classic commercials Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Remember the Fruit of the Loom Lady?

A lot of us remember Fruit of the Loom commercials because they were just plain fun, but this one has an extra connection many people may not realize. The woman in the commercial is Loretta Tupper, a veteran actress who became one of television’s most recognizable commercial performers. Kids remembered her as the Fruit of the Loom lady, while older viewers may have spotted her in all kinds of other ads during the 1970s and ’80s.

What made these commercials so memorable was the simple but clever idea of bringing the Fruit of the Loom characters right into an everyday home setting. It gave the brand a playful personality and helped make those fruit costumes instantly unforgettable. Looking back now, it’s another reminder of how much charm older commercials had, when a funny concept and one memorable performer could make an ad stick in your mind for years.

Do you remember seeing these Fruit of the Loom commercials when they first aired, and did you recognize Loretta Tupper?

Whoop-dee-doo for my Subaru Midas Ad

I recognized Midas right away, but the lady driving the Subaru is another familiar part of this commercial. That’s Loretta Tupper, one of those faces we saw over and over again in commercials during the 1970s and ’80s. I’m going to save more about her for another commercial later, because she had quite an interesting career.

Midas itself started back in 1956 and, for its first few years, was basically all about mufflers and exhaust systems. One of its biggest selling points was the famous guarantee that covered the muffler for as long as you owned the car. The company gradually expanded, adding shocks in 1960 and brakes in 1979 before eventually becoming the full-service auto repair chain we know today.

It’s also a reminder of how common muffler shops once were. Replacing an exhaust system was simply a much more routine part of owning a car than it is today.

Do you remember going to Midas for a muffler, and did you recognize Loretta Tupper when she appeared?

This Ad Introduced Visa’s New Name

Yes, this commercial was introducing what looked like a new credit card, but it was actually announcing that BankAmericard was becoming Visa. The ad shows the new Visa card placed directly over the older BankAmericard and ends with the line, “We’re keeping up with you.”

Bank of America had introduced BankAmericard in 1958. By the 1970s, many banks inside and outside the United States were issuing versions of the card, sometimes under different regional names. The organization adopted Visa in 1976 because it was a simple international name that sounded similar in different languages.

This appears to be the 1977 “Becoming Visa” campaign. The scenes of travel, restaurants, boating and shopping were meant to show that the card was becoming more modern and useful wherever customers went.

Existing BankAmericard holders did not need to open a completely new account. New cards gradually carried the Visa name, while older BankAmericards remained valid during the transition, reportedly until October 1, 1979.

Two All-Beef Patties…

This 1975 commercial begins with customers confidently attempting to describe a Big Mac. Most of them quickly stumble over the ingredients until the familiar jingle takes over: “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.”

The Big Mac was created by Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti and first sold in 1967 for 45 cents. McDonald’s initially considered calling it the Aristocrat or Blue Ribbon Burger, but 21-year-old advertising secretary Esther Glickstein Rose suggested the much simpler name “Big Mac.” It became available nationwide in 1968.

The ingredient chant arrived in 1974 through a campaign developed by Keith Reinhard’s creative group at Needham Harper & Steers. The ingredient list had first appeared in college newspaper advertising before Mark Vieha turned the words into music and performed the original jingle.

The campaign became so popular that some McDonald’s restaurants offered a free Big Mac to customers who could recite the complete list correctly within just a few seconds. A longer version of the commercial also appeared during Super Bowl IX in 1975.

The commercial lasted only seconds, but it taught generations exactly what was inside a Big Mac. In 1986, The Economist even began using Big Mac prices around the world to compare the purchasing power of different currencies.

Can you still say the entire Big Mac chant without stumbling?

Chatty Cathy

Chatty Cathy was one of the dolls that made kids stop and stare back in the early 1960s. Introduced by Mattel in 1960, she became famous because she did more than just sit there looking cute. Pull the string, and Chatty Cathy would actually talk.

Her voice was provided by June Foray, who also voiced Rocky the Flying Squirrel, and the doll became such a pop culture memory that she even helped inspire the creepy “Talky Tina” doll from The Twilight Zone. Decades later, GEICO used a Chatty Cathy-style parody in a commercial, proving that people still remembered the idea of the pull-string doll that just would not stop talking.

Sweet, simple, and a little bit magical, Chatty Cathy became one of the great talking toys of the era.

O.J. Simpson and the Hertz Airport Dash

In the 1970s, O.J. Simpson became one of the most recognizable pitchmen on television thanks to his Hertz commercials. The ads showed him sprinting through airports in a suit, briefcase in hand, while people cheered, “Go, O.J., Go!” It was a perfect use of his football image: fast, famous, smiling, and always on the move.

At the time, the campaign was a huge hit and helped turn Simpson from a football star into a mainstream TV celebrity. It is strange to watch now because the cheerful airport-running image became one of the most famous commercials of its era, long before all the later headlines changed how people looked at him.

Space Food Sticks

They were chewy, rod-shaped energy snacks developed after Pillsbury worked with NASA on foods astronauts could eat in space. The idea was that the food had to be compact, nutritious, not crumbly, and easy to eat, even in tight spaceflight conditions. Pillsbury then marketed them to the public during the Apollo era, when anything connected to astronauts and the moon felt exciting.

They came in flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel, and were sold as a “nutritionally balanced” between-meal snack. In a way, they were an early version of what we would now call an energy bar, only shaped more like a little chewy stick.

TRS write-up:

Pillsbury’s Space Food Sticks were the kind of snack that could only have come from the space-race era.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, kids did not just want candy. They wanted something that felt like it belonged in an astronaut’s lunchbox. Space Food Sticks looked like little chewy rods and came in flavors like chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. They were promoted as a nutritious between-meal snack, but the real selling point was right there in the name: space.

Pillsbury had worked on food for NASA, and the company turned that connection into a grocery-store snack kids could imagine taking all the way to the moon. They eventually disappeared from shelves, but for anyone who remembers them, Space Food Sticks were a perfect little bite of Apollo-era childhood.

Did You Get Your Dodge Boys Shorts?

Phil Rizzuto pitched plenty of products in his day, but this Yankees/Dodge Boys spot is one of those commercials that could only come from its time.

Here’s “The Scooter,” a Yankees legend, selling a pair of gym shorts with the Yankees logo on one side and The Dodge Boys logo on the other. It is part baseball, part car-dealer promotion, and part early-’80s fashion statement.

But the real time capsule may be the ticket information. The ad tells fans they could get Yankees tickets at Yankee Stadium Gate 4, the Grand Central Station Ticketron booth, Ticketron computer outlets, Chargit phone reservations, AAA North Jersey Auto Club offices, or by mail to Yankee Stadium.

How many of those can you still use today? Basically one, and even that one has changed. You can still buy Yankees tickets at the current Yankee Stadium box office if tickets are available, but the old Gate 4 setup, Ticketron booths, Chargit phone ordering, AAA ticket outlets, and mailing a check feel like another world now.

Today it is mostly apps, websites, barcodes, and mobile tickets. Back then, you might have gone to Grand Central, called a number, walked into an AAA office, or mailed away for seats. Holy cow, what a different way to go to a ballgame.

Everything’s Archie

There was a time when the back of a cereal box could be almost as exciting as what was inside.

This Everything’s Archie Post Cereal commercial is a perfect example. In the late 1960s, kids could find Archie-themed prizes on specially marked Post cereal boxes, including cardboard records you could actually cut out and play. They were not exactly hi-fi, but to a kid, getting music from the back of a cereal box felt like magic.

The timing was perfect. The Archies were everywhere, with the cartoon band becoming a Saturday morning favorite and “Sugar, Sugar” turning into one of the biggest songs of 1969. So Post put Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, Sugar Bear, cereal, cartoons, and music all into one kid-friendly promotion.

Who else remembers cereal boxes that gave you something to do after breakfast?

Mr. Bubble Gets You So Clean, Your Mother Won’t Know You

Hey, it’s Saturday, and for a lot of us, that used to mean bath night!

Mr. Bubble made bath time feel less like a chore and more like something to look forward to. The famous line, “Mr. Bubble gets you so clean, your mother won’t know you,” worked because it sounded like it was made just for kids. It turned a regular bath into a funny little promise: you would come out so clean, you might look like a different kid.

It was also classic 1960s advertising. The line was simple, catchy, easy to repeat, and just exaggerated enough to stick in your head. Kids heard “bubbles and fun,” while mothers heard “clean child, no bathtub ring, and inexpensive.”

And for anyone who remembers Saturday night baths, there was nothing quite like a tub full of Mr. Bubble.