FVA's Christmas Ad-stravaganza, Part One of Hopefully More Than One

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!

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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!

I just wait for a child to grab my handle.

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.

The tuna is strong with this one

Good afternoon, my dear readers.

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?