Today's commercial wraps up our Christmas Ad-Stravaganza for 2010. It's a favourite of both yours and mine, and I think it's the perfect way to wrap up the season.
This here commercial, which aired every Christmas from 1987 to 2005, is probably my favourite commercial of all time. Of all time!
As we see, it's Christmas in the prehistoric town of Bedrock. Fred is listening to some carolers outside his window, and making some last-minute preparations for the arrival of Santa Claus. Barney (who, for some reason, can't afford his own cereal) comes up with a plan to steal Fred's delicious Pebbles by dressing up as Santa. But alas, Santa's already there! Santa reasons with Fred and Barney, and the two friends share the cereal together.
This commercial is so sweet, and it works on so many levels. The characters are already loveable, and the music is really great (I can't hear the song "Deck the Halls" without my brain automatically changing the lyrics you hear in this commercial). This commercial also teaches children a life lesson: share with your fellow man!
I guess there's really not all that much that I can really say about this spot that hasn't already been said. It's my favourite, clear and simple.
Have a good Christmas, and a wonderful new year. I'll see you shortly.
I have a lot of fun, Christmas-y commercials to share with you, and very little time to do it. You see, I update this blog from one of two places: either at a coffee shop downtown, or using stolen wi-fi at home. Downtown is really busy this time of year, what with the last-minute Christmas shopping and whatnot, and I think my neighbours are getting wise to me stealing their internet. As a result, I've decided to condense my next two entries into one SUPER LONG ENTRY!
Back when I was a wee lad, my sister and I used to watch a version of The Muppet Movie which was taped off TV sometime in the 80’s. While most of the commercials were edited out (by way of someone pausing the recording when they came on), a few of them still remained. This is one of them. The reason I remember this ad is because the jingle would get stuck in my head for days!
I had never seen the dog at the piano before this commercial, nor have I seen him since. In fact, I didn’t learn that his name was Farfel until I looked up this commercial on YouTube. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, Farfel was featured in a number of Nestlé television spots in the 1950’s and 60’s, and was just brought out of retirement for this ad. Wikipedia says it was sometime in the mid-90’s, but I think it was closer to 1988 or 1989.
Maybe I don’t watch enough commercials aimed at children these days, but I think it’s hard to find an ad like this one anymore. (Wait, no, that's a lie. Saturday mornings at work are all about Hannah Montana et al.)
Our good friend Ebenezer Scrooge has returned for this spot for Honey Nut Cheerios. He’s not a bad man, really. Until his visit from the Honey Bee, he was probably just cranky because he didn’t appreciate the importance of a balanced breakfast.
This is such a touching commercial, because of its theme of understanding and tolerance. Scrooge was seen by everyone in the village as a villain. Why would anyone take time out of their Christmas to help this misunderstood man? That’s what Christmas is all about, though. Peace on Earth can only be achieved if we take the time to reach out to one another, and put aside all our petty differences.
Or, it’s about eating delicious cereal. Either way you slice it, it’s still a great commercial.
Also, did you know that the Honey Bee didn’t have a name for twenty-one years? From 1979 until 2000, the bee was nameless. He was named BuzzBee, later shortened to Buzz, and is now voiced by Billy West, who played Fry on Futurama. Crazy!
Let’s face it, McDonalds commercials were much better in the 80’s than they are now. You couldn’t watch a cartoon without Ronald and his friends popping up in each commercial break. They were more than just thirty seconds of burger-selling madness; they were lessons about life. You would learn about friendship, compassion, and most importantly, love. At no other time was this more true (my auto-spell check wants me to change that to “truer”, but I don’t think that’s an actual word) than during the holidays, as we’ll see in these commercials.
This first spot starts out with Birdie and Grimace wandering around the magical McDonaldland in search of a Christmas present for their best friend, Ronald. A falling star falls to the ground, prompting Birdie and Grimace to follow and catch it. When they finally capture the star, it becomes sick and stops twinkling. The problem is that it doesn’t belong on the ground, but rather in the sky, so that everyone can enjoy it. See? Chock full of life lessons about friendship, sharing, and responsibility.
This next one may not have much of a lesson, but it’s still pretty fun.
This magical spot features a lot of characters which my younger readers may not recognize. Back when the magical McDonaldland existed, there were a whole bunch of zany characters that lived there. Of course, everyone knows Ronald McDonald. He’s the leader (founder?) of McDonaldland. The next in command is Mayor McCheese, who takes care of the day to day business required to keep McDonaldland running. I’m not sure what the hell Grimace was supposed to be, but he’s Ronald’s best friend. When he was introduced in the 70’s, he had four arms and he stole milkshakes! The Hamburgler was also a thief, and although he stole hamburgers from the gang, he’s still considered a close friend. And those puffy, colourful characters? They’re Fry Kids! I don’t think they talk or do anything of importance, but they’re still pretty cool.
One thing I miss about the old characters is that you could create this whole universe around them. You learned to love them, and you got sucked into their world. If you take away the characters, then the alternate sense of reality they live in dies along with them. McDonaldland is no more. Ronald lives alone in the real world, and we all know that the real world isn’t all that fun.
Wow, there we go. Stick around, because in my next entry I'll talk about my favourite Christmas commercial yet! Until then, drive safe and love one another. I'll see you soon.
This commercial was suggested to me by Samantha, a co-worker of mine. It’s hard to think of old Christmas commercials without thinking about this one from Coca Cola.
This commercial may only be five years old, but its message of togetherness and tolerance is timeless. There were a whole bunch of these polar bear commercials over the years, but I really love this one the most.
True story: I had a great-great aunt named Grace. She was born in the late 1890’s, and died sometime before 2000. When these commercials, which were obviously computer animated, started coming out, she said to her daughter, “Gee, I wonder how they trained the polar bears to act like that!” Isn’t that adorable?
Another Coca Cola commercial that I loved was this one:
There’s very little that I can say about this commercial. Maybe it was my simple-mindedness, but I have always found myself amused by all the lights. Those trucks aren’t just transporting Coca Cola; they’re transporting something bigger: goodwill towards your fellow man, and peace on earth.
And now for something completely unrelated!
Regardless of what race or ethnicity they are, every kid’s dream is to be able to call up Santa. What if I told you that in 1985, there was a 1-900 number you could call to do just that? Sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it? Now what if I told you that if you called that number, Santa would rap just for you?
You see, before Snoop, before Eminem, and yes, even before Coolio, Santa Claus was the hip hop king of the world. For the low, low price of two dollars for the first minute, and forty-five cents for each additional minute, MC Santa would spit out his dope rhymes just for you!
So... where do I start? First of all, I had no idea that Santa had any rap skills. He’s pretty much the last person I would associate with the early hip hop scene. Second, you’ll notice that the commercial tells the children to get their parents’ permission before calling. I’d like to know what kind of parent would have allowed their children to call that number. Third, what could Santa rap about that would take longer than a minute? Could you interact with the big man, or was it just a recording? So many questions!
I really want to call that number and see what it is now. The problem is that I don’t get paid enough to afford the two dollars for the first minute, and forty-five cents for the second.
I think that in today’s society, where hip hop is more widely embraced, they should bring this back. I think that it would do extremely well! Nothing says “Merry Christmas” and “Peace on Earth” quite like Santa rapping.
Today, I've decided to change things up. A friend of mine, Cathie, is going to sit in and write this entry!
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How The Spots Saved Christmas
What kind of a spokes person is David Spade for the best lemon lime soda on the market? And how can he compare to those cute little Spots? I dare say, he cannot. With this commercial we take you back to a simpler time, yet a time wrought with peril.
For you see, in Santa's 7Up induced stupor, he "accidentally" leaves behind the fire truck for Little Johnny. Only the brave souls known as The Spots would dare venture onto said fire truck, and drive it through a passage in a creepy tree with eyes, that just happens to empty out into Little Johnny's living room. (Please note that even though it is snowing, Johnny's parents decided to leave the window open.) Apparently this was a covert operation, as The Spots request that you keep quiet about the whole thing less we blemish Santa's impeccable gift-giving record.
As many of my readers probably know, I grew up in Ontario, Canada. The winters up there were cold and snowy, but we always dealt with it. It’s become somewhat of a joke, as you can see in this Midas commercial.
Ok, this ad isn’t old. And sure, maybe it’s not Christmas related. It’s still pretty damn funny, though. I remember laughing my ass off when I saw it for the first time. Can any of my Canadian readers tell me if they still air this?
All jokes aside, winter tires are important. Make sure that your tires are in good shape, and drive safe this winter.
Now, I don’t remember any specific commercial from this series, but I sure remember them airing all the time around the holidays. For those of you who aren’t in the know, Canadian Tire isn’t simply an auto parts store. It’s a place of wonder, combining auto parts with discount-quality home improvement goods. You need tools? Go to Canadian Tire. You need sporting goods? Go to Canadian Tire. You need tires? You could go to Canadian Tire, although I wouldn’t recommend it.
Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, Ebenezer Scrooge would appear in the Canadian Tire Christmas commercials. Before he was visited by the three spirits of Christmas, he wasn’t exactly known for his over-the-top spending habits. That’s why he loves Canadian Tire. He was able to buy his gifts, and save lots of money while he did it!
I remember getting a Teddy Ruxpin for Christmas back in 1987. I remember it very clearly, considering I was only three years old at the time. I didn’t believe that it was Christmas that year because there wasn’t any snow on the ground. Teddy Ruxpin was one of my favourite toys for a long, long time. He’s still kicking around, actually. I have him, and several of his tapes, packed away in a box up in Canada.
Well, until next time, stay warm and hug your loved ones. I’ll be back soon with more Christmas fun!
Now that it's officially December, we can really get into the Christmas spirit around here. I know I already have.
Today, I've got a special treat for you. If you love Christmas carols, and you love the Smurfs, then you're going to love this.
I tried searching the internet looking for an orginal release date for this record, but I couldn't find anything except a track listing. (I didn't look very hard)
I'll be honest with you; there's nothing good about this album. I don't know what kind of drugs people were on in the 80's, but they must have been pretty powerful. How else can you explain why such a record was made? Or even worse, why people would buy it?
I enjoy unnecessary Christmas-related media as much as the next person. I even have my own VHS copy of Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. Merry Christmas With The Smurfs crosses the line, though. This is just terrible.
If you find that you can't live without this album, don't fret. It's available on iTunes for your listening pleasure. Don't say I didn't warn you.
This next commercial is another favourite of mine. It combines two important pillars of my childhood: Pepsi and Super Mario.
With this cross-promotion between Pepsi and Nintedo comes one of the most fun Christmas commercials of all time. In spot, our hero's on a very important mission. No, Princess Toadstool doesn't need to be rescued. No, King Koopa's not wrecking havoc on the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario's mission is more important than that. Today, he's trying out his new-found Santa power, and spreading joy to everyone in the general store. He's collecting Pepsi instead of coins, and firing out Action Sets, Game Paks, and best of all, the sensational new Game Boy!
I didn't get my Nintendo or my Game Boy until years after this commercial aired. At that age, I wanted nothing more in life than to have my own Nintendo, and this commercial just further strengthened those feelings.
In fact, this commercial looks so fun that if it were an actual game, I'd gladly play it.
Well, that's it for now. I'll be back next week with more Christmas commercials. Until then, stay safe!
Ho ho ho! Now that we have Thanksgiving out of the way, we can start concentrating on the most important of the year-end holidays. That's right, Christmas is coming, and here at FVA, we love Christmas! (Ed. Note - We're going to start refering to the name of this blog as FVA, because Fun Vintage Advertising is long, and I'm generally lazy.)
For the next month or so, I'll be posting a number of commercials with each update. Consider it my gift to you, my dearest readers.
Our first Christmas commercial is a classic. As far as I'm concerned, the Christmas season doesn't really start until this commercial comes on. You know it, and you love it.
You've probably seen this commercial play a couple of time this year. I couldn't tell you when this commercial started airing, but it feels like it's been there my whole life.
There are a couple of things I love about this Hershey's Kisses spot. You'll notice there's no voice-over. There's no background. There are no loud, distracting colours, either. It's such a simply produced commercial, and that's what makes it so powerful. It doesn't rely on any of those crazy tricks to catch your attention. I wish more advertising was like this!
Our second commercial is also a classic, and I feel like it just isn't Christmas without it. Of course, you won't see this spot on TV anymore. It's been years since I've seen this ad.
Back in the 70's and 80's, McDonalds used to play a pretty active role in trying to appeal to children. They created this whole McUniverse, filled with magic, fun, and hamburgers. There was a whole cast of zany characters, and today only one has really survived. Ronald McDonald didn't just advertise food to children. No, rather, he taught them how to live, love, and have a fun time while doing it.
In this commercial, Ronald is taking a whole bunch of his friends out pond skating. As the cast of Babmi looks on, the children skate majestically across the ice. The young blonde boy, who I just now named Little Billy, tries his hardest to skate with everyone else. The problem is that he just doesn't know how. Everybody is having a grand ol' time while Little Billy just looks on. The other children ignore Little Billy, but not Ronald. Ronald doesn't actually teach Little Billy to skate, but instead just spins him around in the air a couple of times.
It's such a heart-warming commercial, which I feel really represents the Christmas spirit. This commercial isn't about selling Happy Meals to children, it's about something much, much bigger: peace and love. With the Christmas season being so commercialized, it's very refreshing to take a step back and realize that there's so much more to the season than profits.
My friends, my dear readers, enjoy this holiday season. If you'd like, how about sharing a little Christmas memory or two in the comments. Are there any commercials you'd like me to write about? Let me know!
Take care of yourself, and I'll see you again soon with some more of my favourite commercials!
For those of us living in the good ol' US of A, the season of Thanksgiving is upon us! It's a time of year for family, friends, and of course, delicious food. Of course, this means that there will probably be a lot of activity in your kitchen. What better time to bust out this old gem of a PSA?
I'm not exactly sure when Warner Brothers released this PSA about kitchen safety, but I rememeber seeing it a lot. My favourite part is with the pot of boiling water. I don't know why, but he seems pretty intent on harming little children. The kettle and the cookie jar near the stove were clear dangers, but they at least knew enough to correct themselves. The pot, though, he's clearly out for blood.
I want to start off by saying that I didn't grow up with this commercial. I couldn't tell you where I originally saw it, but for some reason I have it saved as a bookmark in my Firefox browser. If you like tuna, Star Wars, and Japan, then you're going to love this one.
This commercial meets all of my Fun Vintage Advertising criteria. It's fun, it's vintage (1978!), and it's certainly advertising.
The music is absolutely terrible, although I'll admit to getting this song stuck in my head more than once. I'm not sure what they're saying, but it's certainly fun trying to immitate what they're singing.
Also, I don't mean to ruin an otherwise perfect commerical for you, but you'll notice that the poorly recreated C3PO has breasts and a panty line.
Japan, Japan, Japan... I'm sure you're an awesome country. You have a bit of a reputation over here for being strange, and I've always wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but this commercial is just plain weird. Does George Lucas know you did this?
I vividly remember this commerical coming out in 1992.
As a nine year old little boy, the good folks at Milton Bradley weren't just advertising a mere board game. They were promising me the most extreme board game ever! I used to love watching this spot, each time putting myself in the winner's place. I'd have the power to condemn the loser to hell! That'd put a quick end to my bully problem!
I never actually owned Crossfire, but I'll tell you this: not a day goes by that I don't look back with regret, thinking of what may have been if I had owned it. Maybe I would have developed omnipotent powers. Or maybe I could have just killed some time playing with my friends. We'll never know. We'll just never know.
I'm posting this from my Blackberry, so please forgive me if the formatting is off! I'll fix it while I'm at work later today.
This week's commercial was suggested to me by Curtis, an old high school friend of mine.
I don't know when Sunny Delight started doing these commercials, but they're all pretty much the same. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. The kids play. They come into the alpha-kid's house, and raid his fridge. What's in there? A bottle of generic pop (or soda, if you will), purple stuff, actual real orange juice, and Sunny Delight.I've never quite understood the appeal of Sunny Delight. It's basically pure sugar with a hit of orange flavouring. I've always hated the stuff. Obviously, though, people are drinking it. It's been around since 1964, and it's still around today. I get that Sunny Delight is packed with vitamins. But so is real orange juice! And real orange juice is so much more delicious.
Anyway, this here blog isn't about products I hate. It's about commercials I love! And while I think that Sunny Delight is possibly the worst product ever invented by mankind, they've produced some of the most iconic 90's-era commercials ever. I guess that while I
won't drink Sunny Delight, but I'll gladly watch other people enjoy it.
I don't think I've ever actually had a Blow Pop. I remember having these gum-filled lolipops back in high school that were made by Tootsie, but I don't think I've ever had an authentic Blow Pop.
It's a shame, really, because this commercial makes the world of gum-filled, fruit-flavoured candy look so exciting! Look at those kids; they're so busy enjoying their Blow Pops that they can't even remember their lines!
It's no secret to a lot of people that I'm a pretty big Tetris fan. My sisters and I used to have copies of Tetris for our Game Boys, and we used to play against each other. Later on, I moved on to the NES version of Tetris. I got really good at it, and it became a big part of my life. Even today, I like to think that I can stack boxes and move things into storage really well because of my Tetris-playing skillz.
I don't personally remember when this commercial first came out, but GameFaqs.com tells me that Tetris was released for the NES in November of 1989. I assume that this commercial is from around this time. I love the artwork, which was done by using chalk on black paper. I love the hard-rocking music, too. (Extra special bonus fact: this commercial was made in Canada!)
There's a couple of things that bother me, though. First of all, the cubs aren`t playing with actual Nintendo controllers. Second of all, the bears really, really suck at Tetris. Even as a child, I knew that.They're getting a little too excited over a game that they are losing. Especially that move that they make at the end. Go ahead and watch it again. I'll wait here.
All in all, though, this commerical is pretty fantastic. It kind of makes me want to hook up the ol' Nintendo and play a couple of levels before work.
Today's commercial comes to us from the good folks at Lipton Brisk Iced Tea. Let's take a trip back to 1997. I would have been in grade eight at this time. (I'm getting old!)
I love, love, love this commericial. The claymation was amazing, and I find myself randomly quoting this spot even now, thirteen years later. In fact, my coworkers and I were randomly talking about it a few weeks ago.
Plus, I think it's really cool that they got Sylvester Stalone himself to provide the voice of Rocky.
Lipton went on to do a few of these claymation ads to promote Brisk Iced Tea. I think I remember one with a whole bunch of different singers, including Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra, Coolio, and Elvis. It was good, I think, but it didn't have the staying power that Rocky had.
Ladies, gentelmen, dear readers, welcome to my new home.
My name is Patrick, and I work as a master control operator for a television station in the Mid-West. As you may have guessed, watching television is a big part of my job.
Growing up, my sister and I used to watch a lot of pre-recorded television. We had VHS (and Beta!) tapes full of old cartoons from the mid-80's all the way up to the early 90's. We grew up watching the same old episodes of My Pet Monster, The Real Ghostbusters, Yogi Bear, and ALF. As an adult, I find myself re-watching these tapes, and it takes me back to better times.
As much as I love all my cartoons, I find that the part that excites me more is the advertising. There's something about old commercials that makes me all tingly inside. I've tried time and time again to figures out exactly what it is that I love, but I can't seem to pinpoint it.
As I mentioned earlier, I watch television professionally. I see a lot of commericals. And while there are a lot of really effective, entertaining commercials, very rarely do they capture the same spark as older ones do.
In this blog, I'll be bringing you commercials that I grew up with, commericals that interest me, and hell, maybe even modern commericals that capture my attention. I hope to update this thing at least once a week.
So, without further adu... let's bring on the commericals!
Our first commercial comes to us from the good people at Slim Jim. I remember watching wrestling when I was younger, back when it came on right before American Gladiators on Saturday mornings.
In this series of commericals, Macho Man Randy Savage would give us clear, well thought-out reasons why we should enjoy his stick-shaped meat product.
And by that, I mean he just yelled a lot.
Randy Savage was really just a more extreme version of the Kool-Aid man, busting through walls and telling us to SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!
As entertaining at these spots were, I have to point out that my first experience with a Slim Jim was pretty disappointing. I had to learn the hard way that Slim Jims don't snap. They just kinda bend. I felt extremely let down. If I couldn't take the word of Macho Man Randy Savage, then who else could I trust? I still carry that burden to this day.
Randy Savage's days of glory, like Miss Elizabeth, have long since died. I think, though, that anytime someone is disappointed when they bite into a Slim Jim, they'll think of the Macho Man.
