Early ’80s TV Commercials and Jingles
by Billy Ingram

Television went from being a mostly local enterprise to a largely national one in the mid-1970s. By the early-1980s, there were dozens of cable networks available to most of the nation’s viewers, outlets offering a line-up of old network TV show reruns along with a smattering of original programming.

As a majority of locally owned businesses - grocery stores, drug stores, etc. - were being bought up or put out of business by rapidly expanding chain stores, the entire fabric of the nation was being forever altered. This led to a sea change in how products were marketed on television.

This almost 20 minute compilation of TV commercials illustrates that point perfectly. Still popular were the catchy jingles that it was hoped would excite the consumer - and for the most part they worked brilliantly. In some cases, ad campaigns could run (with variations) for years, sometimes longer than a decade.

Think Robotussin’s ‘Dr. Mom’ advertisements, for instance. Or, seen here, “Get a little closer with Arrid Extra Dry,” a hold-over from the 1970s as was the Sheer Energy tune and slogan “Nothing beats a great pair of L’eggs.”

Other examples of long running campaigns represented here - the campaigns for Tab Cola, Purina Cat Chow, Coke, and Noxema.

This compilation begins with a Kellogg’s spot that uses a hit song from days gone by, ‘(It’s Gonna Be A) Great Day’ as its underpinning, with changed lyrics of course. This was a fairly common, if expensive, practice because the original song writers have to be compensated. They couldn’t very well say “Angels in the sky, promise that by and by, it’s gonna be a great day’ as the original tune went, it’s all about Kellogg’s right?

Notice how three cast members from a new NBC sitcom called ‘Cheers’ were used to encourage tourism to Boston where the show was supposedly set. And check out those New Wave music beds and the highly saturated colors.

It is what it is!

Early 1980s Commercials & Jingles

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