There is no no doubt that many of the creative people behind many of the ads we see and hear on TV and radio today are Retro kids from the 70s and 80s. You don’t have to go too far for proof.
Today’s example, the Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate TV ad featuring the electro funk classic, “Don’t Stop The Rock” from Freestyle. I think it’s a good ad since it resonates with me because of the music and it’s goofy enough that you’ll be talking about it but it took me a few views to finally remember what product the ad was actually about. Not so good as far as advertising goes.
Still – how many of you forgot about this song until you saw it on the Cadbury ad? Retro lives!!
Some of the most innovative ads of the 80s and 90s were a result of the cola wars that waged between industry giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This bitter rivalry started in the late 1800’s (talk about retro!) and continues to this very day.
Soft drink origins date back when herbal cola syrup mixtures were sold in pharmacies as cure-alls and brain tonics. Colas back then actually contained coca extract from the kola nut that is better known today as cocaine. Needless to say people liked to get their cola fix but found the stuff too hard to drink straight so pharmacists began mixing it with water at first and eventually soda water which many people found be a very pleasant tasting beverage. Fast forward 100 years, the cocaine is no longer an ingredient, but we’re still sucking the stuff back like it actually does a body good. Hardly.
So here’s a small tribute to some of the Pepsi ads from back in the day. Why Pepsi instead of Coke? It gave me an excuse to post an ad with a young Cindy Crawford………that’s why.
Many a young actor has been faced with making commercials as a way to pay the bills that can hopefully lead to something bigger and better. If they’re lucky, it will be an advertisement that is classy and have artistic merit that they can proudly look back on. On the other hand, it may be something they regret ever doing and hate anyone for bringing it up.
Here’s a look at a few more examples of commercials featuring celebrities before they made it big – you decide what category they belong in as mentioned above. To check out the first installment, click here and the second installment, click here.
Before hanging with friends as Joey Tribiani, Matt LeBlanc did a Heinz Ketchup commercial that was actually pretty cool. Even back then you could almost picture the classic line oozing out of him made famous years later on Friends, “How yooooou doin’…..?”
Bruce Willis made an appearance on our second installment, with hair, dancing away in a Levi’s ad. Here he is again in a Seagram’s commercial, still with hair, which illustrates clearly he wasn’t afraid to ham it up for the camera.
Not to be outdone by her ex-husband, here’s Demi Moore, before the half million dollars worth of cosmetic surgeries, doing her thing in a Coke ad. I think this ad is older than Ashton Kutcher………..just sayin’.
Finally, rounding out our retro look at celebrities in advertising is Neo himself, Keanu Reeves, in a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ad from 1987. I can honestly say I’ve never seen such a look of pure joy, such satisfaction (ecstasy?) from any one eating a bowl of cereal before.
These days there are so many regulations, safety standards and laws in place to try and keep children’s toys safe from harming kids and even with all that in place, you still hear about toys being recalled due to risks of chocking or burning and so on. However, back in the 70s and 80s, there were toys that almost seemed like the manufacturers were trying to compete on developing the most dangerous toys possible.
Case in point was the Kenner Demolition Derby play set that featured two fair sized cars that were designed to blow apart into little pieces when they were smashed into each other at a pretty good speed. So whenever you smashed them together, little bite sized pieces of the cars with sharp edges would go flying in all directions, perfect for taking out an eye or being found by a toddler and choking on it. Having said that – you wanted one…….you really wanted one.
In a previous post we covered retro ads from a simpler time that were among the creepiest I’ve ever seen. (Click here to see that post) Let’s now take a look at some ads that were done in a time when it was considered a man’s world and women were here only to serve men, be a perfect wife, do all the house work, try not to do stupid things and always be fresh and pretty regardless of what they were doing.
We all know that not only does such a Utopia not exist (I’m kidding ladies) but in retrospect, the people behind the creative direction of these ads really missed the mark not only conceptually but the ad wording (or copy in technical terms) is just plain awful. Clearly, these ads were designed by men, written by men, sold by men and bought by men.
“Husbands admire wives who keep their stockings perfect.” I love how this ad implies that being married is no reason for a woman to let herself go and should always look her best. Especially since the guy took the trouble to put on a suit and tie to read the paper while she knits. What’s going through his mind? “What’s this? A run in Jane’s stockings? Could I have married the wrong woman?!? How many more years before divorce becomes an acceptable society norm?!?!?”
You really don’t need to read beyond the lead line to know where this ad is going. The copy goes on to say that the beauty photographed in the picture is “stacked and endowed” with the most refined developments for culinary perfection. I’ll bet it is. Of course they are talking about the appliance but the double play on words is typical for the ads in the late 60s and early 70s.
So to recap, in the 70s, cooking was what wives were for………and they better not have a run in their stockings while they are cooking and whatever they knit better not be in weird colors damn it!
Forget Victoria’s Secret or a day at the spa – if you want your woman to look better, simply give her more to do around the house. Oh, she also needs vitamins apparently.
Thank god Delmonte made a ketchup bottle that woman could open when their men weren’t around. Although how the heck is she supposed to open the mustard and relish? Were women condemned to have ketchup as the only condiment option when their men weren’t around? The woman in the ad looks so shocked and thrilled she’s liable to start putting ketchup on everything. Why? Because she can!!!!!
Apparently men were too stupid to operate Telex machines back in the day but they sure knew how to hire sweet operators. By the way, the price for the glorified word processor in the picture started at $6800. To contrast, I’m pretty sure my toaster has more processing power and it only cost $28 and it wasn’t even a sale!
Newflash – if you have 14 fingernails, a dirty oven is the least of your concerns. You’ll never get people to stop staring and good luck finding a decent pair of gloves. Also note the puke green color of the oven that was actually a very popular color for appliances at one time. Although I think they called it something nicer than puke green. Having said that, judging by the content of these ads, you never know.
The late, great Dave Thomas created the Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers franchise (who knew old fashioned hamburgers were square!?!) after making a name for himself with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Working with Colonel Sanders himself, Dave was responsible for trimming down the menu offerings, and focusing the restaurant on specializing on chicken and turned the business into one of the most successful fast food franchises in the world.
Taking what he learned with KFC, he poured all his energy into making Wendy’s (named after his daughter) more than just a pain in McDonald’s and Burger King’s side. It was because of him that other fast food restaurants had to change certain processes and begin offering certain things that were never done before, like the larger sized portions (yeah – thanks for that Dave), salads and the super value menu.
The real Wendy (Melinda actually)
Wendy’s was also pretty creative in the marketing department as well. Before Dave became the spokesman and created over 800 ads featuring himself, the company took some risks to get noticed in the burger wars. Let’s look at two of these ads.
One ad that raised a few eyebrows was an ad that was set in Soviet era, cold war Russia. The ad showed a Russian fashion show where the woman of generous proportions paraded in the same outfit with only quirky accessories to distinguish evening wear from day wear. This hammered home the point that Wendy’s was all about choice, unlike what Russians had to endure supposedly. This was done before the age of political correctness and before the Berlin wall came down but it’s interesting to note that an ad like this would never see the light of day today.
The other ad gave birth to an 80s catch phrase from the most unlikely of sources. In 1984, Clara Peller ensured her place in the retro hall of fame with the phrase “Where’s the beef?” The ad campaign, featuring the 80 year old, was one of the driving factors behind Wendy’s turnaround and helped make the brand a force not to be ignored by the larger chains. Interesting side note on Clara, she was fired by Wendy’s as their unofficial spokesperson after she made a commercial for a spaghetti sauce featuring the now famous phrase. I hope she didn’t spend all the Wendy’s cash in one place or finding the beef would be alot harder.
You know you used to watch a lot of TV as a kid when you catch yourself mumbling a certain part of an advertising jingle from time to time even though the commercial hasn’t played on air in over 30 years.
Case in point – the Kohner Brothers “Pop-O-Matic” Trouble. Originally made by Irwin in 1965, it eventually was made by Milton Bradley which is now part of Hasbro. This probably explains why the board games of today aren’t as good as back then with all the major brands are buying each other up – so much for competition. But I digress.
Although the game was actually called Trouble, you probably knew it more as “Pop-O-Matic Trouble” thanks to the popular commercial from around 1970 that showcased the plastic domed dice container that when pushed down would “pop” the dice ensuring a fair roll of the dice, faster game play and guaranteed annoyance to parents everywhere due to the constant popping sound.
We’ve all seen them. Every magazine in the ’70s and ’80s used to feature the cheesy body building ads in the back of the magazine promising a new body in virtually no time at all in as little as 15 minutes a day. You see similar ads today promising the same thing only there are few difference.
For one thing, the ads today do not feature a weakling that gets constantly bullied only to send away for the program, bulk up and then go back and beat the living crap out of the bully. Today the ads usually show someone who is overweight and has trouble zipping up their pants or just pear shaped in the worst way. They send for the program and instantly they have rock hard abs and killer buns of graphite (steel is so ’80s).
When I was younger I actually sent away for Charles Atlas’s program and surprise surprise it was simply working out with weights. Nothing fancy, no expensive machines or gizmos – honest to goodness hard work and training was and is the only way to a more perfect body. Some things never change.
Click here to see a collection of other vintage body building ads featuring a bunch of weaklings beating up bullies.
No other fast food mascot comes to mind quicker or is more recognizable than Ronald McDonald. Other than Santa Claus, no other character is more recognized around the world than the hamburger loving spokesman for the McDonalds Corporation.
Ronald McDonald was actually an altered version of Bozo the Clown created by an ad executive and a clown from the Ringling Brothers Circus. One of the early actors to portray Ronald was a part time Bozo performer and NBC Today Show weatherman, Willard Scott. Not only did he give the clown a name, Ronald, he also took a stab at creating the look of Ronald by creating a costume out of a paper cup for a nose and a cardboard tray as a hat. Pathetic? Yes….. yes it was.
Bozo the Clown (R.I.P)
Willard and his recycled Costume
However, although crude, he was responsible for giving the character a personality and help promote the local franchises. Willard was dumped in 1966 when the corporation took Ronald national citing the reason for dumping Willard as he was “too fat”for the roll and didn’t give the proper corporate image. Ironic isn’t it? McDonalds wasn’t really synonymous with health food at the time (or now) so I’m sure Willard had a chuckle over that one.
Renaissance Ronald
The company went back to Ringling Brothers where one of their clowns worked to give Ronald his new look including the now famous white-face, put him in a canary-yellow jumpsuit which he found on a mannequin in a women’s clothing store, plus a fire-engine red wig. The new Ronald was introduced to the world on November
25 1966, at the Chicago Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Ronald circa 1971
Ronald circa 1985
By 1971, Ronald had his own kingdom, McDonaldland, and was joined by more odd-ball, burger-headed characters such as Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Sheriff Big Mac and Grimace, a purple milkshake that could talk.
Ronald McDonald has always followed a strict set of secret guidelines that govern how the fast-food icon looks, talks, moves and where and what he can do. To date there have been about nine actors to officially play Ronald on television with many more trained by the company to ensure consistency in mannerisms during local promotions.
Rejected Ronald Update
In 1998, McDonald’s ad agency, Leo Burnett, hired LA stylists to refashion Ronald’s hair again and spent months studying whether to increase the width of the red stripes on his socks. If only they spent that time working on their pizza and McLean Supreme sandwiches, I think we’d have been better off!
There was a time when smoking wasn’t the social taboo it is today. Smoking was something people did on planes, in doctor’s waiting rooms, in theatres, in their cars and pretty much everywhere else until we came to the shocking realization that smoking is actually bad for you ! Who knew !?!? You’d think that sucking carcinogenic smoke directly into your lungs would actually be beneficial and something to be encouraged. Well at least that’s what they thought in the ’60s and ’70s as witnessed in the following classic cigarette ads.
MarlboroThis ad is wrong on so many levels. Using an innocent baby to sell cigarettes is one thing but to try and make you feel guilty that you don’t have the best of everything like this kid’s dad since you don’t smoke Marlboros is really a shot below the smoke filled lungs. At least it’s never too late to experience the “Miracle of Marlboro” and never feel over-smoked (as opposed to under smoked I guess).
Chesterfield This ad featuring former President Ronald Reagan, really only proves one of two things. Either Ronnie only associated with people who smoked or he was the worst Christmas shopper in history. Although, it’s nice to finally see a cigarette that doesn’t leave an unpleasant after-taste. Now instead of popping a Tic Tac or Menthos before an interview, have a quick smoke to freshen your breath. Chesterfield Cigarettes – the New Fresh Maker !
Camel
You really can’t go wrong with Camel cigarettes when you realize that more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette brand. What an awesome endorsement. Obviously it’s the cigarette brand a doctor would recommend if he finds you’re not getting enough tar.
Winston
This commercial aired back in 1960 when Winston cigarettes sponsored the first season of The Flintstones on ABC. Back then the show was geared towards an adult audience much in the same way that Family Guy is geared towards an adult audience. Trying to air an ad like this today would certainly prompt a few lawsuits and a few thousand complaints. Although I gotta say Wilma looked pretty sexy with that cigarette.
