Tag: retro advertising
Nobody Doesn’t Like Sara Lee
As a kid growing up, I didn’t understand why everyone said “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee” was incorrect English. I…
Virginia Slims: “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby”
The Virginia Slims commercials were some of the most memorable cigarette ads of the late 1960s and 1970s, built around…
Whenever I saw the Barbie Cut ’n Curl commercial as a kid, I always wondered if it really worked as smoothly as it looked on TV.
The idea was great: give Barbie a haircut, style her hair, curl it, and somehow keep the fun going without…
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…
The Swing Wing: The Toy That Looked Like a Neck Injury Waiting to Happen
The Swing Wing was a wonderfully weird 1960s toy introduced by Transogram Games in 1965. It was worn on your…
Josephine the Plumber: Comet’s Cleaning Queen
Josephine from the Comet cleanser commercials was played by Jane Withers, who had already been famous years earlier as a…
“Muncha buncha, muncha buncha, Fritos go with lunch!”
It was catchy, silly, and easy for kids to repeat, which is exactly what made old snack commercials work. A…
Smokey Bear’s Creepiest PSA?
Before CGI, jump scares, and viral ads, Smokey Bear managed to give some of us a double take with one…
“My dog’s bigger than your dog, my dog’s faster than yours!”
Here’s another earworm from the ’70s to get stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Ken-L Ration…
Sorry, Charlie!
The StarKist “Sorry, Charlie” campaign started in 1961 and gave us one of the great advertising mascots: Charlie the Tuna….