When this ad aired in 1974, America was right in the middle of changing the way it made coffee. For generations, the kitchen percolator had been the standard. Then Mr. Coffee came along with automatic drip brewing, and Joe DiMaggio became the familiar, trusted face convincing people to give this new machine a try.
He didn’t exactly “kill” the percolator himself, but he certainly helped America move away from it. Mr. Coffee had only been introduced in 1972, yet by April 1974 the company had already sold its millionth machine.
One of my favorite details is that DiMaggio reportedly turned down the endorsement at first—and had actually won a Mr. Coffee machine at a golf tournament before the company ever approached him.
And here’s the best irony of all: the man who became one of the most famous coffee spokesmen in television history reportedly wasn’t much of a coffee drinker himself.
Do you remember when your family finally replaced the old percolator with a Mr. Coffee?