Retro Commercials--What's the Attraction?

[CensoredAlso]

I read a book once about TV advertising icons. I was very surprised to learn that originally there was only one Rice Krispies Elf, I think it was Snap. He gained two brothers, Krackle and Pop, a few years later. I can't imagine there not being three of them!

There were a few years when you never saw the Rice Krispie guys in the commercials and I always missed that. Then out of nowhere they came back (though this was a few years ago too). Pop is all excited because he gets "the fun part" of pouring the milk in the cereal bowl. And then he sings, "Precious and few are the moments we three can share!" Lol
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kSqYBhvjr1c

 

[D'Snowth]

I also enjoy watching TV commercials that were actually done as if they were part of an episode from a sitcom back in the day... like on YouTube, there's a commercial where Andy and Barney are hawking Grape Nuts, then there's a commercial where Hogan's Heroes are enjoying some Jell-O with Dream Whip, and then there's Eddie Munster talking about how much Herman loves Cheerios.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah eventually parents complained that it was wrong for TV characters to suddenly stop the show and start advertising a product to kids. I saw an epsiode of Howdy Dowdy, where the human character actually says, "Tell your parents to buy you Welsh's Grape Juice!" Sheesh! lol

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah eventually parents complained that it was wrong for TV characters to suddenly stop the show and start advertising a product to kids.

Parents.

If that's the case, then why aren't commercials in general being pulled off the airwaves?

 

[CensoredAlso]

Well I actually kinda agree with them, I think it's kinda weird for beloved characters children look up to trying to get kids to spend their money, lol.

Well I guess they couldn't completely remove commercials because without the advertisers, the shows wouldn't last. But there was a lot of reform in children's commercials. In the '50s they'd show a toy walking by itself (when in reality it couldn't). After that, several regulations were put in, saying commercials for kids had to explain when a toy couldn't walk on its own, or when batteries weren't included. Also, there couldn't be too many "fantasy" elements (fairies etc) in commercials. It all came from the idea that it was slightly immoral to use cute, trust worthy character to convince kids (or rather their parents) to buy something. Apparently some advertisers got around this by putting their kids commercials in Prime Time, where the regulations didn't apply, lol.

Funny, it's not OK to push products on children, but it's still perfectly fine for adults! lol

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah, I guess you got a point.

I remember back in the mid-90s there were these commercials for these Teddy Graham-like snacks called "Dizzy Grizzlies", which were basically Teddy Grahams with a coating of chocolate and tiny sprinkles on their backs.

Anyshoe, in the commercials, the crackers would skate across the screen all by themselves, and then would suddenly start spinning uncontrolably and stop abruptly to show their eyes, which were rendered to swirls and stuff to make it look like their dizzy. Well, pretty soon, all the kids at school (myself included) started getting our parents to get Dizzy Grizzlies (we were like in kindergarten at the time), and we'd get out our Dizzy Grizzlies, and we'd spin them around on the table to get them to be dizzy, but they never would.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Lol, aw, that can be very disapointing. I remember loving the Kellogs Smacks commercial ("I dig 'em!"). But when I tried the cereal, it didn't nothing for me! That was a good lesson in don't believe everything you see on Television! lol

 

[redBoobergurl]

It's so funny that this was brought up, my husband and I just had a marathon of watching commercials from our youth on Youtube last weekend! It started because of an article he was reading on "the most misleading commercials of the 80's" or something like that which had links to commercials on Youtube and suddenly we got all excited like, remember this toy or that toy or this cereal commercial or the McDonald's commercials with characters like Grimace and Birdy and pretty soon we just were watching all sorts of stuff. It was really fun and a total trip down memory lane. I think sometimes you just have to do those things.

 

[Drtooth]

Simple answer... new commercials suck. They suck suck suck. It's all about how awkward and nervous they can make a situation. They steal humor from the Office and Napoleon Dynamite, and they just do horrible, horrible, "What the heck was that?" things that make me nervous and change the channel. I can't believe people actually find it funny. I don't even hate the ones where they use a song out of context as much.

It's like the people who make these are high or something. And that analogy is apt, because that stuff impares your judgement, making you slow witted and laugh at everything.

Whatever happened to just advertising your product? Why do you always have to kick us to the head with your unfunny pseudo-absurdist humor? Why do they always use the ugliest, weirdest looking and sounding people on purpose? Are they too lazy to do real humor, and have to rely on people laughing at how ugly the people in the commercials are?

 

[Princeton]

TV Land hasn't played in "retromercials" in like four years or so.

I know, right? My favorite was always "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent!"