What I love about this old Fritos Corn Chips commercial is that it actually portrays Mexicans accurately. Every single Mexican I've ever worked with, dated or befriended would never dare to go outside without their giant sombrero, guns and bullets.
I kid, of course. Still, the Frito Bandito was a cool little ad character, and not unlike the Trix Rabbit, he wasn't against stealing to get the food he craved. The character was designed by animation legend Tex Avery (creator of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, among others) and voiced by Mel Blanc. The Bandito stuck around for awhile, but protests from groups angry over the stereotype eventually drove the character into obscurity.
The video below actually contains nine minutes of old commercials, but I think the very first one for Band-Aids is my favorite. Did you know that Band-Aid's adhesive is so strong you can lift an egg with it, and even boil the egg? Did you know that's a really odd way to show how sticky your adhesive bandage is? Did you know that if it's really that sticky it probably hurts like hell when you rip it off?
Even better, Band-Aids are "flesh colored," which is great if you exist in a commercial where everyone is white. So go ahead and scrape your knees, cut yourself shaving, and boil yourself. It's all good.
I'm always amazed at the simplicity of certain old toys, and how so many of those toys have outlived the more complex toys that came along decades later. Toys with lots of flashing lights and animatronic whatnots come and go, but you can still find yo-yos, Silly Putty, Slinkys and the like in pretty much any toy store. Something like this...
...is fun and exciting at first, but it doesn't ignite the imagination. It seems to offer more than say, a toy plastic car, but the Roboraptor, if anything, limits the child's imagination. You can't take it out in the sandbox, you can't spray it with a garden hose, and you certainly can't toss it on the roof and watch it crash into the sidewalk, virtually unharmed.
One of the best spoofs of these simple yet entertaining toys was the "Log" commercial from Ren and Stimpy, but younger folks might not know that it was actually a parody of a popular Slinky commercial. Take note, toy makers and toy advertisers: simplicity is good.
This is a really old Rocky and Bullwinkle opening clip complete with a General Mills product placement. I love how products were made a part of these old shows rather than today's method of sneaking in product placements. Hell, we know you can't have a show without advertisements, you might as well make it blatant. I'd love to turn on the TV and watch Colgate presents: Lost. Or something like that. Both Rocky and Bullwinkle also appeared in television and print ads for General Mills cereals, including Cheerios.
These odd little print ads for an old-fashioned barbershop caught my attention because I love old timey places. I like barber shops where the only person working is an old man and you sit and read the local paper and talk about the price of soybeans while you wait your turn. I also love going to small towns and finding the local cafe or deli and hanging out with the townsfolk. I'm not being sarcastic, I really do love such places. It reminds me of where I grew up.
My only minor problem with these barbershop ads is the one that boasts the shop is so old timey it doesn't have a phone. Call me crazy, but maybe that's one modern convenience you should have, unless you expect people to send you a letter when they want a haircut.
FishNChimps found these two billboards. There's nothing wrong with either of them, really. They're not spectacular, but they're simple and get the point across. Unfortunately, when you put them together it doesn't exactly send the most positive message. I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about advertising, but having a recruitment billboard for the Marines hanging over another billboard advertising a funeral home just doesn't seem like a good idea. Although, if you think about it, the placement doesn't really hurt the funeral home at all. if anything, they should consider more juxtapositions like this.
Is this a real commercial? It's from the 1980s, and it's an ad for something called "Synth coke," which seems to be like real cocaine, only not as expensive (but who knows if the effects were the same, better, or worse). The ad, which has all of the charm and production values of 80s porn movies, says that it's the way to a girl's heart (and other things) and that it can be found in "adult bookstores and boutiques throughout Manhattan."
I don't remember seeing this on VH-1's I Love The 80s.
Wilford Brimley is actually a fine actor, but unfortunately a generation will mostly remember him for his commercial work for Quaker Oats and Liberty Mutual. Unlike other celebrity spokespersons, Wilford always seemed very serious about the product he was pitching. After watching him pitch oatmeal or medical supplies I felt like a damn fool if I didn't go out and purchase those products, despite not being hungry or stricken by diabetes. I would watch his commercials in awe, waiting for him to finally go completely off the script:
Wilford:Okay, seriously, just eat some damn oatmeal. You're not foolin' anybody so just cut the crap and eat it. It's good for you, and you know it's good for you, so don't give me any damn lip. I've been around the block a few times, I know these things. When you're in your 80s you can tell other people what to eat for breakfast, you got it?
I think Wilford's commercials are fine the way they are, but someone found a way to jazz them up:
So many dumb moments in business, so little time. But Business 2.0 mag has their picks for the 101 dumbest of 2006.
Wal-Mart is #1, for hiring a big firm to create their "Candidate Wal-Mart" campaign. #2 is Northwest Airlines, for giving their employees a "How To Save Money" booklet after laying them off. #3 is the contest McDonald's held in Japan, with the winners getting free mp3 players with a virus on them. The rest of the top 10 are GM, Kazakhstan, Steve Wynn, The New York Times, Spirit Air, Porter County, and Comcast.
There are 101 in all, so grab a hot beverage and get comfortable. You can't see the entire list on one page, which is a little annoying, but there is a handy scroll function at the bottom.
Below is an awesome little animated theater ad for Dr. Pepper, one of those spots that would play during intermission to get people to visit the snack bar. This was before the days of VCRs, DVRs and DVDs when seeing a film was much more of a social experience. You could see a movie, a cartoon short, and even the advertisements were fun and entertaining. This one was created by an animation studio in Dallas, Texas called Keitz & Herndon. I love the look of this commercial and the way the characters pop across the screen. The "jungle man" character would probably cause some flak today for being politically incorrect, but it's from a time when such caricatures were done without malice.
Funny satire of Second Life, the game that is sweeping the nation (though I've never played it once, gone to any sites about it once, or read much about it). It's called Get A First Life, and there really isn't much to the site (no links to click, etc). It's more of a one page parody of the entire Second Life genre, how people can actually access the real world outside of their homes.
"First Life is a 3-D analog world where server lag does not exist."
I think this commercial clip actually comes from an episode of The Tonight Show when Jack Black was a guest. That would explain the audience laughter heard when a young Jack Black pops up on the screen. The commercial is for Pitfall, one of the best Atari games ever. Pitfall helped me improve my running, jumping, swinging and falling-into-things skills. Also, it taught me that if you stand on a crocodile's head, it can't eat you. Also the best way to avoid a rattlesnake is to run straight at it and jump over it. If I ever become lost in the jungle, I should be able to survive with no trouble at all.
Following on the success of Monk-e-Mail, CareerBuilder has unveiled the Age-o-Matic. Just upload a photo of yourself and the program ages it 50 years, and not well. The joke with this one is that this is how depressed and beaten down you will look if you continue at your current job. The altered photos you create can then be sent, complete with your picture uttering some sort of despair-ridden comment, to your nearest and dearest.
GoDaddy has put up what it says is the first Super Bowl ad it's had rejected by CBS for inclusion in the Super Bowl. The spot doesn't feature either Candice Michelle or Danica Patrick but instead is just two white guys in their cubicles. One guy is showing off how easy domain registration is with GoDaddy by buying domains related to the other guy's family. It doesn't sound too risque until you see what the other guy's last name is and that the first guy keeps saying "I just did your dog/wife/mom."
The team at the "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" knows from funny. As further proof of that I present this ad they made for Apple's recently announced iPhone. The device does everything extremely efficiently, including opening bottles, dispensing lip balm, acting as a birth control tool and much more. The one thing it seems to have problems with is actually making phone calls.
These 
FishNChimps found 
So many dumb moments in business, so little time. But Business 2.0 mag has their picks for the 
Funny satire of Second Life, the game that is sweeping the nation (though I've never played it once, gone to any sites about it once, or read much about it). It's called 
Following on the success of Monk-e-Mail, CareerBuilder has unveiled the 
GoDaddy 
