.
The Lodger
@Suzanne: @Major Major Major Major: You’re both wrong. It’s on 217, across from the Washington Square Mall.
When I first heard these ads, I thought they were ripping off Tommy Van Scoy’s Diamond Mine from the Philly area. Same first name, same expressionless voice, same direct sales schtick. I almost expected to hear, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
TheronWare
The Benson & Hedges commercials with music by the Brass Ring. Chunky thickerer. Slinky. Good & Plenty. High Karate. Clep commercial with Abe Lincoln. Chiffon Margerine.Campbell’s Manhandler soup. Action Jackson.Sheraton Hotels jingle: 800-325-3535.
The Lodger
@RepubAnon: And Gloria Too!
efgoldman
@Jay Noble:
Twenty years in radio, I always wanted to do one of those. I never worked in the right kind of place.
TheOtherHank
“I’m the sole survivor!”
I loved that commercial. Then I got the game; what a disappointment.
efgoldman
@patrick II:
My kid (b. 1981) still thinks I made that up.
ETA: Same era, Ajax the foaming cleanser jingle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXyl9GCs1pA
jl
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
‘ Silly rabbit! Rights are for white American kids! ‘
I am starting the silly rabbit liberation front. (SRLF). Hope you people are finally and properly woke on Trix.
I think Charlie was a blue fin, so on the brink of extinction. Too late for him. Send contributions for a memorial. Sad.
NoraLenderbee
“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
–some margarine
Jackie
@Just one more canuck: Rai….neeer Beers.. My son (toddler) would stop in his tracks watching Tarzan yodeling Rainer Beer and the Motorcycle revving up to Rainer Beer. Also to SeaGalley’s “We got Froglegs…” Good times ? 1982 or thereabouts.
seaboogie
@efgoldman: heh. I’ve long felt that when listening to a radio broadcast in another language (first-time disappointment was in French in QC, Canada), that this otther, romantic language should not be so similarly crass. I’ve since evolved to “Domingo, Domingo, Domingo…!” I don’t think the US has the lock on that.
efgoldman
@TheOtherHank:
I so wanted an electric football game
Goddamned thing never worked right. .
Trollhattan
For regional ads I can’t top Rainier Beer For national, anything by Stan Frieberg.
Cheryl Rofer
My beer is Reingold, the dry beer
If we’re going to do regional beers
efgoldman
The chicken man series was hysterical. Adapted for individual sponsors in individual market.
I guess the Fotomat elves aren’t archived anywhere. Mid-70s, they were very funny, too (radio only)
seaboogie
@NoraLenderbee: Chiffon. Earlier commercial tag line was “If you think it’s butter, but it’s not – it’s Chiffon. Of course we kids went all “If you think it’s butter, but it’s snot”.. yada yada.
First vow to my newly adult self was never margarine-only butter. A promise to myself that I’ve kept, even though I am now mostly fresh, locally sourced EVOO, since I consult in that biz.
Kent
@Trollhattan:
Oh yes. Anyone who grew up in the Northwest in the 70s and 80s has to remember the Rainier Beer commercials.
efgoldman
@Cheryl Rofer:
To L’estudiantina Waltz by Waltdteufel.
philpm
@efgoldman: My older brothers had one that we used for years. It really took some effort to get them to work correctly.
philpm
@efgoldman: I love Chickenman. We had a place here in the midwest called the Red Barn that you could get Chickenman t-shirts from. One of these days, I’ll actually buy the CD version of the complete series from Amazon.
efgoldman
@philpm:
I guess I really didn’t have the patience at 10-11 years old. Model trains were easier and for me, at least as much fun.
Mike J
Get Fonky
https://youtu.be/vzrSP4-pWOs?t=260
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@Repatriated:
I know it.
Mervyn’s: Lady with her face in the window waiting for the store to open: “Open. Open. Open.”
Chick Hearn doing voice work for the LA Boat Show: “Don’t miss the boat…Show!”
ExpatDanBKK
This is recent as well, but may be interesting to some. Here in Thailand, there is a genre of ad we call “sadvertising.” It is a vignette, usually with a morality message, combined with an ad (or sometimes just “sponsored” by a company. Here’s one of my favourites, sponsored by a mobile phone company. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPOVwKPMG8o
seaboogie
Totally OT, but I seem to have a series (2, so far) of bright green crickets moving into my joint. The latest, smaller one was in my empty wine glass, so I brought it outside, coaxed it slowly out of the glass, and it is perched on a small shallow bowl of water, if that is what it is seeking. This sort of interaction with nature calms and centers me in the face of T tweeting “Big things coming this week”.
john fremont
@The Lodger: The only diamond commercials I can remember from Philly were from Robbins 8th & Walnut.
Also too, from Philly, “…the bosses daughter, from Atlantic Transmissions!” And the never ending series of Krass Brothers, Store of the Stars commercials.
Repatriated
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: I still do the “open…open…open” thing when it’s appropriate, but seldom encounter anyone who catches the reference.
GregB
For some reason this Colt 45 stuck in my 11 year old brain.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7uX1DjmrY
Also the Christmas Coca Cola song: I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.
ExpatDanBKK
How about the “Fred the baker” ads from Dunkin Donuts? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=petqFm94osQ
Shakti
I loved the Eat N’ Park Christmas commercial.
I never liked the cereal, but I’d sing the Breakfast Bears jingle to myself when my mom woke me up at 6 am.
efgoldman
@ExpatDanBKK:
It’s a good 25 years or more since they actually made donuts in the stores.
seaboogie
@ExpatDanBKK: I remember this one, and will watch it again. Even if it’s a corporately-driven messagage, compassion and empathy are never bad things.
Felonius Monk
The Stan Freburg commercials — Jeno Pizza Rolls with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.
philpm
@efgoldman: I enjoyed the model trains too. I still have the one I won from a toy store grand opening. I think I was around 10 when that happened. I need to find a working control unit for it. I think the caps in the original died.
pattonbt
not too old but Terry Tate
Amir Khalid
@ExpatDanBKK:
I saw one of those ads many many years ago. Dunkin’ Donuts opened its very first store in Kuala Lumpur in the 1980s and junior reporter me covered the official launch — the mayor himself was in attendance! They showed us a few of their commercials to help explain what they did. In those days the donuts were fresher because they were baked onsite rather than being trucked in from God knows where, and the commercials made a big deal of that.
efgoldman
@philpm:
When my mom, little brother and I arrived in Germany in December 1952 to join my dad (career Army) , he had a footlocker full of German Marklin HO gauge trains waiting for me. Would have cost hundreds of dollars in a specialty hobby shop in the states, but the exchange rate was so advantageous in those days that they literally cost him a pittance. He also bought boxes of things I didn’t know about until he brought them out for gifts in later years.
patrick II
@efgoldman:
I figured you’d be one of the few here who recognized Bucky. I forgot to mention Bucky’s arch-enemy — D.K. Germ.
The Lodger
@john fremont: Krass Brothers. As we used to say, “are they ever.”
_pk_
I grew up in Winnipeg, Canada. There is a company called Poulin’s Pest Control that has a radio ad jingle that goes back decades. I’ve never needed pest control, but I still know the company’s phone number because of this jingle.
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjaq730mo3WAhUBwmMKHfJrD1QQtwIIKDAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbygkK8Kpd_o&usg=AFQjCNEzkST5RxyuD26b0Nlo06z_N5xNSQ
efgoldman
@efgoldman: Sixty++ years later, it occurs to me that my dad bought the trains illegally on the German economy for DM, rather than with Army scrip in the PX, which is all they were supposed to do. It was a courts martial offense at the time.
efgoldman
@ John Cole –
I know you don’t read this far down, ever, but thanks so much for this fun thread. We needed it.
Suzanne
@Repatriated: I occasionally hear someone say “OPEN OPEN OPEN” and it always makes me think of Mervyn’s, where I got many clothes up until I was about 14.
Arclite
“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
Mike in Pasadena
Still rather badly wrinkled, says snooty Englishman about pitted prunes.
He is pleased that the pits are removed and the flavor is quite good, but he must find something to criticize.
Frankensteinbeck
NOTHING IS BETTER FOR THEE THAN ME!
trollhattan
@GregB:
Sharks and bikini babes, what’s not to like? Have you seen this?
“Has the taste of the old west.”
joel hanes
They’re GRRREAAAAT !
You’ll wonder where the yellow went
When you brush your teath with Pepsodent
She’ll love to run her fingers through your hair
Greasy kid stuff
Call for Phillip Mor-rissss !
Serutan spelled backwards is “Natures”
When it’s time to relax
One beer stands clear
(beer after beer)
Miller tastes too good to hurry through
It’s two two two mints in one
With a sparkling drop of Retsyn
Double your pleasure
Double your fun
Sugar Pops are tops !
I’m coo-coo for Cocoa-Puffs.
We’d rather fight than switch.
Come aalll the way up … to KOOL
It’ll tickle yer innards!
See the USA
In your Chevrolet
My advice, sir?
Get de-icer.
Hurry on down to wide-track town
It’s a white tornadoe!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Nothing beats Crazy Gideon. Cal Worthington’s old commercials with his “dog” Spot, now Spot may have started as a canine but evolved over the years to be lions, tigers, bears, and elephants.
Mike G
If you lived in Melbourne anytime in the last four decades, this guy was unforgettable —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aTO6Iv4f3A
Tehanu
@joel hanes:
Eek. My entire childhood!
Suzanne
Ch-ch-ch-CHIA!
Clap on, clap off, THE CLAPPER.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Arclite: I don’t laugh at that one anymore after I’d fallen and couldn’t get up; almost killed me.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Alaska Airlines commercials from the 1980’s.
prostratedragon
@jl: You know, that tuna was voiced by Herschel Bernardi, an actor who had previously been blacklisted. Discovering this decades later confirmed yet again my old suspicion of adults speaking and acting in code.
(Of course, I now do it shamelessly myself.)
Death Panel Truck
Best. Commercial. Ever.
From 1966:
New Country Corn Flakes, made with rice!
ETA: Damn. Someone beat me to it.
opiejeanne
@tom: That was Gene Wilder?
I remember an Alka Seltzer ad with a middle aged mid-western couple driving through a desert landscape and the wife shouts something like “Look Harold, TAMALES!” pronounced tuh-MAILS. It has become part of our private dialog, along with various quotes from Monty Python and the Princess Bride.
opiejeanne
@philpm: Hamm’s Beer .
From the land of sky blue waters
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: Coast Federal Bank with the rabbit
opiejeanne
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Do you remember Mad Man Muntz ?
ChrisB
@Cheryl Rofer: Think of Reingold whenever you buy beer.
And I’ll add that Schaefer is the one beer to have when you’re having more than one.
ChrisB
“Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?”
I kept a small bottle in my car for years in the hope that someone might ask me that question so I could say “But of course!”
Jim Parish
Going way, way back, three ads that made a special impression on 5-ish me:
The Kodak commercial with “Turn around” (“Where are you going, my little one, little one?”)
An ad for Prestone Antifreeze showing a car, on a rainy night, blowing past a hitch-hiker: “Never pick up a stranger / Pick up Prestone Antifreeze!)
An ad for Firestone tires (“The name that’s known is Firestone (da-da-da-da) where the rubber meets the road!”)
Damfino why those three have stuck with me for half a century…
evodevo
Anybody from Cincy here? In my small town down the river, all we could get in the old days was cincy teevee. “I don’t care about making money! I just LOVE to sell CARPET!! “
Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
“Someday all watches will be made this way”: Seiko
“We will sell no wine before its time”: Paul Masson
HeartlandLiberal
I am 71. I still remember the Frosty Morn ham add from the fifties, and the early days of black and white TV.
I can still sing the key part of the ad:
The height of a piggy’s ambition
From the day he is born,
Is hopes that he will be good enough,
To be a Frosty Morn.
So, being a big fan of YouTube as a growing repository of all knowledge and history, I searched, and lo, here it is:
(Unless putting this link in dumps my in comment purgatory. Here goes:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrMGqSSKgw
Steeplejack
@Repatriated:
Mervyn’s “Open, open, open!” ad.
Doug!
Two beer commercials:
One where Billy Martin says “I didn’t patch that doggie”
And another where, I think L. C. Greenwood says about water polo, “I sure hope those horses can swim.”
EDIT: I was Bubba Smith
janeform
Pre-Reagan.
Look for the Union label
When you are buying a coat, dress, or blouse
Remember somewhere our union’s sewing
Our wages going to feed the kinds and run the house
We work hard but who’s complaining
Thanks to the ILB we’re paying our way
So always look for the Union label
It says we’re able to make it in the USA!
janeform
Two sexist gems from the ’70s
I’m Diane…Fly me.
Jim never has a second up of coffee at home
JAFD
Another Philly brat
Remembering this, used to appear on the Big 5 basketball games, in the early ’70’s. Half a dozen people in evening gowns and tuxedos talking about Ronzoni pasta in extreme Main Line accents (“Isn’t it pronounced ‘lah-zhagh-nyah ?”), ending with chorus of
“We want Ronzoni,
Out here in Malvern,
Out here in Devon,
Out here in Gladwyne.
We wan Ronzini.
Just like Italians.
Ronzini tastes so good.”
ChrisB
@JAFD: Ronzoni Sono Buoni!
bluefoot
@ChrisB: That’s excellent. Many years ago I was driving home one evening and a large black car pulls up next to me at a light. There’s an 8-year old (or thereabouts) boy in the passenger seat, frantically gesturing at me to roll down my window. Kidnap? My brake light is out? So I roll down my window and the kid says, “Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?” I respond, “But of course” and give him a handshake out the window while his parent looks on chagrined. He rolls up the window, starts laughing maniacally, and the light turns green. All kinds of awesome.
prostratedragon
@Death Panel Truck: “Please buy our cornflakes!”
joel hanes
I WANT MY MAYPO !
prostratedragon
@opiejeanne: “Lofty balsams”
dlw32
There was a commercial for raisins… to show they were a natural snack they had the Sun on trial and the Sun says, “What do I look like, a chemical?” I remember saying, “yeah. you’re a chemical like everything else.”
It was the start of my question everything and general smart-assery.
joel hanes
Mr. Whipple! Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!
joel hanes
A perl drifts in Liquid Prell
joel hanes
Motorola Quasar TVs — with the works in a drawer!
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
The Lowenbrau jingle from the ’70s is still with me to this day: “Here’s to good friends, tonight is kind of special…”
Also Hamm’s the beer refreshing. A few jingles from local Grand Rapids, MI businesses are permanently imprinted in my brain but for national campaigns the beer jingles are the ones that stuck.
IMO the last great superbowl ad was the one with the kid dressed as Darth Vader whose dad uses his car’s remote starter to give him a win vis a vis the force. GEICO still produces a clever commercial now and again but it’s pretty slim pickins.
Mrearl
Timex: “Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’,”
ChrisB
@bluefoot: Awesome indeed!
Mo MacArbie
“It takes a steady hand.”
“Who wears short shorts?”
“Meister Bräu: it only tastes expensive.”
“Gennessee: the great outdoors in a glass.”
“I’m not only the president; I’m also a client.”
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s the commercial I most remember from being a kid, except that the Hamm’s commercial I remember had the bear rubbing his tummy at the end, and I am told I always got up and rubbed my tummy by the TV set whenever that commercial came on. I was pretty little at the time.
Mo MacArbie
Then there was some 4-record set my brother and I memorized and sang along with. “The night Chicago died…when you’re feelin’ alone, and the fish won’t bite…I couldn’t sleep at all last night…Doot doot do do dooo”.
philpm
@opiejeanne: I remember those too. My dad drank Hamm’s forever.
Jazzman
168 responses and nobody has yet mentioned the GEICO Hump Day Camel commercial? My kid and I send this back and forth to each other almost every Wednesday.
Marina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4cTDm2uAA
Alka-Seltzer ad: No Matter What Shape Your Stomach’s In
Listened to it a lot when my daughter had anorexia; I somehow found it comforting.
John Weiss
My favorite commercial was Delco batteries who sponsored “High Adventure with Lowell Thomas”. They were smoothly introduced into the narrative. Underhanded, I suppose, but quite creative.
jw
arielibra
Another Philly-radio-area brat…Keystone Volvo in Doylestown! “Track lighting in my doghouse.” “It…it’s just like you said.”
ljdramone
@dexwood: Us older Baltimorons will remember:
“More Parks Sausages, Mom! Please?”
http://www.school18project.com/community/2014/3/18/more-parks-sausages-mom-henry-parks-parks-sausages
and
“Mommy! Call Hampden!”
(Hampden Moving and Storage is still around, but dey ain’t down ere in Hampden no more, hon):
http://www.hampdenmoving.com