Saturday Morning Commercials Sold a Generation: The More You Know!
It seems like only yesterday that analog television, giant bowls of cereal, laying around upside down on the couch with siblings, and impatiently waiting for a favorite character to pop up on screen were the norm. It was a time before Cartoon Network even existed. It was “Saturday Morning Cartoons” time. A decade wherein kids didn’t have the option to sit for hours on end on any given day watching marathons of...
Budweiser Brings Back Harry Caray Ad After Cubs Win
One of the biggest shames of it taking the Chicago Cubs so long to win a World Series is that the team’s iconic announcer, Harry Caray was not around to see it. But while Caray could not be at the game, fans got to soak up his memory watching a classic ad he appeared in for Budweiser which the beer brand aired immediately after the game. It was a tribute and a very smart piece of marketing for the beer company. The commercial...
Freedom Rock
Television shows of the late 70s/early 80s were slightly obsessed with the past. Think Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. These were shows we could all watch together as a family about sock-hops, make-out points, and water skiing over sharks – stuff everybody did back then, right? That nostalgic obsession extended to our everyday culture in the 80s as well. I remember 50s dress up day in school (poodle skirts!) and the return of the...
We Got the Colgate Pump!
Are you ready for your mid-week 80s earworm? No, it’s not a song that spent ten weeks at number one on American Top 40 or the theme song to The Facts of Life. It’s a commercial you probably thought you’d forgotten (watch below). But now that you hear it, you totally didn’t forget it – am I right?!? I came across this little nugget around two weeks back and it’s still going through my head on a loop. While it didn’t chart in the...
Here Comes the Cadbury Bunny
When you think back to classic commercials from the 80s I’m sure those California Raisins come to mind (and maybe those two crash test dummies warning you about wearing your seatbelt). Or, maybe you think of McGruff the Crime Dog telling you to “take a bite out of crime.” And isn’t it great when certain commercials from your childhood don’t ever die? Think of the famous “how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie...
Living in a Material World
Madonna had it right. We are indeed living in a material world. It is damn near impossible to watch TV today without hearing your favorite 80s songs as the backdrop to one commercial or another selling everything from candy bars (see PayDay’s use of “Bust a Move”) to insurance (see Liberty Mutual Insurance’s use of “Human” by Human League). How I feel about this trend varies with its use. I don’t have a global position on the issue as...
Taking the Plunge
By Julie Anderson The NESTEA plunge, that is. The hugely successful Take the Plunge commercial campaign for Nestea began in the 70s, so our older siblings and cousins knew all about it. (Random trivia – from 1978-1980, Six Flags St. Louis’s Log Flume ride was called the Nestea Plunge!) However, we 80s kids sure loved it as well. Taking the Nestea plunge was a favorite pool and lake game when I was growing up. The commercial campaign’s...
The Clapper
By Julie Anderson C’mon, sing along! Clap on! (CLAP, CLAP) Clap off! (CLAP, CLAP) Clap on, Clap off – The Clapper! The Clapper was the modern eighties way to turn your electronic devices on or off without the hassle of getting off the couch. The switch was designed to respond to a specific acoustic signal: two claps. Joseph Pedott, founder of Joseph Enterprises, Inc., began selling the Clapper in 1985. (You’ve probably heard of Joseph...
Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” Commercial
1984 had a lot to offer. The Apple Macintosh went on sale for the first time, Michael Jackson caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial, the Space Shuttle Discovery took off on its maiden journey, and Clara Peller first asked the question, “Where’s the beef?” Wendy’s used this as their ad campaign from 1984 until 1985. The phrase caught on faster than you can say “wake me up before you go go”...
Big Red Commercials
Kiss a little longer, hold tight a little longer . . . with Big Red. Check out these great 80s Big Red commercials. Grab a pack and kiss your main squeeze a longer today!...
Bartles and Jaymes Wine Coolers
04.27.07: New commercials submitted by site user, Patrick. Thanks, Patrick! Topping for Ice: Baseball-ese: Ed Knows...