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You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Television / Best Television Commercials of Your Youth?

Best Television Commercials of Your Youth?

by John Cole|  September 4, 201710:28 pm| 174 Comments

This post is in: Television

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For some reason I just found myself singing this Milk of Magnesia commercial:

What commercials do you remember as favorites? I loved all the Eddie Jemison “Yes I am” Bud Lite commercials, and the Wendy’s “evening wear” commercials were awesome. Oh, and really old Doritos commercials with Avery Schreiber.

When I watched the superbowl ads the last couple of years I just thought they were crude and dull. I sound 95.

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174Comments

  1. 1.

    Ellie

    September 4, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    I am from NW Ohio and there used to be a store called Highland Appliance. They had the best commercials.

    https://youtu.be/kKQcZYTZVmI

  2. 2.

    kindness

    September 4, 2017 at 10:35 pm

    Remember cigarette commercials? Alka Seltzer commercials. Crazy Eddie commercials. Little Anthony running through the streets of Boston because Wednesday is Prince spaghetti night? They don’t sell Prince spaghetti out here. Is it still sold back east? Thank the FSM for the dvr so I can ff through commercials.

  3. 3.

    NoraLenderbee

    September 4, 2017 at 10:35 pm

    I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener
    That is what I’d truly like to be
    ‘Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer wiener
    Everyone would be in love with me

  4. 4.

    jeffreyw

    September 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    That was a spicy meatball!

  5. 5.

    John Cole

    September 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    @Ellie: Heubner Chevy in Carrollton ring a bell?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcE9ingoBVA

  6. 6.

    NoraLenderbee

    September 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    Mamma mia! That’s a speecy-spicy meat-a balla-a!

  7. 7.

    Citizen Alan

    September 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    I am continually surprised at how many people much younger than me know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop even though I don’t think the commercial in question has aired in 30 years or more. And I am gobsmacked at the number of people who know the significance of the phrase “Ancient Chinese secret, huh?”

  8. 8.

    Just one more canuck

    September 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    Rainier Beer commercials (out of Seattle) were great, especially the ones with Mickey Rooney

  9. 9.

    Patricia Kayden

    September 4, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    I loved all the Mikey cereal commercials — the ones where Mikey was reputed to eat anything.

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 4, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    Does School House Rock count?

  11. 11.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    September 4, 2017 at 10:40 pm

    Not exactly from my youth, but I can’t resist posting these Old Spice commercials:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OHMIsagJ6NY

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik9Pr7V5x88

  12. 12.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    Mike Nichols and Elaine May, back when they were a young (and very funny) standup act, did a number of crudely animated commercials for different regional beers, the dialog adapted, which played during baseball games.
    Two I remember specifically: Narragansett on Red Sox broadcasts, and National Bohemian with the Orioles.
    Here’s one for Jax.

    ETA: Oops forgot like fir Jax, It’s here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2aPIrzSZ_I

  13. 13.

    jl

    September 4, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    I’ve blocked them all out from my memory. I remember some cereal rabbit kept getting its heart broken, punked and rejected.
    Also a tuna of some sort. Was discriminated against.

    Cruel and heartless commercials. I still bear some psychic scars and dislike commercials. they make me not want to patronize the sponsors.

    Poor cartoon rabbit was persecuted. How could they put something like that on, and for poor innocent children?

  14. 14.

    Grover Gardner

    September 4, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    Quite a few years ago I had a termite infestation and called Terminex. The guy came a took care of it, and when he was done he had a little survey, including the question, “How did you hear about us?” I said, “Well, you know, the ad! ‘Termites? Whoop whoop! Call Terminex!” He shook his head and said, “You know, we haven’t run that add in twenty years but people still remember it.”

    Also, “HEY CULLIGAN MAN!”

  15. 15.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    September 4, 2017 at 10:44 pm

    @jl:
    Silly rabbit! Rights are for white American kids!

  16. 16.

    tom

    September 4, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    I loved the Alka Seltzer ads, especially the talking stomach, voiced by Gene Wilder.

  17. 17.

    Mnemosyne

    September 4, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    There was a carpet place in Chicago called Empire Carpets that has gone national since I moved away. It’s a little weird to see that the original spokesman, now passed on, has been turned into a CGI cartoon character.

    I recently finished a work project that required me to watch 1950s commercials over … and over … and over again, so instead I’m going to link to a video of an elderly rescue cat (“Grandpa Mason”) wrestling with some kittens. He’s supposed to be in kitty hospice because of his kidney problems, but he seems to love having kittens around.

  18. 18.

    NoraLenderbee

    September 4, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    “You call it corn. We call it maize.” (Mazola corn oil)

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 4, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    Funny this came up, I don’t know why this churned up in my storm-tossed brain today, but I’ve had an ear worm of the Freakies today.

    @kindness: I remember the Hallowe’en version, Dracula saying that Wednesday was for Prince spaghetti. And I think an Adam and Eve one, Adam refusing the apple because it was Wednesday

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    September 4, 2017 at 10:47 pm

    Okay, one hint for the Chicagolanders: all y’all will know which suburb I hail from, because it’s “a beautiful place in the country.”

  21. 21.

    NoraLenderbee

    September 4, 2017 at 10:48 pm

    Male chorus/dancers:

    Grab a bucket and mop
    Scrub it bottom and top
    Tell me what does this mean?
    That McDonald’s is clean!
    You deserve a break today
    So get up and get away
    to McDonald’s
    McD-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-nalds

  22. 22.

    HyperSphericalCow

    September 4, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    Volkswagon’s Cabrio ad, set to Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon”, is not just a great ad, but a legit (very)-short film.

    https://vimeo.com/141594401

  23. 23.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 4, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    My husband introduced me to the 90’s commercial for Wet Pets San Pablo, which I guess was an inside joke in his friend group in high school and college.

    It’s… a painfully awkward uncool rap song about a pet store, but I think about it a lot more than I probably should.

  24. 24.

    Davebo

    September 4, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSHo3j72fIo

  25. 25.

    Grover Gardner

    September 4, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    And here’s one for old Pittsburghers. Can any of you guess what show this ran on?

    “Who can? Toucan!”

  26. 26.

    scott alloway

    September 4, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    It’s a tie for me.
    First, New Country Corn Flakes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKSmj2g8shs
    Next, CBS Holiday.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUWMjUjit_U

  27. 27.

    debbie

    September 4, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    My dad and brothers used to get the giggles over this Mennen Skin Bracer ad.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 4, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    @debbie: Vincent Gardenia!

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    September 4, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    Okay, a recent one, but the funny one that helped convince me to buy a Subaru. Make sure to stick around for the punchline.

  30. 30.

    Cheryl Rofer

    September 4, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    @jeffreyw: @NoraLenderbee:

    I’ll go with the spicy meat-a-ball-a, but I think I am recalling a parody.

  31. 31.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    @tom:

    I loved the Alka Seltzer ads

    Mama mia, that’s some spicy meatball
    I can’t believe I ate the Whole Thing
    And a classic VW from the same era

  32. 32.

    debbie

    September 4, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    And check out young John Goodman!

  33. 33.

    Cheryl Rofer

    September 4, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    @jeffreyw: @NoraLenderbee:

    I’ll go with the spicy meat-a-ball-a, but I think I am recalling a parody.

  34. 34.

    mai naem mobile

    September 4, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    Apparently I’m an old fart but the one I remember is the Coke ‘I’d like to teach the world’

  35. 35.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 4, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Clickhole’s fake right-wing site Patriothole had a brilliant learn english!! right-wing meme about that.

  36. 36.

    HyperSphericalCow

    September 4, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Five-eight-eight, two-thee-hundred, Empire!

    It doesn’t quite work as well today, since they shoehorned in the “800” number into the jingle.

    ETA: They have a page on their website featuring dogs flipping out when the commercial plays: http://www.empirecarpet-chicago.com/the-empire-jingle/

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    Ac’cent Flavor Enhancer (0:31).

    But it’s kinda creepy, actually.

    It reminds me of that age-old question – “When does a meat tenderizer stop working?”

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    scott alloway

    September 4, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    @efgoldman: National Bo. Best beer in America to us in Maine in the early 70s.

  39. 39.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 4, 2017 at 11:04 pm

    Not a good ad, but it would always come on the radio, and you would just find yourself reciting it along. Tom Shane the diamond importer. Now you have a friend in the diamond business. The Shane Company, just off Arapahoe Road on Emporia street…

  40. 40.

    JCJ

    September 4, 2017 at 11:05 pm

    Purina cat chow
    Chow chow chow!

  41. 41.

    Geoduck

    September 4, 2017 at 11:05 pm

    One I’ll always remember is this quickie for Discount Tire-
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QjTIm-vSKg

    It made into the Guinness World Records for “longest running ad”; it was made in the 70s and ran for at least three decades. Might still be airing somewhere.

  42. 42.

    Splitting Image

    September 4, 2017 at 11:05 pm

    How do they get the caramel inside a caramlik bar?

  43. 43.

    FlyingToaster

    September 4, 2017 at 11:06 pm

    Up Up and Away with TWA

    [yes, I was an airline brat]

  44. 44.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    I can’t find a clip, but there was a 50s deodorant commercial where the camera panned slowly across the famous “discus thrower” statue, especially the armpits, and a portentous, pretentious orator voice intoned “in the mature male… and in the mature female…”
    I don’t remember the product, but it cracked my brother and me up every single time.

  45. 45.

    OldDave

    September 4, 2017 at 11:08 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Now you have a friend in the diamond business.

    If she won’t last forever, why buy her a diamond?

  46. 46.

    sigaba

    September 4, 2017 at 11:08 pm

    Does the ABC Sunday Night Movie Intro count as a commercial?

  47. 47.

    Oatler.

    September 4, 2017 at 11:08 pm

    Commercials all the way down.
    sorry, I meant Try it you’ll like it

  48. 48.

    Wag

    September 4, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    Keep America beautiful. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM

  49. 49.

    Mary G

    September 4, 2017 at 11:11 pm

    I don’t have any old ones because I wasn’t allowed to watch TV as a child, but
    Budweiser Clydesdale pony
    and
    Where’s the beef?”
    come to mind from adult years

  50. 50.

    Repatriated

    September 4, 2017 at 11:11 pm

    Southern Calfornia regional: The late Cal Worthington* and his “dog” Spot.

    “Dog” in quotes because Spot was always some exotic animal (elephant, tiger, etc).

    * Worthington Ford

  51. 51.

    philpm

    September 4, 2017 at 11:12 pm

    The original series of commercials for Miller Lite, with the numerous sports and other stars and Rodney Dangerfield. The best was the bowling one. Great commercials for one of the worst excuses for beer ever made.

  52. 52.

    Life in Queens

    September 4, 2017 at 11:12 pm

    Are you old enough for…Granny Goose?

  53. 53.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    @Repatriated:

    Southern Calfornia regional: The late Cal Worthington

    Carson referenced Cal so often he became nationally known.

  54. 54.

    jeffreyw

    September 4, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    Pantyhose ad

  55. 55.

    dexwood

    September 4, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    @scott alloway:
    Natty Bo, my Baltimore uncles kept Natty Bo, Esskay hot dogs and Koontz milk in their “iceboxes”.

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 4, 2017 at 11:14 pm

    Today the pits … Tomorrow the wrinkles.

  57. 57.

    Percysowner

    September 4, 2017 at 11:15 pm

    Anything by the late, great Stan Freberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bx4LBz8Xy4

  58. 58.

    Cheryl Rofer

    September 4, 2017 at 11:15 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Now I remember! The speecy spicy meat-a-ball-a AlkaSeltzer commercial was a parody of meatball commercials!

  59. 59.

    philpm

    September 4, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    Another one for me is the Norelco Christmas commercial with Santa using a Norelco shaver as a sleigh. Always looked forward to that one.

  60. 60.

    dmsilev

    September 4, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    @OldDave: If anyone tells you diamonds are forever, don’t believe them. My colleagues and I have broken dozens of the things over the years (by accident, usually), with the damage ranging from chips and scratches all the way up to one memorable episode in which a diamond exploded and all we found afterwards was dust.

  61. 61.

    JCJ

    September 4, 2017 at 11:17 pm

    Hot dogs
    Armour hot dogs
    what kind of kid eats Armour hot dogs?
    Fat kids, skinny kids, kids that climb on rocks
    Tough kids, sissy kids
    Even kids with chicken pox
    love hot dogs
    Armour hot dogs
    the dogs kids love to bite

    That sounds so awful.

  62. 62.

    Jay Noble

    September 4, 2017 at 11:17 pm

    “Many parts of a pine tree are edible” Euell Gibbons

    “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!”

    “You’re soaking in it right now” Madge

    Mrs. Olson the Folgers Lady

    “How about a nice Hawiian Punch?”

  63. 63.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 4, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    @dmsilev: James Bond lied to me?

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 4, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    “From the land of sky-blue waters….”

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2017 at 11:19 pm

    My cousins and I really liked the commercial for Super Mario Bros. breakfast cereal. And a Norelco holiday ad for an electric shaver that scooted across the snow.

  66. 66.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    September 4, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    @Jay Noble:

    “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!”

    “BE THERE!”

  67. 67.

    Pete Downunder

    September 4, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    “A tank of Chevron gasoline will last a whole year…

    If you don’t drive your car.”

    Vintage late 50’s I think.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    @philpm: LOVE THAT NORELCO COMMERCIAL.

  69. 69.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 4, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    @Jay Noble: @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I like the futurama version, “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! (and saturday)”

  70. 70.

    dmsilev

    September 4, 2017 at 11:22 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I’m afraid so. Worse, he doesn’t actually like vodka martinis, shaken or stirred.

  71. 71.

    Davebo

    September 4, 2017 at 11:22 pm

    @dmsilev: The Diamonds are Forever campaign was less about selling diamonds and more about preventing people from selling theirs lest the entire cartel go down the tubes!

  72. 72.

    cynthia ackerman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:23 pm

    Willy Mays in a PSA about blasting caps.

  73. 73.

    dmsilev

    September 4, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    @Jay Noble:

    Mrs. Olson the Folgers Lady

    ‘We’ve secretly replaced their fresh-brewed coffee with new Folgers Crystals. Let’s see if they notice.’

    (I’ve had that stuff, and yeah, I’d notice the difference)

  74. 74.

    Librarian

    September 4, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    “I’m sure you’ll recognize this lovely melody as ‘Stranger in Paradise’. But did you know that the original theme is from the ‘Polovetsian Dance No. 2’ by Borodin?”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP9u_7eSlTQ

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    September 4, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Now you have a friend in the diamond business. The Shane Company, just off Arapahoe Road on Emporia street…

    No! On Scottsdale Road at Acoma, one mile south of Bell Road.

    Another radio commercial I loved as a teenager was the “I’m JJ, and I’m the KING of beepers!”

  76. 76.

    patrick II

    September 4, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    1950’s. Bucky Beaver, Ipana toothpaste .
    I can still sing that jingle after sixty years:

    Brusha brusha brusha
    here’s the new Ipana
    with a brand new flavor
    it’s dandy for your teeth.

  77. 77.

    Original Lee

    September 4, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    I think the Riggs Bank commercials from the 90s were some of the best, mostly because I loved the soundtrack. They made all kinds of variations on it for the different kinds of banking services. For instance, the construction loan commercial used saws, power drills, hammers, and so on for percussion. Alas, the soundcloud of the basic theme was the only thing I’ve been able to find.

    ETA decade.

  78. 78.

    Tehanu

    September 4, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    Joe Isuzu. Also, the one where “A Volkswagen can go forward. A Volkswagen can go backward.” And Brylcreem, “A little dab’ll do ya!”

  79. 79.

    RepubAnon

    September 4, 2017 at 11:29 pm

    There was a guy in Portland named Tom Peterson – his commercials came on late night TV. The most famous one had him knock on his side of the TV screen and say “Wake Up”! I believe he had a bit part in My Private Idaho

  80. 80.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 4, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    @Suzanne: No, it was definitely one-half-mile east of I-25. :P

    Sometimes I’d be somewhere else and I’d hear one and it would be AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION and I’d get this really uncanny feeling.

  81. 81.

    Scamp Dog

    September 4, 2017 at 11:33 pm

    Paramount Potato Chips (which I think was regional, so most won’t know it) had a jingle that went
    “I’m Slim Chipley, the guy you see on the Paramount potato chips bright red bag
    I’m the flavor deputy, protecting crispness in every pack
    They’re delicious, and so nutritious,
    Yes siree, they’re pips!
    Paramount potato chips!”

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    September 4, 2017 at 11:39 pm

    “At Beneficial (doop) (doop)
    You’re good for more.
    At Beneficial (doop) (doop)
    You’re good for more…”

    Such happy music for what is too often a sleazy business – consumer finance loans that are often far more expensive than people realize…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Juice Box

    September 4, 2017 at 11:41 pm

    Sexy man and sexy woman making eyes at one another with Un bel di in the background. Sexy man sits sexily on the edge of a beautifully set table full of food and the table tips over sending food flying all over the Dupont Stainmaster carpet. It cracked me up everytime. It’s not that old, but I didn’t have a TV before that.

    All time great PSA/earworm.

  84. 84.

    The Lodger

    September 4, 2017 at 11:41 pm

    @Suzanne: @Major Major Major Major: You’re both wrong. It’s on 217, across from the Washington Square Mall.
    When I first heard these ads, I thought they were ripping off Tommy Van Scoy’s Diamond Mine from the Philly area. Same first name, same expressionless voice, same direct sales schtick. I almost expected to hear, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”

  85. 85.

    TheronWare

    September 4, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    The Benson & Hedges commercials with music by the Brass Ring. Chunky thickerer. Slinky. Good & Plenty. High Karate. Clep commercial with Abe Lincoln. Chiffon Margerine.Campbell’s Manhandler soup. Action Jackson.Sheraton Hotels jingle: 800-325-3535.

  86. 86.

    The Lodger

    September 4, 2017 at 11:43 pm

    @RepubAnon: And Gloria Too!

  87. 87.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:43 pm

    @Jay Noble:

    “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!”

    Twenty years in radio, I always wanted to do one of those. I never worked in the right kind of place.

  88. 88.

    TheOtherHank

    September 4, 2017 at 11:47 pm

    “I’m the sole survivor!”

    I loved that commercial. Then I got the game; what a disappointment.

  89. 89.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:47 pm

    @patrick II:

    1950’s. Bucky Beaver, Ipana toothpaste .

    My kid (b. 1981) still thinks I made that up.

    ETA: Same era, Ajax the foaming cleanser jingle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXyl9GCs1pA

  90. 90.

    jl

    September 4, 2017 at 11:48 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    ‘ Silly rabbit! Rights are for white American kids! ‘

    I am starting the silly rabbit liberation front. (SRLF). Hope you people are finally and properly woke on Trix.

    I think Charlie was a blue fin, so on the brink of extinction. Too late for him. Send contributions for a memorial. Sad.

  91. 91.

    NoraLenderbee

    September 4, 2017 at 11:48 pm

    “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
    –some margarine

  92. 92.

    Jackie

    September 4, 2017 at 11:50 pm

    @Just one more canuck: Rai….neeer Beers.. My son (toddler) would stop in his tracks watching Tarzan yodeling Rainer Beer and the Motorcycle revving up to Rainer Beer. Also to SeaGalley’s “We got Froglegs…” Good times ? 1982 or thereabouts.

  93. 93.

    seaboogie

    September 4, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    @efgoldman: heh. I’ve long felt that when listening to a radio broadcast in another language (first-time disappointment was in French in QC, Canada), that this otther, romantic language should not be so similarly crass. I’ve since evolved to “Domingo, Domingo, Domingo…!” I don’t think the US has the lock on that.

  94. 94.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:54 pm

    @TheOtherHank:

    I loved that commercial. Then I got the game

    I so wanted an electric football game
    Goddamned thing never worked right. .

  95. 95.

    Trollhattan

    September 4, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    For regional ads I can’t top Rainier Beer For national, anything by Stan Frieberg.

  96. 96.

    Cheryl Rofer

    September 4, 2017 at 11:58 pm

    My beer is Reingold, the dry beer

    If we’re going to do regional beers

  97. 97.

    efgoldman

    September 4, 2017 at 11:58 pm

    The chicken man series was hysterical. Adapted for individual sponsors in individual market.
    I guess the Fotomat elves aren’t archived anywhere. Mid-70s, they were very funny, too (radio only)

  98. 98.

    seaboogie

    September 5, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @NoraLenderbee: Chiffon. Earlier commercial tag line was “If you think it’s butter, but it’s not – it’s Chiffon. Of course we kids went all “If you think it’s butter, but it’s snot”.. yada yada.

    First vow to my newly adult self was never margarine-only butter. A promise to myself that I’ve kept, even though I am now mostly fresh, locally sourced EVOO, since I consult in that biz.

  99. 99.

    Kent

    September 5, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @Trollhattan:

    Oh yes. Anyone who grew up in the Northwest in the 70s and 80s has to remember the Rainier Beer commercials.

  100. 100.

    efgoldman

    September 5, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    My beer is Reingold, the dry beer

    To L’estudiantina Waltz by Waltdteufel.

  101. 101.

    philpm

    September 5, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @efgoldman: My older brothers had one that we used for years. It really took some effort to get them to work correctly.

  102. 102.

    philpm

    September 5, 2017 at 12:03 am

    @efgoldman: I love Chickenman. We had a place here in the midwest called the Red Barn that you could get Chickenman t-shirts from. One of these days, I’ll actually buy the CD version of the complete series from Amazon.

  103. 103.

    efgoldman

    September 5, 2017 at 12:03 am

    @philpm:

    It really took some effort to get them to work correctly.

    I guess I really didn’t have the patience at 10-11 years old. Model trains were easier and for me, at least as much fun.

  104. 104.

    Mike J

    September 5, 2017 at 12:06 am

    Get Fonky
    https://youtu.be/vzrSP4-pWOs?t=260

  105. 105.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    September 5, 2017 at 12:06 am

    @Repatriated:

    I know it.

    Mervyn’s: Lady with her face in the window waiting for the store to open: “Open. Open. Open.”

    Chick Hearn doing voice work for the LA Boat Show: “Don’t miss the boat…Show!”

  106. 106.

    ExpatDanBKK

    September 5, 2017 at 12:07 am

    This is recent as well, but may be interesting to some. Here in Thailand, there is a genre of ad we call “sadvertising.” It is a vignette, usually with a morality message, combined with an ad (or sometimes just “sponsored” by a company. Here’s one of my favourites, sponsored by a mobile phone company. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPOVwKPMG8o

  107. 107.

    seaboogie

    September 5, 2017 at 12:11 am

    Totally OT, but I seem to have a series (2, so far) of bright green crickets moving into my joint. The latest, smaller one was in my empty wine glass, so I brought it outside, coaxed it slowly out of the glass, and it is perched on a small shallow bowl of water, if that is what it is seeking. This sort of interaction with nature calms and centers me in the face of T tweeting “Big things coming this week”.

  108. 108.

    john fremont

    September 5, 2017 at 12:12 am

    @The Lodger: The only diamond commercials I can remember from Philly were from Robbins 8th & Walnut.

    Also too, from Philly, “…the bosses daughter, from Atlantic Transmissions!” And the never ending series of Krass Brothers, Store of the Stars commercials.

  109. 109.

    Repatriated

    September 5, 2017 at 12:15 am

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini: I still do the “open…open…open” thing when it’s appropriate, but seldom encounter anyone who catches the reference.

  110. 110.

    GregB

    September 5, 2017 at 12:15 am

    For some reason this Colt 45 stuck in my 11 year old brain.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7uX1DjmrY

    Also the Christmas Coca Cola song: I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.

  111. 111.

    ExpatDanBKK

    September 5, 2017 at 12:15 am

    How about the “Fred the baker” ads from Dunkin Donuts? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=petqFm94osQ

  112. 112.

    Shakti

    September 5, 2017 at 12:16 am

    I loved the Eat N’ Park Christmas commercial.

    I never liked the cereal, but I’d sing the Breakfast Bears jingle to myself when my mom woke me up at 6 am.

  113. 113.

    efgoldman

    September 5, 2017 at 12:21 am

    @ExpatDanBKK:

    How about the “Fred the baker” ads from Dunkin Donuts?

    It’s a good 25 years or more since they actually made donuts in the stores.

  114. 114.

    seaboogie

    September 5, 2017 at 12:22 am

    @ExpatDanBKK: I remember this one, and will watch it again. Even if it’s a corporately-driven messagage, compassion and empathy are never bad things.

  115. 115.

    Felonius Monk

    September 5, 2017 at 12:24 am

    The Stan Freburg commercials — Jeno Pizza Rolls with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

  116. 116.

    philpm

    September 5, 2017 at 12:26 am

    @efgoldman: I enjoyed the model trains too. I still have the one I won from a toy store grand opening. I think I was around 10 when that happened. I need to find a working control unit for it. I think the caps in the original died.

  117. 117.

    pattonbt

    September 5, 2017 at 12:26 am

    not too old but Terry Tate

  118. 118.

    Amir Khalid

    September 5, 2017 at 12:29 am

    @ExpatDanBKK:
    I saw one of those ads many many years ago. Dunkin’ Donuts opened its very first store in Kuala Lumpur in the 1980s and junior reporter me covered the official launch — the mayor himself was in attendance! They showed us a few of their commercials to help explain what they did. In those days the donuts were fresher because they were baked onsite rather than being trucked in from God knows where, and the commercials made a big deal of that.

  119. 119.

    efgoldman

    September 5, 2017 at 12:33 am

    @philpm:

    I enjoyed the model trains too.

    When my mom, little brother and I arrived in Germany in December 1952 to join my dad (career Army) , he had a footlocker full of German Marklin HO gauge trains waiting for me. Would have cost hundreds of dollars in a specialty hobby shop in the states, but the exchange rate was so advantageous in those days that they literally cost him a pittance. He also bought boxes of things I didn’t know about until he brought them out for gifts in later years.

  120. 120.

    patrick II

    September 5, 2017 at 12:39 am

    @efgoldman:

    I figured you’d be one of the few here who recognized Bucky. I forgot to mention Bucky’s arch-enemy — D.K. Germ.

  121. 121.

    The Lodger

    September 5, 2017 at 12:40 am

    @john fremont: Krass Brothers. As we used to say, “are they ever.”

  122. 122.

    _pk_

    September 5, 2017 at 12:41 am

    I grew up in Winnipeg, Canada. There is a company called Poulin’s Pest Control that has a radio ad jingle that goes back decades. I’ve never needed pest control, but I still know the company’s phone number because of this jingle.

    https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjaq730mo3WAhUBwmMKHfJrD1QQtwIIKDAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbygkK8Kpd_o&usg=AFQjCNEzkST5RxyuD26b0Nlo06z_N5xNSQ

  123. 123.

    efgoldman

    September 5, 2017 at 12:41 am

    @efgoldman: Sixty++ years later, it occurs to me that my dad bought the trains illegally on the German economy for DM, rather than with Army scrip in the PX, which is all they were supposed to do. It was a courts martial offense at the time.

  124. 124.

    efgoldman

    September 5, 2017 at 12:47 am

    @ John Cole –
    I know you don’t read this far down, ever, but thanks so much for this fun thread. We needed it.

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    September 5, 2017 at 12:53 am

    @Repatriated: I occasionally hear someone say “OPEN OPEN OPEN” and it always makes me think of Mervyn’s, where I got many clothes up until I was about 14.

  126. 126.

    Arclite

    September 5, 2017 at 1:09 am

    “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

  127. 127.

    Mike in Pasadena

    September 5, 2017 at 1:17 am

    Still rather badly wrinkled, says snooty Englishman about pitted prunes.

    He is pleased that the pits are removed and the flavor is quite good, but he must find something to criticize.

  128. 128.

    Frankensteinbeck

    September 5, 2017 at 1:18 am

    NOTHING IS BETTER FOR THEE THAN ME!

  129. 129.

    trollhattan

    September 5, 2017 at 1:22 am

    @GregB:
    Sharks and bikini babes, what’s not to like? Have you seen this?
    “Has the taste of the old west.”

  130. 130.

    joel hanes

    September 5, 2017 at 1:24 am

    They’re GRRREAAAAT !

    You’ll wonder where the yellow went
    When you brush your teath with Pepsodent

    She’ll love to run her fingers through your hair

    Greasy kid stuff

    Call for Phillip Mor-rissss !

    Serutan spelled backwards is “Natures”

    When it’s time to relax
    One beer stands clear
    (beer after beer)
    Miller tastes too good to hurry through

    It’s two two two mints in one
    With a sparkling drop of Retsyn

    Double your pleasure
    Double your fun

    Sugar Pops are tops !

    I’m coo-coo for Cocoa-Puffs.

    We’d rather fight than switch.

    Come aalll the way up … to KOOL

    It’ll tickle yer innards!

    See the USA
    In your Chevrolet

    My advice, sir?
    Get de-icer.

    Hurry on down to wide-track town

    It’s a white tornadoe!

  131. 131.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 5, 2017 at 1:26 am

    Nothing beats Crazy Gideon. Cal Worthington’s old commercials with his “dog” Spot, now Spot may have started as a canine but evolved over the years to be lions, tigers, bears, and elephants.

  132. 132.

    Mike G

    September 5, 2017 at 1:26 am

    If you lived in Melbourne anytime in the last four decades, this guy was unforgettable —
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aTO6Iv4f3A

  133. 133.

    Tehanu

    September 5, 2017 at 1:50 am

    @joel hanes:

    Eek. My entire childhood!

  134. 134.

    Suzanne

    September 5, 2017 at 1:50 am

    Ch-ch-ch-CHIA!
    Clap on, clap off, THE CLAPPER.

  135. 135.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 5, 2017 at 1:52 am

    @Arclite: I don’t laugh at that one anymore after I’d fallen and couldn’t get up; almost killed me.

  136. 136.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 5, 2017 at 1:53 am

    Alaska Airlines commercials from the 1980’s.

  137. 137.

    prostratedragon

    September 5, 2017 at 1:55 am

    @jl: You know, that tuna was voiced by Herschel Bernardi, an actor who had previously been blacklisted. Discovering this decades later confirmed yet again my old suspicion of adults speaking and acting in code.

    (Of course, I now do it shamelessly myself.)

  138. 138.

    Death Panel Truck

    September 5, 2017 at 2:00 am

    Best. Commercial. Ever.
    From 1966:

    New Country Corn Flakes, made with rice!

    ETA: Damn. Someone beat me to it.

  139. 139.

    opiejeanne

    September 5, 2017 at 3:34 am

    @tom: That was Gene Wilder?

    I remember an Alka Seltzer ad with a middle aged mid-western couple driving through a desert landscape and the wife shouts something like “Look Harold, TAMALES!” pronounced tuh-MAILS. It has become part of our private dialog, along with various quotes from Monty Python and the Princess Bride.

  140. 140.

    opiejeanne

    September 5, 2017 at 4:04 am

    @philpm: Hamm’s Beer .

    From the land of sky blue waters

  141. 141.

    opiejeanne

    September 5, 2017 at 4:14 am

    @Another Scott: Coast Federal Bank with the rabbit

  142. 142.

    opiejeanne

    September 5, 2017 at 4:27 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Do you remember Mad Man Muntz ?

  143. 143.

    ChrisB

    September 5, 2017 at 5:47 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: Think of Reingold whenever you buy beer.

    And I’ll add that Schaefer is the one beer to have when you’re having more than one.

  144. 144.

    ChrisB

    September 5, 2017 at 5:52 am

    “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?”

    I kept a small bottle in my car for years in the hope that someone might ask me that question so I could say “But of course!”

  145. 145.

    Jim Parish

    September 5, 2017 at 6:10 am

    Going way, way back, three ads that made a special impression on 5-ish me:

    The Kodak commercial with “Turn around” (“Where are you going, my little one, little one?”)

    An ad for Prestone Antifreeze showing a car, on a rainy night, blowing past a hitch-hiker: “Never pick up a stranger / Pick up Prestone Antifreeze!)

    An ad for Firestone tires (“The name that’s known is Firestone (da-da-da-da) where the rubber meets the road!”)

    Damfino why those three have stuck with me for half a century…

  146. 146.

    evodevo

    September 5, 2017 at 6:50 am

    Anybody from Cincy here? In my small town down the river, all we could get in the old days was cincy teevee. “I don’t care about making money! I just LOVE to sell CARPET!! “

  147. 147.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    September 5, 2017 at 7:01 am

    “Someday all watches will be made this way”: Seiko

    “We will sell no wine before its time”: Paul Masson

  148. 148.

    HeartlandLiberal

    September 5, 2017 at 7:44 am

    I am 71. I still remember the Frosty Morn ham add from the fifties, and the early days of black and white TV.

    I can still sing the key part of the ad:

    The height of a piggy’s ambition
    From the day he is born,
    Is hopes that he will be good enough,
    To be a Frosty Morn.

    So, being a big fan of YouTube as a growing repository of all knowledge and history, I searched, and lo, here it is:
    (Unless putting this link in dumps my in comment purgatory. Here goes:)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrMGqSSKgw

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack

    September 5, 2017 at 7:52 am

    @Repatriated:

    Mervyn’s “Open, open, open!” ad.

  150. 150.

    Doug!

    September 5, 2017 at 8:48 am

    Two beer commercials:

    One where Billy Martin says “I didn’t patch that doggie”

    And another where, I think L. C. Greenwood says about water polo, “I sure hope those horses can swim.”

    EDIT: I was Bubba Smith

  151. 151.

    janeform

    September 5, 2017 at 9:07 am

    Pre-Reagan.

    Look for the Union label
    When you are buying a coat, dress, or blouse
    Remember somewhere our union’s sewing
    Our wages going to feed the kinds and run the house
    We work hard but who’s complaining
    Thanks to the ILB we’re paying our way
    So always look for the Union label
    It says we’re able to make it in the USA!

  152. 152.

    janeform

    September 5, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Two sexist gems from the ’70s

    I’m Diane…Fly me.

    Jim never has a second up of coffee at home

  153. 153.

    JAFD

    September 5, 2017 at 9:39 am

    Another Philly brat

    Remembering this, used to appear on the Big 5 basketball games, in the early ’70’s. Half a dozen people in evening gowns and tuxedos talking about Ronzoni pasta in extreme Main Line accents (“Isn’t it pronounced ‘lah-zhagh-nyah ?”), ending with chorus of
    “We want Ronzoni,
    Out here in Malvern,
    Out here in Devon,
    Out here in Gladwyne.
    We wan Ronzini.
    Just like Italians.
    Ronzini tastes so good.”

  154. 154.

    ChrisB

    September 5, 2017 at 9:50 am

    @JAFD: Ronzoni Sono Buoni!

  155. 155.

    bluefoot

    September 5, 2017 at 10:23 am

    @ChrisB: That’s excellent. Many years ago I was driving home one evening and a large black car pulls up next to me at a light. There’s an 8-year old (or thereabouts) boy in the passenger seat, frantically gesturing at me to roll down my window. Kidnap? My brake light is out? So I roll down my window and the kid says, “Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?” I respond, “But of course” and give him a handshake out the window while his parent looks on chagrined. He rolls up the window, starts laughing maniacally, and the light turns green. All kinds of awesome.

  156. 156.

    prostratedragon

    September 5, 2017 at 10:49 am

    @Death Panel Truck: “Please buy our cornflakes!”

  157. 157.

    joel hanes

    September 5, 2017 at 10:49 am

    I WANT MY MAYPO !

  158. 158.

    prostratedragon

    September 5, 2017 at 10:51 am

    @opiejeanne: “Lofty balsams”

  159. 159.

    dlw32

    September 5, 2017 at 10:52 am

    There was a commercial for raisins… to show they were a natural snack they had the Sun on trial and the Sun says, “What do I look like, a chemical?” I remember saying, “yeah. you’re a chemical like everything else.”

    It was the start of my question everything and general smart-assery.

  160. 160.

    joel hanes

    September 5, 2017 at 10:53 am

    Mr. Whipple! Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!

  161. 161.

    joel hanes

    September 5, 2017 at 10:54 am

    A perl drifts in Liquid Prell

  162. 162.

    joel hanes

    September 5, 2017 at 10:57 am

    Motorola Quasar TVs — with the works in a drawer!

  163. 163.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    September 5, 2017 at 11:13 am

    The Lowenbrau jingle from the ’70s is still with me to this day: “Here’s to good friends, tonight is kind of special…”

    Also Hamm’s the beer refreshing. A few jingles from local Grand Rapids, MI businesses are permanently imprinted in my brain but for national campaigns the beer jingles are the ones that stuck.

    IMO the last great superbowl ad was the one with the kid dressed as Darth Vader whose dad uses his car’s remote starter to give him a win vis a vis the force. GEICO still produces a clever commercial now and again but it’s pretty slim pickins.

  164. 164.

    Mrearl

    September 5, 2017 at 11:23 am

    Timex: “Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’,”

  165. 165.

    ChrisB

    September 5, 2017 at 11:49 am

    @bluefoot: Awesome indeed!

  166. 166.

    Mo MacArbie

    September 5, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    “It takes a steady hand.”
    “Who wears short shorts?”
    “Meister Bräu: it only tastes expensive.”
    “Gennessee: the great outdoors in a glass.”
    “I’m not only the president; I’m also a client.”

  167. 167.

    WaterGirl

    September 5, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: That’s the commercial I most remember from being a kid, except that the Hamm’s commercial I remember had the bear rubbing his tummy at the end, and I am told I always got up and rubbed my tummy by the TV set whenever that commercial came on. I was pretty little at the time.

  168. 168.

    Mo MacArbie

    September 5, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    Then there was some 4-record set my brother and I memorized and sang along with. “The night Chicago died…when you’re feelin’ alone, and the fish won’t bite…I couldn’t sleep at all last night…Doot doot do do dooo”.

  169. 169.

    philpm

    September 5, 2017 at 1:00 pm

    @opiejeanne: I remember those too. My dad drank Hamm’s forever.

  170. 170.

    Jazzman

    September 5, 2017 at 1:42 pm

    168 responses and nobody has yet mentioned the GEICO Hump Day Camel commercial? My kid and I send this back and forth to each other almost every Wednesday.

  171. 171.

    Marina

    September 5, 2017 at 2:09 pm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4cTDm2uAA

    Alka-Seltzer ad: No Matter What Shape Your Stomach’s In

    Listened to it a lot when my daughter had anorexia; I somehow found it comforting.

  172. 172.

    John Weiss

    September 5, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    My favorite commercial was Delco batteries who sponsored “High Adventure with Lowell Thomas”. They were smoothly introduced into the narrative. Underhanded, I suppose, but quite creative.

    jw

  173. 173.

    arielibra

    September 5, 2017 at 5:29 pm

    Another Philly-radio-area brat…Keystone Volvo in Doylestown! “Track lighting in my doghouse.” “It…it’s just like you said.”

  174. 174.

    ljdramone

    September 5, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    @dexwood: Us older Baltimorons will remember:

    “More Parks Sausages, Mom! Please?”
    http://www.school18project.com/community/2014/3/18/more-parks-sausages-mom-henry-parks-parks-sausages

    and

    “Mommy! Call Hampden!”
    (Hampden Moving and Storage is still around, but dey ain’t down ere in Hampden no more, hon):
    http://www.hampdenmoving.com

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