Category: 1980’s
When a Wine Ad Sounded Like Theater
The commercial was simple, but that was the power of it. Welles sat there with that unmistakable voice, making wine…
The FedEx Fast-Talking Man
Before every company tried to make commercials feel like mini-movies, FedEx gave us one that felt like a full workday…
“Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop”
I remember my mom calling it the “Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop,” and for years I wondered where that came from….
Lee Press-On Nails for Teens
Lee Press-On Nails became a huge 1980s beauty fad because they made grown-up glamour feel easy and affordable. For teens…
Wendy’s Soviet Fashion Show: “Daywear… Eveningwear… Swimwear”
The Wendy’s Soviet Fashion Show ad was a wonderfully odd 1985 commercial from the same general era as Wendy’s famous…
Probably no toy gave me more joy than Hot Wheels.
It was great the first day you got the track, but the fun didn’t stop there. A new car didn’t…
The Maytag Repair Men
Jesse White was the original “Ol’ Lonely,” the bored Maytag repairman with nothing to do because Maytag appliances were supposed…
When Tippee-Toes Tiptoed Into Trouble
Leave it to the early 1980s to give us a controversy over a baby doll’s bare bottom. Mattel’s Tippee-Toes was…
There Was More For Your Life At Sears
Back in the early 1980s, Sears was still one of the big American shopping destinations, and their “There’s More For…