In one of my favorite ads, a little girl is carefully stringing Kix cereal using needle and thread to make a Christmas tree decoration. Her little brother is delicately picking Kix off the other end of the thread and eating them.
Another great Super Bowl ad: A little kid is playing at being Darth Vader in full costume. He's trying like the dickens to levitate things and control things (like Mom) in the house. No go. Then he goes out to the driveway and tries to put the whammy on the family car. He gestures at it; it starts! He's Blown Away!
Parents stand at the window with the zapper that starts the VW.
Meanwhile, in my corner of the US, where Atlantic Coast Conference (collegiate) basketball approaches being a religion—in junior high the whole school would listen to tournament games over the loudspeaker—people of a certain age remember fondly and can still sing the jingles of two main TV game coverage sponsors:
And then there were the ads for Ballantine beer that began with a clip from one familiar song or another. E.g.
"I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair." She . . .
. . . Asked the man for Ballantine,
And is she glad she did!
It's got the liveliest taste in town,
Just open it up and drink it down.
Now you ask the man for Ballantine Beer.
You'll be so glad you did.
One of the few commercial jingles that can function as a stand-alone song. I'm pretty sure I had heard it as a song on the radio before I knew it was an ad song.
(My understanding is that ILTTTWTS originally was a pop song, and then Coke reworked it for those ads. I suppose I could check wikipedia, but speculation is always more fun.)
Many from my childhood, that pop into my head whenever I see the product they were advertising. I knew the ads before I knew the songs they were taking off.
The Colgate ad: 'Morning time and we're awake, brush our teeth with new Colgate; Colgate, blue minty gel, Mum and Dad use it as well.' (I conflate the words a bit.) That lad also went on to be in Press Gang and the Catherine Tate Show.
The weird Kinder egg ad, with that strange-faced egg sitting on a wall talking gibberish - not from a song, just utter weirdness. 'Kiiinder. Yoobo tricky. Me unscrabbly.' 'Yodel yum and chocco scrum.' I liked it, as I liked making up silly words, and it was fun to imitate him, but apparently lots of kids found it creepy.
And then 'thank you very, very, very much one' - 'Thank you very much, you're one in a million. Thank you very much for feeding William.' I think William was a goldfish, and I thought that ad was for Quality Street chocolates, but from googling, I see it's for Roses chocolate, and I can't find the one about feeding William.
The Anchor butter ads, with the dancing cows: 'We're the Anchor cows that make the butter so good, other cows would taste like Anchor too if they could; They may try to imitate us as you can see, but we're the Anchor cows who do it nat-uh-ruh-lee.' (I clearly heard/remembered that wrong, as it's not the cows but the spreads that would taste like Anchor butter if they could. I think it didn't occur to me that spreads would be seen as sentient beings with envy, so I thought it must be the cows, even though it didn't sound quite like it.)
Lurpak butter too, with that little man made of butter: 'A taste of Lurpak butter is the uttermost, ask any decent toast, it's the creamy most. Spread a little creaminess upon your toast.' (Misheard lyrics there too - I don't think I was yet very familiar with the word host, and to me it made sense to ask the toast!)
I could go on forever, as there are loads of ads from my childhood that are stuck in my mind - I preferred them to the TV shows. The bank ads were fun, and made having a bank account quite fun for me. The Nat West piggies ad. The 'Come to the Midlands' ads with the Griffin, and this one when the hole in the wall thing was new and exciting, with Richard Briars voicing the Griffin: 'When you press his little buttons, the blessed chap has ears.' (A bit misleading, when you discover there isn't really a little man with ears and a big nose singing to you when you press the buttons!)
The Robertson's Marmalade ad of days gone by would, today, be extremely non-PC (and probably illegal):
Look for the Golly*, the Golly on the jar!
*as in golliwog...
As kids, we innocently collected labels so that we could send away for our free golliwog badges. Back then, I never thought of a golly as anything other than a cute toy.
"Our tummies say it's time for tea,
So let's down tools for Dairylea!"
There's another meat paste advert I remember for no good reason:
"Princes salmon spread and all the other flavours are
Nice on a slice
Fun in a bun
A must on a crust
Make the most of your toast
There's beef, fried chicken, and of course there's salmon
Or you could put smokey bacon or even ham on.
Princes - the eat you can't beat!"
"Our tummies say it's time for tea,
So let's down tools for Dairylea!"
I'd forgotten this one, but now I instantly remember the tune. The 'down tools' bit is unfamiliiar, but this is another one where I didn't understand all the words - I didn't even know 'down tools' was an expression. I liked singing it though, so I changed the words to something that made sense.
"Our tummies say it's time for tea,
So let's down tools for Dairylea!"
I'd forgotten this one, but now I instantly remember the tune. The 'down tools' bit is unfamiliiar, but this is another one where I didn't understand all the words - I didn't even know 'down tools' was an expression. I liked singing it though, so I changed the words to something that made sense.
I think that the version I remember went
(Children painting gates or something, rural child labour)
Children: Our tummies say it's time for tea
So let's down tools for Dairylea!
There's enough for him and me and me,
A taste of the country.
Child 1: I like the taste of butter
Child 2: I like the taste of cheese
Child 3: I like the taste of milk
'Farmer': They're all in Dairylea.
Children: Straight from the tub, our mums have found
There's so much more to spread around.
It tastes just great, it's good for you.
A taste of the country!
Please note that I am an extremely sad individual.
"Our tummies say it's time for tea,
So let's down tools for Dairylea!"
I'd forgotten this one, but now I instantly remember the tune. The 'down tools' bit is unfamiliiar, but this is another one where I didn't understand all the words - I didn't even know 'down tools' was an expression. I liked singing it though, so I changed the words to something that made sense.
I think that the version I remember went
(Children painting gates or something, rural child labour)
Children: Our tummies say it's time for tea
So let's down tools for Dairylea!
There's enough for him and me and me,
A taste of the country.
Child 1: I like the taste of butter
Child 2: I like the taste of cheese
Child 3: I like the taste of milk
'Farmer': They're all in Dairylea.
Children: Straight from the tub, our mums have found
There's so much more to spread around.
It tastes just great, it's good for you.
A taste of the country!
Please note that I am an extremely sad individual.
Ha, I don't remember the visuals, or the rest of the words - that second line stopped me and I got stuck there! I think I used to sing it as 'My tummy says it's time for tea, so let's eat lots of Dairylea!' I just found it on youtube, here, and the only other thing I remember is the bit at the end: 'The kids'll eat it till the ceoows come 'ome.' I used to love putting on his deep voice and accent and saying that, when I was a kid. Heh - I suspect I'm an even sadder individual!
Dairylea . . . wow, that brings back memories! I think Dairylea in the USA (Dairymen's League Cooperative Association) was different from the British one, though. That was the first brand of milk I remember as a kid. Delivered by the milkman and left in bottles in a metal box on the porch. The milk would freeze in the winter and the bottle tops would pop off, leaving a shaft of white ice protruding out of the top of the bottle.
There was a cardboard thing that had all of Dairylea's products visually represented (milk, cream, butter, cheese, eggs, buttermilk, sour cream, chocolate milk, orange drink). Mother would turn the thing so that the products she wanted were displayed, and then stick it in an empty milk bottle where the milkman could see it.
The only jingle I remember is:
Dairylea, Dairylea, Dairylea,
It's rich in Vitamin D.
Public service jingle for seat belts: "Buckle-up for safety, buckle-up! Buckle-up for safety, always buckle-up! Put your mind at ease, tell your riders, please, Buckle-up for safety, everybody buckle-up!"
Dairylea . . . wow, that brings back memories! I think Dairylea in the USA (Dairymen's League Cooperative Association) was different from the British one, though. That was the first brand of milk I remember as a kid.
It's specifically a processed cheese spread in the UK. Originally it was only in little foil-wrapped triangles, like the Laughing Cow. But that ad was for when they'd first made it into a spread in a tub. It comes in a few formats now.
Dairylea . . . wow, that brings back memories! I think Dairylea in the USA (Dairymen's League Cooperative Association) was different from the British one, though. That was the first brand of milk I remember as a kid.
It's specifically a processed cheese spread in the UK. Originally it was only in little foil-wrapped triangles, like the Laughing Cow. But that ad was for when they'd first made it into a spread in a tub. It comes in a few formats now.
All of them foul and almost completely unlike cheese.
I have traumatic memories of being fed it by someone who told me it was cheese. It clearly wasn't.
I am always interested in ads that feature actors or actresses whose star shone brightly once but has since dimmed. I'm just glad that they're still working in their profession and not waiting on tables or flipping burgers somewhere. Case in point . . .
Aunt Bluebell, the charming old lady who persuaded us to buy Scot Towels and "weigh it for yourself, honey" was Mae Questel, the voice of cartoon legend Betty Boop.
Being a little younger than most people who have posted so far, the ads of my youth were the Gold Blend couple and Nicole and her Papa selling that French car.
My parents had a full set of the Tetley tea people on their kitchen windowsill.
(Sending my mate a press release from a company who make electronics instrumentation which touches on both our work, he commented 'the last time I saw an ad like that it was advertising a Ford Capri'. It's a Norwegian firm, and the ad featured a lot of blonde women and a very old piece of their lab equipment, which still faithfully works. I own two of these gizmos, and no blondes whatsoever have turned up here to sit on my desk and smile about it. I guess that's advertising).
I am always interested in ads that feature actors or actresses whose star shone brightly once but has since dimmed. I'm just glad that they're still working in their profession and not waiting on tables or flipping burgers somewhere.
And Gertrude Berg, in her wonderful Molly Goldberg yenta (Yiddish for busybody) character, hawking SOS scouring pads ("with the rust arrester . . . more soap, more shine!).
My parents had a full set of the Tetley tea people on their kitchen windowsill.
I spent far too much time last night trying to find the Tetley tea advertisement that I remember best - the one in which the tea folk dance with bells on their toes (ankles?). I couldn't find it anywhere
Comments
Agreed. Heineken used to do some very good adverts.
I walked about a bit on my own...
Husband looks accusingly at his wife who looks abashed at the dingy ring inside his crisp, early sixties, white office shirt.
My mom snapped: "Tell him to clean his neck!"
Parents stand at the window with the zapper that starts the VW.
I would add “I am stuck on Band-Aid,” this particular version with a young Teri Garr and a young John Travolta.
And the operatic classic “Great moments at breakfast” for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies.
My wife and I regularly quote “Thanks for the gum ball!”
Meanwhile, in my corner of the US, where Atlantic Coast Conference (collegiate) basketball approaches being a religion—in junior high the whole school would listen to tournament games over the loudspeaker—people of a certain age remember fondly and can still sing the jingles of two main TV game coverage sponsors:
On the other hand, we can still fly British Airways .
Maybe to bring you to God's own country!
Anyone else for "A fingle to dottighab" - the Tunes ad?
Or "cocaine" as the daringly edgy at school had it.
A sort of early-80s version of the Red Bull ads I suppose.
"I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair." She . . .
. . . Asked the man for Ballantine,
And is she glad she did!
It's got the liveliest taste in town,
Just open it up and drink it down.
Now you ask the man for Ballantine Beer.
You'll be so glad you did.
That's pop-o-matic Trouble!
Race your men around the track,
and try to send the others back.
Here comes sister, look out Jack!
You got trouble, you go back.
The game is fun for Dad and Mother,
and sis can trouble her mean old brother!
[Kudos to the copywriter who came up with "pop-o-matic".]
One of the few commercial jingles that can function as a stand-alone song. I'm pretty sure I had heard it as a song on the radio before I knew it was an ad song.
(My understanding is that ILTTTWTS originally was a pop song, and then Coke reworked it for those ads. I suppose I could check wikipedia, but speculation is always more fun.)
Said in a Scots accent by the lady (Barbara Mullen, IIRC) who was housekeeper to the doctors in Dr Finlay's Casebook of mumble mumble decades ago...
in my Maidenform bra" passed as adolescent porn.
Look for the Golly*, the Golly on the jar!
*as in golliwog...
The Colgate ad: 'Morning time and we're awake, brush our teeth with new Colgate; Colgate, blue minty gel, Mum and Dad use it as well.' (I conflate the words a bit.) That lad also went on to be in Press Gang and the Catherine Tate Show.
The weird Kinder egg ad, with that strange-faced egg sitting on a wall talking gibberish - not from a song, just utter weirdness. 'Kiiinder. Yoobo tricky. Me unscrabbly.' 'Yodel yum and chocco scrum.' I liked it, as I liked making up silly words, and it was fun to imitate him, but apparently lots of kids found it creepy.
And then 'thank you very, very, very much one' - 'Thank you very much, you're one in a million. Thank you very much for feeding William.' I think William was a goldfish, and I thought that ad was for Quality Street chocolates, but from googling, I see it's for Roses chocolate, and I can't find the one about feeding William.
The Anchor butter ads, with the dancing cows: 'We're the Anchor cows that make the butter so good, other cows would taste like Anchor too if they could; They may try to imitate us as you can see, but we're the Anchor cows who do it nat-uh-ruh-lee.' (I clearly heard/remembered that wrong, as it's not the cows but the spreads that would taste like Anchor butter if they could. I think it didn't occur to me that spreads would be seen as sentient beings with envy, so I thought it must be the cows, even though it didn't sound quite like it.)
Lurpak butter too, with that little man made of butter: 'A taste of Lurpak butter is the uttermost, ask any decent toast, it's the creamy most. Spread a little creaminess upon your toast.' (Misheard lyrics there too - I don't think I was yet very familiar with the word host, and to me it made sense to ask the toast!)
I could go on forever, as there are loads of ads from my childhood that are stuck in my mind - I preferred them to the TV shows. The bank ads were fun, and made having a bank account quite fun for me. The Nat West piggies ad. The 'Come to the Midlands' ads with the Griffin, and this one when the hole in the wall thing was new and exciting, with Richard Briars voicing the Griffin: 'When you press his little buttons, the blessed chap has ears.' (A bit misleading, when you discover there isn't really a little man with ears and a big nose singing to you when you press the buttons!)
Brush your teeth with Colgate,
Colgate Dental Cream.
It cleans your breath (what a toothpaste!)
While it cleans your teeth.
As kids, we innocently collected labels so that we could send away for our free golliwog badges. Back then, I never thought of a golly as anything other than a cute toy.
Fun fact Dorothy L. Sayers coined the phrase, "It pays to advertise" back in her early days when she actually worked for an ad agency.
So let's down tools for Dairylea!"
There's another meat paste advert I remember for no good reason:
"Princes salmon spread and all the other flavours are
Nice on a slice
Fun in a bun
A must on a crust
Make the most of your toast
There's beef, fried chicken, and of course there's salmon
Or you could put smokey bacon or even ham on.
Princes - the eat you can't beat!"
I'd forgotten this one, but now I instantly remember the tune. The 'down tools' bit is unfamiliiar, but this is another one where I didn't understand all the words - I didn't even know 'down tools' was an expression. I liked singing it though, so I changed the words to something that made sense.
I think that the version I remember went
(Children painting gates or something, rural child labour)
Children: Our tummies say it's time for tea
So let's down tools for Dairylea!
There's enough for him and me and me,
A taste of the country.
Child 1: I like the taste of butter
Child 2: I like the taste of cheese
Child 3: I like the taste of milk
'Farmer': They're all in Dairylea.
Children: Straight from the tub, our mums have found
There's so much more to spread around.
It tastes just great, it's good for you.
A taste of the country!
Please note that I am an extremely sad individual.
*sings*
A million housewives every day
Pick up a tin of beans and say
Beanz meanz Heinz!
Our version ended Fartz.
Ha, I don't remember the visuals, or the rest of the words - that second line stopped me and I got stuck there! I think I used to sing it as 'My tummy says it's time for tea, so let's eat lots of Dairylea!' I just found it on youtube, here, and the only other thing I remember is the bit at the end: 'The kids'll eat it till the ceoows come 'ome.' I used to love putting on his deep voice and accent and saying that, when I was a kid. Heh - I suspect I'm an even sadder individual!
There was a cardboard thing that had all of Dairylea's products visually represented (milk, cream, butter, cheese, eggs, buttermilk, sour cream, chocolate milk, orange drink). Mother would turn the thing so that the products she wanted were displayed, and then stick it in an empty milk bottle where the milkman could see it.
The only jingle I remember is:
Dairylea, Dairylea, Dairylea,
It's rich in Vitamin D.
and I don't remember the rest.
"Never pick up a stranger,
Don't put your life in danger."
It's specifically a processed cheese spread in the UK. Originally it was only in little foil-wrapped triangles, like the Laughing Cow. But that ad was for when they'd first made it into a spread in a tub. It comes in a few formats now.
And speaking of things that are problematic, I’d walk a mile for a Camel.
All of them foul and almost completely unlike cheese.
I have traumatic memories of being fed it by someone who told me it was cheese. It clearly wasn't.
https://www.advertisingarchives.co.uk/detail/13814/1/Magazine-Advert/Cachet-by-Prince-Matchabelli/1970s
Vintage 70s/80s. I thought it was the last word in sophistication.🥰
I can never think if a Beans ad without thinking of the Goodies.
"Get it right!"
Never the saintly Janet! The actress was Molly Weir.
Aunt Bluebell, the charming old lady who persuaded us to buy Scot Towels and "weigh it for yourself, honey" was Mae Questel, the voice of cartoon legend Betty Boop.
My parents had a full set of the Tetley tea people on their kitchen windowsill.
Count your blessings.
And then there was Jane Russell, recommending Playtex bras for “us full-figured girls.”
*Total tangent, but for anyone who’s never seen it, Margaret Hamilton’s appearance on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” is worth a watch.
There's fun for you
For you and for me
for you and for me and the whole family
In the Lyons Maid treasure chest
Just recorded it here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DDsNeb6aOUl1fcOOiugXRmV_pZeX2n3v/view?usp=sharing
You got an ology?
The 118 118 ads when directory enquiries got opened up to other companies in the UK.
I spent far too much time last night trying to find the Tetley tea advertisement that I remember best - the one in which the tea folk dance with bells on their toes (ankles?). I couldn't find it anywhere