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TVparty! presents some of the greatest ad campaigns of all time. The 1970s was a most fertile time for clever ad jingles and unforgettable slogans. From "Flick My Bic" to "Bet 'cha can't eat just one," these are the classic commercials that excited American consumers thirty years ago. WARNING: Many of these video clips were in terrible condition, so it is what it is. EMBEDDED VIDEO CLIPS |
Ultra
Ban 5000 Retail price of a can of Ultra Ban 5000 in 1971 - about 69 cents. The laugh you got from seeing this barely disguised dildo in your friend's bathroom - priceless. |
THERE ARE LOTS MORE |
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Miller
Lite Launched in 1973, Miller Lite was the first of the so-called light beers. They quickly built a strong following by using humor in their ads with durable phrases like, "Tastes Great, Less Filling." Miller has a grand tradition of stunningly funny advertisements. Early on, they began using celebrities in their commercials, people who resonated with the Joe Sixpack crowd, blue-collar stars like Rodney Dangerfield, Billy Martin, Bob Euker, Rosie Grier and other assorted sports and bar room heroes.
In this second ad, trick pool player Steve Miserak demonstrates his mastery of the table. Surprise, confound, delight, and entice the viewer - that was the Miller Light strategy, the most successful product launch of the decade.
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Paul
Masson Fortunately, no one noticed that Welles was half-crocked when he filmed the darn things.
Lowenbrau
Beer
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Bic
Lighters Encouraged by the commercials, it wasn't long before "flick my Bic" became a sexually suggestive notion.
American
Express Card
Alka-Seltzer
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Dr.
Pepper Dr. Pepper was the oldest of the major soft drinks but the last to go mainstream. Their breakthrough came with some of the most effective advertising campaigns imaginable. In the sixties, Dr. Pepper was a fringe product, almost a cult beverage. They took advantage of that public ambiguity by marketing the drink in the seventies as, "so misunderstood" and, "the most original soft drink ever in the whole wide world." Dr. Pepper really entered the mainstream after an advertising blitz in 1977 that asked Americans, "Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?"
David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London) played the original Dr. Pepper kid; in subsequent commercials celebrities were clumsily inserted into the vibrant song and dance numbers for added endorsement. In the late-seventies, the torch was passed to a younger Dr. Pepper kid, who got around on Roller Skates (which was enjoying a resurgence at the time).
Sugar-free
Because Dr. Pepper had such a distinctive taste, selling people on a sugar-free version was fairly easy. Everyone knew what a Pepsi or Coke tasted like, and that their Diet knockoffs were no match for the original. Relatively few people had tasted Dr. Pepper in 1977, so Sugar Free Dr. Pepper was accepted on its own merits, resulting in a spectacularly successful product launch. As with the other well received Dr. Pepper campaigns, musical numbers were employed to get a simple message across. |
Coke Coke was so ubiquitous by this time they didn't need to tout the product in every commercial, instead they demonstrated how Coke is an integral part of the very fabric of this nation, as American as apple pie and Jackie Gleason.
In a similar vein, McDonald's always unleashes a fresh bunch of holiday commercials each year, most are touching family portraits to solidify their wholesome, down home image. Here's one of the best from 1975. |
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L'Eggs
Lays
Potato Chips
Kraft
Macaroni |
Secret
Deodorant In this spot, the husband is shocked - shocked - that his wife insists on taking her own deodorant on a trip. Secret did such a great job of marketing their product to women that most men would do without deodorant rather than use Secret for fear of some kind of hormonal transfer that might take place, like they would grow boobs or something. |
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Irish
Spring First Colgate-Palmolive had to establish the product as "manly" - they did that with spots like this one that showed two buff guys wrestling around, stripping off their shirts to display masculine, hairy chests. Colgate-Palmolive did so well with this product launch, they decided to broaden the soap's appeal by luring women with the "I like it, too" angle.
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Smitty
Perfume This was Coty's fragrance for the disco scene. Why is this girl running around like a kitten in heat? "Smitty did it!" |
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Hostess
Contrast that with this commercial for Hostess in the seventies, where the Mom cheerfully tells us that, "Sometimes a Mom has to say no" (attention modern parents!). That's why she only serves wholesome Hostess snacks for her family. After all, like the lady says, "Freshness never tasted so good." Which you could take two ways...
TV
Guide Advertisers often use unusual sound cues like this one so that you will associate those tones with the product, triggering a subconscious response that forces you to think about that product. |
Activision
Games Here's an early example for Activision which started making games for the Atari Game System in 1978. Twenty-five years ago, in the era of Pac-man, this Skiing game was as good as home video gaming got. (Look for a pre-SNL Phil Hartman in this spot.) Popular Activision games today include Spider-Man and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. |
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Yuban "Richness worth a second cup." A wife and husband are seen leaving a party when a blond saunters up and asks if they'd stay for another cup of coffee. The wife politely declines, explaining that her husband never has a second cup. Surprise! Suddenly he wants a second cup! And the wife's reaction? "Jim never has seconds of my coffee..." That blond knows what the housewife doesn't. It isn't the coffee that keeps your husband at home, it's the grind.
Kind of reminds one of "Ring Around the Collar!"
THERE ARE LOTS MORE TV Commercials on DVD |
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North Carolina Actors / |
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