Classic Commercials

[kes1111]

Classic commercials from the 70's & 80's.


Life was popularized during the 1970s by an advertising campaign featuring "Mikey," a hard-to-please four-year-old-boy portrayed by John Gilchrist. His two older brothers were portrayed by his real-life brothers, Michael and Tommy.[2] The commercials featured the catchphrase "He likes it! Hey Mikey!" The ad campaign ran from 1972 to 1986,[3] becoming one of the longest-running television advertisements.


Oscar Mayer had several advertisements on TV involving young children. A 1974 TV commercial featured four-year-old Andy Lambros holding a fishing rod and sandwich while singing, "My bologna has a first name, it's 'O-S-C-A-R'...". It became one of the longest-running TV commercials in the country.

 

[kes1111]

Calgon, take me away!"
This commercial was for Calgon bath and beauty products.

In this advertisement, a woman wearing a fluffy pink robe is seen in a chaotic home scenario. As tension rises, she utters the slogan "Calgon, take me away!" The next scene shows her relaxing in a bath in a quiet room.

"Ancient Chinese secret, huh?"
A set of commercials from the early 70s that ran for many years was for Calgon powdered water softener for laundry. They were set in a Chinese laundry somewhere in Anytown, USA.

A Caucasian lady customer at the counter (American actress Pamela Wiley) asks "Mr. Lee" (played by Chinese-American actor Calvin Jung), "How do you get your shirts so white?" He puts a finger to his lips and says, with a light Chinese accent, "Ancient Chinese secret."

The scene shifts to Mrs. Lee (Japanese-American actress, Anne Miyamoto) in the back room, who overhears her husband and says - in a perfectly flat Midwestern accent - "My husband! Some hotshot! Here's his "Ancient Chinese Secret" - Calgon!"

The customer is just about to exit the laundry when Mrs. Lee, having extolled the virtues of new formula Calgon - how, when added to rinse water, it helps make clothes 30% cleaner - pops her head around the door frame and calls to her husband, "We need more Calgon!" This prompts the customer to turn around from the door and stare daggers at Mr. Lee as she says, "'Ancient Chinese Secret,' huh?" Mr. Lee simply smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

 

[lightbright]

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[Varis]

You left out the iced tea plunge

 

[kes1111]

In 1971, a new campaign was launched on Earth Day with the theme, "People Start Pollution. People can stop it." In what became known as the "Crying Indian ad", the television ad, narrated by actor William Conrad, featured actor Iron Eyes Cody, who portrayed a Native American man devastated to see the destruction of the earth's natural beauty caused by the thoughtless pollution and litter of a modern society.


We didn't know about Rita Raccoon until we found this PSA from the '70s, and now that we've found her, we can't stop watching her hypnotizing head bob as she sings about preventing forest fires.

 

[kes1111]

The Kool-Aid Man, an anthropomorphic pitcher filled with Kool-Aid, is the mascot of Kool-Aid. The character was introduced shortly after General Foods acquired the brand in the 1950s. In television and print ads, the Kool-Aid Man was known for randomly bursting through walls of children's homes and proceeding to make a batch of Kool-Aid for them. His catch phrase is "Oh, yeah!


Joe Greene is also well known for his appearance in the "Hey Kid, Catch!" Coca-Cola commercial in 1979, which aired during Super Bowl XIV and cemented his legacy as a "tough football player who's a nice guy."

 

[lightbright]

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[kes1111]

Starting in 1973, a long-running advertising campaign was introduced for Parkay featuring a mechanically animated "talking tub" of the product. A typical ad depicted a sort of humorous verbal sparring match between a character mentioning Parkay, and the talking package (its lid flipping up in imitation of a mouth) correcting him by saying "butter" in a deadpan voice. The tagline: [announcer] "Parkay Margarine from Kraft--the flavor says..." [package] "...butter."


The classic Chiffon ads from the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles advertising agency[8]ran during the 1970s and into the 1980s, featuring character actress Dena Dietrich as the iconic character Mother Nature.[9] She likes Chiffon and identifies it as “... my delicious butter!” The narrator (voiced by character actor Mason Adams) then tells her: “That’s Chiffon margarine, not butter … Chiffon’s so delicious it fooled even you, Mother Nature.” Vexed at the trickery, Mother Nature responds by uttering, in increasingly scornful tones, her signature line “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature," quickly followed by a flash of lightning, a peal of thunder, and occasionally an additional threat (such as silently commanding an elephant to charge the camera). The advertisements were typically closed by a jingle containing the lyrics, "If you think it's butter, but it's not: it's Chiffon."

 

[jack walsh13]

We didn't know about Rita Raccoon until we found this PSA from the '70s, and now that we've found her, we can't stop watching her hypnotizing head bob as she sings about preventing forest fires.

I don't remember the raccoon one

 

[jack walsh13]

You left out the iced tea plunge

 

[kes1111]

One of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time, the Revlon Charlie advertising campaign of the 1970s.

In the spotlight was Shelley Hack, the Charlie Girl. Although other girls came before her, it was Shelley’s commercial that sparked the imagination of many. Because of her, everybody wanted to be a Charlie Girl.


Does anyone remember his Skin Bracer commercial? "Thanks, I needed that"?
He's standing in front of the bathroom mirror, slaps some Skin Bracer on his face, and knocks himself down. The last thing you see is his hand on the sink... "Thanks. I needed that".

 

[THE DRIZZY]

This makes me want to bump my post your classic local commercials thread.

 

[lightbright]

This makes me want to bump my post your classic local commercials thread.

 

[g0nbad real bad]

 

[THE DRIZZY]

I will leave these gems here.

 

[kes1111]

In 1971 a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by Billy Davis, became a hit single.


The "Be a Pepper" series referred to fans of Dr Pepper as "Peppers", and often featured large, sequential, crowd dance scenes, intricately choreographed by Tony Stevens and led onscreen by actor David Naughton.

 

[kes1111]

This Is Your Brain on Drugs was a large-scale US anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) launched in 1987, that used three televised public service announcements (PSAs) and a related poster campaign.


I learned it by watching you! was a large-scale United States anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Launched in July, 1987, the campaign used a televised public service announcement.

The PSA features a father confronting his son (Reid MacLean) in his bedroom after finding a box containing an unspecified controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. After his father angrily asks him how he learned to use drugs, the son shouts, "You, all right?! I learned it by watching you!" As the father recoils by realizing the error of his ways, a narrator then intones, "Parents who use drugs have children who use drugs."

 

[KoolJay]

LOL..... I remember all of them except the raccoon and Mr. Yuk. Hell, I still call foolz, Yuck Mouth and Cavity Creeps. That "Where's the beef" lady would have an internet sensation if we had internet back then. Everybody and they Mamma was saying that shyt, shirts and shyt. LOL. My Brother and cousin used to smack my Pops aftershave on and say that "I needed that", shyt burned like shyt though. LOL. I wonder if Mickey is all fat now, since he bad azz ALWAYS ate everything. LOL

 

[kes1111]

Here's a classic commercial for the "vertical checkers" game Connect Four ( Connect 4 ) with the memorable line, "Pretty Sneaky, Sis..."


The California Raisins were a fictionalrhythm and bluesanimated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphizedraisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles.[1] The California Raisins concept experienced high popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s principally through claymationTV commercials.

 

[kes1111]

In the television commercials, the bottle comes to life and talks (originally via stop-motion animation; CGI is used today). One of the main speeches for it was Mary Kay Bergman. Kim Fields appeared in ads alongside it in the late 1970s.


Carly Simon "Anticipation", became a significant hit, reaching No. 3 at Easy Listening radio and No. 13 on Billboard's Pop singles chart. It is perhaps even more famous for its use in a variety of international commercials to market the thick ketchup of the H. J. Heinz Company.

 

[ThaBurgerPimp]

The classic Chiffon ads from the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles advertising agency[8]ran during the 1970s and into the 1980s, featuring character actress Dena Dietrich as the iconic character Mother Nature.[9] She likes Chiffon and identifies it as “... my delicious butter!” The narrator (voiced by character actor Mason Adams) then tells her: “That’s Chiffon margarine, not butter … Chiffon’s so delicious it fooled even you, Mother Nature.” Vexed at the trickery, Mother Nature responds by uttering, in increasingly scornful tones, her signature line “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature," quickly followed by a flash of lightning, a peal of thunder, and occasionally an additional threat (such as silently commanding an elephant to charge the camera). The advertisements were typically closed by a jingle containing the lyrics, "If you think it's butter, but it's not: it's Chiffon."

This commercial had me scared

 

[hog fat]

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[kes1111]

In the 1970s and 1980s, a series of commercials were run for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups featuring situations in which two people, one eating peanut butter and one eating chocolate, collided. One person would exclaim, "You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!" and the other would exclaim, "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!". They would then sample the mixture and remark on the great taste, tying in with the slogan "Two great tastes that taste great together."


In the original television ad, a questioning boy poses the question to a cow, a fox, a turtle and an owl. Each one of the first three animals tells the boy to ask someone else, explaining that they'd bite a Tootsie Pop every time they lick one. Eventually, he asks the owl, who starts licking it, but bites into the lollipop after only three licks, much to the chagrin of the boy, who gets the empty stick back. The commercial ends the same way, with various flavored Tootsie Pops unwrapped and being "licked away" until being crunched in the center.

 

[kes1111]

Polaner All Fruit is best known for the "Don't DARE call it jelly" campaign in the 80s and 90s, in which a succession of well-to-do users of the product ask to "pass the Polaner All Fruit" before a decidedly more uncouth man asks to "please pass the jelly," much to everyone's shock and disgust.


Heublein increased the visibility and name recognition of their mustard brand with a 1980s commercial pointing out that "one can enjoy the finer things of life with white wine mustard without paying high prices", in which a Rolls-Royce pulls up alongside another Rolls-Royce, and a passenger in one asks "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" The other responds, "But of course!" The closing shot is of the Grey Poupon jar being passed between the vehicles.

 

[kes1111]

Here’s a spot from December 1977 for Martini & Rossi’s Asti Spumante sparkling Italian wine. Just don’t call it champagne.


The product line is well remembered for its folksy television commercials, created by Hal Riney, which ran from 1984 to 1991. Two older gentlemen characters, Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes, sat on a front porch and related their new discoveries or projects on which they were working. The characters were patterned after two men who started a little winery which eventually became the Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery. Occasionally ads would be a twist on the idea of senior citizens or folksiness, such as having the pair fly an old-fashioned biplane over a beach, then airdrop crates of their product which were received by grateful young party animals. Bartles did all the talking, and ended each commercial with the tagline, "... and thank you for your support."

 

[Z MONSTER]

Brooke Shields for Wella Balsam 1980
I loved this commercial. Brooke was only 15 at the time I also love the weird-cool music too.

 

[ThaBurgerPimp]

Riunite ads with Diana Ross singing

 

[kes1111]

Ray J. Johnson got more widespread attention in the late 1970s in a series of commercials for Anheuser-Busch Natural Light beer. Saluga appeared alongside comedian/pitchman Norm Crosby echoing (in a roundabout way) Norm's advice to unknowing customers: "Well, y'doesn't hasta call it Anheuser Busch Natural Light Beer, and y'doesn't hasta call it 'Busch Natural.' Just say 'Natural!'" Saluga would then launch into the "You can call me Ray" routine at the mere mention of the word "name."


Former Major League catcher and Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker being rousted from his good seat at a ballgame, and escorted away by an usher. Uecker comments, "I must be in the front rowwwwwww," but ends up in the last row of the nosebleed seats.

 

[kes1111]

"I've fallen, and I can't get up!" is a famous catchphrase of the late 1980s and early 1990s popular culture based upon a line from a United States-based television commercial.


You remember the commercial for "Hey Love," a mid-1980s late-night spot that advertised 1960s and 1970s slow jams? You probably can't recall the songs offered. But what you do remember--no doubt--is when one actor in the commercial asks to borrow the compliation and is rebuffed by the second actor with a line that became immortal:
"No-o My Brother; You Got To Buy Your Own."

 

[Knuckles666]

 

[kes1111]

The Pepsi Challenge is an ongoing marketing promotion run by PepsiCo since 1975. The challenge originally took the form of a single blindtaste test. At malls, shopping centers, and other public locations, a Pepsi representative sets up a table with two white cups: one containing Pepsi and one with Coca-Cola. Shoppers are encouraged to taste both colas, and then select which drink they prefer. Then the representative reveals the two bottles so the taster can see whether they preferred Coke or Pepsi. The results of the test leaned toward a consensus that Pepsi was preferred by more Americans.


Alfonso Ribeiro appeared as a dancer in a Pepsi commercial that featured Michael Jackson in 1984.

 

[HotNixon36]

 

[kes1111]

Geoffrey Holder became a spokesman for the 1970s and 1980s 7 Upsoft drink "uncola" and 1980s "crisp and clean, and no caffeine" and "never had it, never will" advertising campaigns.


The label has a long-time advertising association with actor Billy Dee Williams, who has been seen in print ads, on billboards and in television ads for Colt 45 starting in the 1980s. The product's slogan during that era, as stated by Williams in his television commercials, was, "It works every time." Williams responded indifferently to criticism of his appearances in the liquor commercials.

 

[mrdiego2020]

good post man

 

[kes1111]

The trope name is based off a song from a Band-Aid commercial that illustrates how awkward and unnatural this trope makes speech sound. Originally, the lyrics were "I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause a Band-Aid's stuck on me!" But the higher-ups wanted to prevent "Band-Aid" from becoming a generic word, so they added the "Brand", breaking the meter of the jingle. Unsurprisingly, this awkward redaction failed, and "band-aid" has become a genericized trademark for an adhesive bandage, at least in the United States.


This commercial featured a singing group of young women who danced and pranced around with smooth, silky legs--thanks to Nair hair remover! Beauty still sells products, but you don't see the singing so much anymore! "Who Wears Short Shorts? We wear short shorts! If you dare wear short shorts, get Nair for short shorts!"