Putt putt for the fun of it!

Spring is finally here, and I'm feeling a little homesick. It seems that when I'm homesick, I like to troll the internet for stuff that makes me even more homesick. There's a Youtube channel that I've talked about before, called Retrontario. They have all sorts of old commercials from Southern Ontario and Western New York. That channel is nothing but pure gold.

Now, if you love mini golf and catchy jingles, I have just the thing for you!


This commercial played over and over again for most of my childhood. I'm now 31 years old, and I haven't been able to get this stupid song out of my head. I'm not complaining, because it's a pretty great song.

Now, I'm no good at golf, be it mini or full-sized. I've always been fascinated by it, though. (The same applies to bowling.) I feel like it's something that I should like, because look at all those people in the ad! They're having the time of their lives! It's fun! The last time I played mini-golf was about two years ago. My wife was quite pregnant, and we had absolutely nothing to do that day. It was a fantastic day for a round of mini-golf. I did horribly, but my wife was actually pretty good.

I bet that putt putt course was the place to be on a Friday night in the towns of Tonawanda and Cheektowaga, New York back in the 80's.

Anyway, I really have nothing of any substance to add to this. It's a fun commercial with a fun jingle. Really, what more could you ask for?

FVA's Christmas Ad-Stravaganza 2013 - Part Three of Hopefully More Than One

I was in town last night, doing some groceries, when suddenly I got really angry.

Y'see, for a lot of people, the holidays can be really hard. For me, last night, I think my problem was that I was just tired of being so overwhelmed with all things Christmas.

I love my job so much. I love working in television. It's hard, though, having to listen to the same Christmas commercials over and over and over again. It's almost too much for one person to take. On the drive home, you see all the stores and everything are decorated for Christmas. You listen to the radio, and all you hear are Christmas ads. You go out shopping, and it's nothing but Christmas music.

I'm not a religious man by any stretch, but I understand that Christmas is something more than just all-out commercialism. It has to be. Whatever happened to goodwill towards man? What about taking care of those in need?

As I walked through the grocery store last night, I thought to myself, "There's only one person in the world who really understands what I'm going through. That person is Charlie Brown."



(Did you see how I tied that all together?)

This particular commercial aired 1986, back when CBS had the rights to A Charlie Brown Christmas. (They ended up losing the rights to ABC in 2001, where it has aired every year since)

There was always something about A Charlie Brown Christmas that really resonated with me. As a kid, I loved getting gifts as much as anyone, but even then I knew there was more to Christmas than just getting stuff.

Frosty the Snowman was also featured on this promo. Ol' Frosty and I go way back. Long-time readers will recall how my sister and I used to watch old VHS tapes of cartoons all the time. Well, this was one of them! I love Frosty, but honestly, I haven't watched this one in years.

Well, friends, I'm sorry that I got all preachy on you today. I promise the new year will start with a much more positive attitude from yours truly.

Have a good Christmas, and I'll see you next year.

FVA's Christmas Ad-Stravaganza 2013 - Part One of Hopefully More Than One

I've decided that I want to get an early start on our FVACAS this year, and get at least one post per week in before Christmas. Maybe... just maybe... we'll see some entries from our friends along the way!

This first commercial is from Hardees.


I  actually had to look up whether or not it was the actual burger chain, or some other business which shares that name. Y'see, I'm not from 'round these here parts. Where I'm from, there was no Hardees or Carl's Jr., and so I never even knew that this chain existed until I moved to Missouri. When I arrived here, Hardees was already into their sexy-nearly-naked-woman-covered-in-delicious-condiments phase. (I Googled that, and somehow didn't get any porn...)

Anyway, it had never occurred to me that Hardees could be anything but sleazy. I have no idea when this ad aired, but I know it was sometime in the 80's. This ad is so wholesome, and it features Disney characters, kids, and old people. It's quite the stark contrast to their current advertising campaign

---

This next commercial starts with Bill Cosby sneaking up and yelling at some innocent kids.




I don't really have much to say about this one, except that it features Bill Cosby and Jello. Look how much fun those kids are having! You have to admire their patience, because everyone knows that it takes forever to make Jello.

Well, friends, that's it until next week. See you then!

FVA's Halloween Extravaganza 2013!

Hello friends! You didn't think I would go for the entire year without posting something, did you?

Today, we're going to talk a little about Halloween. I don't think I really need to tell you that there have been many, many spooky commercials over the last couple of decades. Let's take a look at some of them, shall we?

This first one is a Toys 'R' Us ad from 1980. Let's watch:


 

 

One thing that immediately stands out is the music. It's a perfect mix of spooky and zany. I like the lack of a voice-over for the first half of the commercial. It's not yelling at you to buy anything. Without a word, this commercial says "Hey, it's Halloween! You better start thinking of what you want to dress up as!" (That sounds grammatically incorrect. Would that be "You better start thinking of that as which you would like to dress?")

And check out this imagery!

Oh no, the cat is throwing up 

ghosts, witches, and other scary things.

Come in here! Y'gotta see this...

(followed by...)

Oh my god, a dancing skeleton!

Geoffrey, you wacky giraffe, you didn't 

prepare me for that!

And check out some these two costumes.

Gimpy Big Bird

Gimpy Yoda

Those are probably the lamest costumes I've ever seen. Maybe they were pretty cool by 1980s standards, but I don't think they'd hold up too much today. Why would Yoda wear a t-shirt with his own image on it?

All in all, I would still call this a pretty fun commercial. It has everything: great music, spooky animation, and terrible costumes.

---

The fun doesn't end there, though. That last spot, great as it was, came out about two and a half years before I was born. Here's one that I distinctly remember from, well, sometime in the 90's.

Pizza Head was a blatant Mr. Bill rip-off that Pizza Hut used from 1993 until 1997. If you're a piece of pizza, this commercial really stabs at all your nightmares!

Pizza-cutter mummy

Pizza-cutter scary picture

Pizza-cutter vampire

I forgot just how much I loved Pizza Head, which is weird when you consider that I really hate Mr. Bill.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I've got one more commercial that I'm going to try to get to before Halloween, and if it doesn't get put up this year, it'll definitely be around next year.

Until then, have a happy Halloween!

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

Hello, friends. It certainly has been a while. I feel like I've all but abandoned this place, but something inside me has called me back.

As I'm sure I've mentioned many times before, it's really hard coming up with new content. I have plenty of content, but I don't really have the means of making it available for this website. I spent the night trolling the Yoo-Toobs, looking for something to bring that spark back. I won't lie to you - it was hard. But friends, I think I have something now.


Back in the 1980's (and perhaps even before then?), this series of commericals for Hills Department Store played almost 'round the clock starting in November. Once you heard the sing-songy jingle, you knew that the holidays had finally arrived.

Look at the seemingly endless supply of toys! Look at the bad 80's animation! Look at the man-elf who's actually a woman! Seriously, what's not to like?

I think that I've been to Hills maybe once in my life... and even then, I don't think it was during the Christmas season. And honestly, I remember being pretty underwhelmed. I was maybe six or seven years old. We didn't have a Hills in our town, so we had to make a special trip into Buffalo.

Unfortunately, Hills went out of business in 1991. I'll never have the chance to go back, and that makes me sad. Not that I would even want to, really. I'm a grown man!

Anyway, this commercial won't mean nearly as much to you as it does to me. To you, it's probably just another commercial. To me, though, it brings up warmth and fuzziness.

I sort of have this facination with with now-defunct department stores, and I think that's something I'd like to touch on sometime in 2013.

I know it's a little early for Christmas, but I thought it'd be nice to give you a little taste. Just a little something to make your mouth water just a little.

It's been a while, friends. It feels good to be back, even if it's just for a while.

That damn rabbit...

Hello there, fellow blogsters.

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently stumbled upon, and later digitized, a lot of commercials from my childhood. Since then, I have posted them up on the YouTubes, and I'll talk about them one by one.

Out of all the cool stuff that I uploaded, there's one commercial in particular that's getting viewed a lot more than the others, and I wish I knew why. While most of my commercials have 20-30 views each, this one has 443 as of today.

That poor rabbit. All he wants is some delicious Trix cereal. He keeps getting close, but then something always blows his cover.

I really wish I could explain why this video is so overwhelmingly popular compared to my others. Is there some sort of Trix campaign going on? Did the rabbit finally get his hands on this delicious, delicious cereal?

So many questions, yet so few answers. Such is life, I suppose.

Anyway, I have a whole bunch of commercials and promos up on the YouTubes, many of which I'll be writing about in the coming days/months/years/decades. Feel free to look for me on YouTube! I'm mrmonopoly42.

That's all I got for now. See you next time!

These Are The Trailers From My Favorite 80s Movies

Oh, the 1980s. Wasn't that a great era to be a kid? Lost pirate treasure, magic books, personal karate masters, aliens with healing index fingers. Aside from living under the specter of nuclear proliferation by Sarah Palin's neighbors and rampant racial stereotyping, the world was an 80s kid's oyster, and this was reflected in the movies we watched.

We're all products of the cultures and eras in which we were born, and us 80s babies grew up in a world of puppets, aliens, and shape-shifting mogwais. We may not be able to ever recapture that innocence, but we can relive it through our friend YouTube!

So join me, dear readers, on an adventure into the imaginations of millions of kids, with a look at some of the trailers for some classic 80s films!

We'll start with the obvious...the 1982 classic "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial," the film that launched the careers of Drew Barrymore and Reese's Pieces. It also presented a new way of using a Speak 'n' Spell.



Man, I haven't seen this movie in ages.

Up next, we're going with a personal favorite. I still identify with this movie...bullied kid, love of books, luck dragon. I remember in first grade we illustrated our dreams, and my picture was myself riding on Falkor's back (if you call him a dog, so help me he is a LUCK DRAGON).



Here's another personal favorite...The Labyrinth! I figured I should show at least one film trailer featuring a girl protagonist. This movie also stars Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie, and David Bowie's package...something I was both keenly aware of and thoroughly confused by at a young age.



The last trailer I'm going to feature is another personal favorite. Starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright (before she was Penn), and Mandy Patinkin, along with a plethora of hilarious cameos, The Princess Bride has become a cult classic (though I do know someone who has never seen it!).



There you go, folks. I'd keep going if I could, but maybe another movie trailer entry will be coming along soon...? Perhaps one with more movies featuring kickass girls...maybe my co-blogger is up to that challenge??

I JUST HAD A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR LUNCH - A tribute to the canned pasta of the 80's

Hello again, my dearest readers. I've been trying to write this entry for about a week, but I had some strange computer problem where it would get really hot and shut itself off. I'm happy to report that the problem has somehow corrected itself, and I'm able to watch videos again. That's good news for you!

I used to love canned pasta. Come lunch time, it was always exciting to hear the hum of the can opener and the plopping noises as delicious canned goodness fell into the microwavable Tupperware container.

On top of being delicious, I always thought that the commercials for the various canned pastas were fun too. I didn't realize how many kinds of canned pasta there were until I started poking around the internet.

Now, bear with me if you will. I'm not sure if all of these brands were available in both Canada and the US. The ones I'm posting now, I distinctly remember from Canada.



Oh, Smurf-a-getti... you were indeed my favourite, but I'm afraid I never got to spend much time with you. It seems like you were always being passed over in favour of your more generic counterparts.

This commercial, while fun sounding, looked really cheaply produced. Take a look at those breakdancing Smurfs. They really don't look like they were offically licenced by the Hannah-Barbara studios. The cans, on the other hand, look like they were well drawn.

Fun fact! "Schtroumpf" is the French word for "Smurf". How do you pronounce "Schtroumpf"? Don't ask me. I've been trying for twenty years.



Dino-getti was also one of the passed-over canned pastas in my household. Looking back, I suppose that it didn't make too much of a difference. No matter what kind of canned pasta you got, they all tasted the same.

I didn't think too much about it as a kid, but now that I'm a grown man, I'd pay good money to see a band of dinosaurs play a song about a glorified ketchup and noodles product.



Zoodles seemed the the de facto standard canned pasta in my family. As I said, it didn't make a big difference since all these pastas tasted the exact same. These were just regular animals, though. They weren't Smurfs, nor were they Dinosaurs. Just plain, old, wild animals.

And what's up with the Zoodles in chicken stock? Yuck.

Now that I'm older, I probably wouldn't go anywhere near this stuff. But back in the day... oh boy, I'd be all over it!

I don't really see many commercials for canned pasta anymore. I wonder if it was deemed unhealthy by a group of extreme, but well-meaning, parents? I'm too lazy to actually read up on it, so I guess we'll never know.

That's it for now. I'll see you next time!

The Action Never Stops... at Action Park!

Hey, everyone! It's my first entry as an official co-writer here at FVA!

I figured an entry featuring local advertisements would be a good way for people to get to know who I am. So I decided to feature advertisements from a New Jersey legend, for two reasons: first, to get into a bit of regional history, and second, to show some great locally-made commercials from the 1980s.

Action Park was an amusement park located in Vernon, NJ, in the northern part of the state. It opened in 1978 and closed in 1996, and was known by such monikers as "Traction Park," "Accident Park," and "Class Action Park." These nicknames were not without merit. Stories of accidents and injuries became the legacy of Action Park. Action Park was also featured in multiple Weird NJ magazine stories (the guys who created Weird NJ also hosted a TV series, "Weird U.S." in 2004-05!) throughought the 1990s and 2000s (for the record, Weird NJ is a popular magazine here in the Garden State, featuring strange trips around my fair state).

The park was also known for it's commercials and catchy jingles. I don't personally have any memories of these, but they ran in the mid-80s, so I would have been too young to remember. However, thanks to the wonder that is YouTube, these legendary locally produced commercials live on!

This first one is from 1983, the year of my birth. Here we see New Jersey residents (you can tell by the accents, there's a nice mix of both north and south Jersey accents, if you have an ear for that sort of thing). The motto at that time was "There's Nothing in the World Like Action Park." Check out the awesome computer-animated graphics, too!

Here's are two more from sometime in the mid-80s, featuring all the fun stuff you can do at Action Park, as well as a toe-tapping theme song. No mention of life-threatening injury, however:

Well, my friends, that should do it for this edition of Fun Vintage Advertising. I'm looking forward to writing about other fun commercials from the past as a regular here at FVA!

Those damn laughing trees

Ladies and gentlemen, before I get into today's entry, I have an announcement to make. The staff here at Fun Vintage Advertising has doubled!

That's right. There are two of us workin' 'round these here parts now.

Jess Roz, who has contributed a couple of guest entries for us in the past, is now an official writer for FVA. Jess and I go way back, and I've always admired her writing style, her sense of humour, and her love of all things obscure. I've been toying with the idea of having a second writer for a while now, and I knew from the get-go that Jess would be perfect for the job!

---

Today's commercial for Sunkist Fun Fruits used to really freak me out. Watch it, and you'll know why.



These kids are on the search for something called a fruitosaurus. So far so good, right? When they find a dinosaur, they get scared and run away. Now I'm confused. Is this dinosaur not the fruitosaurus? Do these kids even know what the fruitosaurus looks like?

I imagine, though, that stumbling on any sort of dinosaur would be scary. I'd probably run too. But into a forest full of laughing trees? Hell no! As scary as that dinosaur was, those trees are much worse. It was a good thing that the dinosaur (which may or may not be the fruitosaurus?) was friendly. Those laughing trees keep laughing, though, as if they're mocking the children.

This commercial straight-up gave me nightmares as a child. Not so much because of the dinosaur, but because of those damn trees. In fact, now that I've watched this commercial close to ten times tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if the nightmares started again.

And now that I think about it, do people still eat fruit snacks? I used to get them in my lunch all the time when I was a wee lad, but I don't think I've seen them in quite a while.

Over and over and over and over and over and over: A tribute to Barbie

Hello everyone!

You may be thinking to yourself, gee whiz, I didn't know Patrick was a big Barbie fan! I hate to disappoint, but sadly I was never into Barbie. However, guest-blogger Jess is! You may remember her from her Nickelodeon bumper entry from February.

My friends, Jess is back with an entry that will blow your mind with awesomeness.

Also, Barbie stole my dance moves.

---

I asked Patrick if I could do this for his blog, and then I promptly forgot. Sorry, Pat! But then I logged into YouTube and it recommended some videos to me, which jogged my memory.

I was a pretty typical little girl when it came to Barbies. I liked playing with them. And recently, I've been finding myself watching old commercials on YouTube. My Barbie era was the late 80s through the early 90s, when my Barbies got terrible haircuts and met gruesome fates...I mean, I grew out of them. Yeah.

Barbie commercials from that era feature young girls, playing with their Barbies (and Kens!) in a world splashed with bright colors and catchy jingles. The commercials were all similar; there'd be two little girls, a Barbie that did something, and a song to tell you about what the Barbies could do. The commercials featured the little girls easily posing and moving their dolls around - something I could never get them to do in real life.

One of my favorite Barbies was Totally Hair Barbie, in her saucy neon minidress and long hair (down to her toes!) that you could style any and every which way. I had both Barbie and Ken. Check out the commercial...I could never make my Barbies' hair look THAT good!



She comes with Dep gel and has the longest hair in the world! I wonder if anyone really came up with such a variety of hairstyles. It's also worth mentioning that Totally Hair Ken had real (fake) hair! I'm pretty sure I ran out of Dep in about a week.

Here's another classic commercial for Shavin' Fun Ken. I imagine this is actually what goes down when dudes shave their beards. Ohh, Ken!



This commercial is from 1995. You can tell because of Ken's fashion choices. Hey, wait...I think Shavin' Fun Ken is just Totally Hair Ken with a fake beard, now that I look at it...they seem to have the same hair.

Here's another one from the early 90s, for Cut 'n' Style Barbie. I'm pretty sure that is a sinister young Amanda Bynes at the end (but I've been unable to find any sources confirming this). I'm not sure if I'd want her near my head with scissors...



The 90s will come back to haunt us, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

And I'll conclude with this one from the previous decade. From 1986...Barbie and the Rockers! Check out how they "dance"!



Ken's enthusiasm for joining Barbie's band is intoxicating.

Well, that should do it for this go-around. I think I've put off studying for my exams long enough...

PARTY IN THE PSA, PART FOUR: I learned it by watching you!

I'm sorry it took so long to get this one up, but I've been busy with a lot of stuff. I know, it was irresponsible of me, but I promise I'll make it up to you!

Today, we're going to look at the grandaddy of all public service announcements. This is one we all know and love.




One thing that always bothered me about this PSA is that the father kept interrupting his son. I am, by no means, an expert on this subject. However, if I was writing this PSA, I would have done so in such a way that would encourage an open dialog.

They say that parents who use drugs have children who use drugs. I didn't think of it when I was younger, but seeing this PSA through my adult eyes, I really have to wonder if that fact is. Just because a parent does drugs, does that automatically predispose the children into using drugs as well? I wonder where I could find some statistics about this.

As I think I said in previous entry, I really wonder how effective these old PSAs really were. A brief look through the YouTube comments would suggest that they didn't quite get the job done. Here are some gems for your viewing pleasure:

"my dad bought me a pie when my mom caught me smoking and told me congradulations"

"why don't they just pool their money and smoke together. good father/son time right there. "

"haha it probly ended like when my dad first caught me with the reefer "alright son we got 20 minutes before your mother gets home, lets see how good this weed is" LOL "

The ideas behind these PSAs were well-intentioned, I'm sure. I just don't think they were all that effective. Of course, I'm saying that without having any statistics or concrete facts. I'm using my own experiences as my gauge. It's my blog, I can say what I want!

All that being said, though, this spot is still widely quoted and spoofed regularly. (Some examples that come to mind off the top of my head are Clone High and Scrubs.) It may not have won us the war against drugs, but it certainly gave us one of the most memorable lines ever spoken on television. And really, that's what's really important!

Tune in next week, when I get off my soapbox and go back to reviewing fun toy and cereal commercials! If you love Barbie, (and really, who doesn't?), then you're going to love our next entry!

PARTY IN THE PSA, PART ONE: Doing it with crack isn't just wrong, it could be dead wrong.

Hello again, my dear readers.

Growing up, we were taught that drugs were bad. It seems like back in the 80's and early 90's, you couldn't watch TV without seeing some sort of PSA about drugs. A lot of them weren't very convincing, and had no real effect on us. There are some, though, that just stick to your soul. This is one of them.



I grew up watching Pee Wee's Playhouse. It was a strange show, and Pee Wee Herman was a strange, strange man. He was loud, and his attention span on the show seemed almost non-existent. Let's play with toys! Let's find out the word of the day! Let's watch a cartoon! Oh boy, a talking chair!

The contrast between his Pee Wee's Playhouse persona and the tone of this PSA is what makes this PSA so powerful. He's no longer a man-child with ADD. He's speaking as an adult who genuinely cares about our well-being. It was pretty powerful stuff, back in the day.

I'm not sure, though, that this PSA holds up anymore. In fact, have you noticed you don't see drug PSA's on television these days? I should do some poking around to see some statistics on how effective they were.

In the next little while, I'm going to review some other PSA's from back in the day. There are some real gems out there, so keep your eyes peeled for more PSA entries!

And when all my work is done, will you love me just for my body? I could live with that.

Long before the modern "Got Milk?" campaign, this old gem would play on TV all the time.



Being a very scrawny little pipsqueak in my childhood years, I feel like these milk commercials gave me a sense of hope. Maybe one day, if I drank enough milk, I'd grow up into a strong, attractive man. Maybe then I could seek revenge on the bullies, or I could get that attractive girl at the beach. There was nothing I wouldn't be able to do, because dammit, I drank milk.



The problem with this whole thing, though, was that I couldn't stand the taste of milk. Even as a child, the whole concept seemed strange to me. Think about this: one day, back in history, someone was walking by a herd of cows. As they passed by the field, they thought to themselves, "Hmm, I wonder what the secretions from that cow's nipples would taste like!" It's hard to imagine, isn't it? But somewhere down the line, this situation had to've happened. Don't even get me started on cheese!

It's funny to see how advertisements for milk have evolved since 1985. Instead of appealing to the benefits of drinking milk, sometimes you just need to try and make it cool. The Dairy Farmers of Ontario did just that a few years ago.



Just another reason Canada's awesome, eh?

I may not ever get the urge to sip on a nice, cold glass of cow nipple secretion, but I sure know a great advertising campaign when I see one. Those classic milk spots, my friends, were good stuff.

BUMPERPALOOZA, PART THREE: Better living through good TV

Today, we're going to wrap up Bumperpalooza with a guest entry by my good friend Jess. Because I grew up in Canada, and I didn't even have cable, I was never able to see anything from Nickelodeon. I missed out on all sorts of classic shows, including The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Clarissa Explains It All, and GUTS. Missing those shows were bad enough, because now that I'm living in the States, I can't talk about them with my friends!

When Jess sent me links to these videos, I realized that I missed out on some pretty epic bumpers. I think they were well produced, especially the Nick at Nite bumpers. I'm extremely grateful that Jessica offered to write about them!

Before I hand it over to Jess, I'm probably going to be snowed into my apartment until tomorrow afternoon. My area of Missouri is expecting about 20 inches of snow today, so maybe I'll spend the day updating this blog.

Ok, enough of me. Jess, take it away!

---

From the age of about 7 on, I watched a LOT of Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite. Back then, Nick at Nite came on every night beginning at 8PM, and they still aired shows like I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, etc. On Nickelodeon, Nicktoons had just started back then, it consisted of three shows (Doug, Rugrats,and Ren & Stimpy) which aired in a block beginning at 10AM Sunday morning.

One of the distinctive features of both Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite was the collection of bumpers from each channel. These bumpers, to borrow a phrase from Pat's recent entry, "served one main purpose: to reassure viewers that their shows would, indeed, return after a few short commercials."

First, we have a collection of bumpers from Nickelodeon. These would air between shows beginning about 6 in the morning until 8PM. There are a few block-specific bumpers (for example, the one at about 2:47 which explicitly advertises Nicktoons), but see if you remember any of these:



These bumpers are little slivers of my childhood. Those were Nickelodeon's golden years, in my opinion. I remember when they started SNICK and my brothers and I could stay up until 10PM on Saturday nights. I remember the premieres of shows such as Ahh! Real Monsters and Rocko's Modern Life and the ends of other classics such as Salute Your Shorts and The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Others of my immediate peer group(those American children born in the early 80s) should remember these, right? They'll probably get stuck in your head, fair warning.

After 8PM, Nickelodeon became Nick at Nite. Check out these bumpers from those years. I think they were likely done by the same folks:



The thing that sticks out to me with these (and the other bumpers FVA has been writing about) is how fast-paced and frenetic they are. The human mind can only take in and remember so much at a time, and so these bumpers were probably effective at ensuring long-term channel and brand loyalty. At the very least, they were effective in getting jingles stuck in our heads (but what would you expect after hearing the same eight-second jingle hundreds of times a day).

In any event, these bumpers serve to remind us that childhood television watching was made up of many different components, all designed to zap us at our core and stick with us forever.