online community focused on sharing and reminiscing about video, audio, and images that stir our memories of the past – old television, theme songs, commercials, print advertisements, the sights and sounds you remember
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.
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.
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?
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.
Small Shots was one of those 1971 toy ideas that sounds strange now, but made sense once you see it. Mattel basically took the Hot Wheels idea and put little dolls on skates, wagons, carts, and other rolling stands that could run on Hot Wheels-style track.
The commercial is pure early ’70s toy advertising. Everything moves fast, the kids act amazed, and the announcer makes it sound like this was the next big thing. It was not just a doll, and it was not just a car. It was Mattel trying to mix both worlds together.
That was probably the real idea. Hot Wheels was huge with boys, while dolls were usually marketed to girls. Small Shots tried to pull both sides together — little fashion-style figures that could race, roll, and crash down a track. It was a clever idea, even if it also feels a little odd today.
Another interesting note: one of the early Small Shots commercials is listed among Jodie Foster’s early TV commercial work. She was still a child actor at the time, years before most people knew her name.
Small Shots did not last very long, but it is a great example of how toy companies in the 1970s were willing to try almost anything. Dolls on Hot Wheels track? Why not. In that era, if it rolled, launched, flipped, or crashed, somebody was going to put it in a commercial.
“See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet” was one of those ads that did more than sell a car. It sold the idea of getting out on the road.
The song became closely tied to Dinah Shore, who sang it on her Chevrolet-sponsored television shows in the 1950s. By the time she smiled into the camera and sang about seeing America from a Chevy, the line was already becoming part of American TV memory.
It worked because it was simple. A friendly singer, a catchy tune, a shiny Chevrolet, and the idea that the whole country was waiting for you. You did not need a complicated sales pitch. The song did the work.
The ad also fit the time. After World War II, more families had cars, highways were expanding, and road trips became part of American life. Chevrolet was not just saying “buy our car.” It was saying, “This is how you see America.”
For many viewers, the jingle stuck for decades. Even if you did not own a Chevrolet, you probably knew the tune. That is the sign of a great commercial: people remembered the song long after they forgot the model year.
The Frito Bandito was introduced by Frito-Lay in 1967 as a cartoon mascot for Fritos corn chips. He was animated in early commercials by Tex Avery and voiced by Mel Blanc, the legendary voice behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and many others.
The idea was simple: the Bandito wanted your Fritos. With his sombrero, big mustache, pistols, and catchy jingle, he became one of those commercial characters kids remembered right away. The song, based on “Cielito Lindo,” made the ads especially hard to forget.
The campaign also drew complaints from Mexican-American groups who felt the character leaned too heavily on stereotypes. Frito-Lay softened his look over time, including removing the guns, but the character was eventually retired around 1971.
For many who grew up with late-’60s and early-’70s TV, the Frito Bandito is one of those ads that instantly brings back Saturday morning cartoons, snack commercials, and jingles you could still remember decades later.
This vintage 7-Eleven ad is a perfect snapshot of a different kind of neighborhood convenience store. The ad asks, “Where does Mrs. McCall send Molly with a note to the grocer?” The answer, of course, is 7-Eleven.
The image shows a little girl handing a note to the friendly man behind the counter. The message was aimed directly at mothers, reminding them that 7-Eleven was the kind of place where they could send their child for bread, milk, and maybe even a little candy money, knowing she would be treated kindly and given the correct change.
One detail that really dates the ad is the promise that Molly’s groceries, candy, and change would be placed safely in a special 7-Eleven envelope. It was not just selling convenience. It was selling trust.
And look at the hours at the bottom: “Open 7 A.M. ’til 11 P.M…. 7 Days A Week.” Before 7-Eleven became known for being open all night, those hours were a big deal and gave the store its name.
Today, the ad feels like a time capsule: handwritten notes, dime candy, trusted clerks, and kids walking to the store on their own. It is a reminder of when convenience stores tried to feel less like quick stops and more like part of the neighborhood.
Post Rice Krinkles is one of those cereals that makes you wonder what exactly was going on in the advertising room.
It started as Sugar Rice Krinkles, a sweet puffed rice cereal, and Post first sold it with circus-style ads and Krinkles the Clown. Back then, clowns were still considered fun, friendly, and perfect for kids. Looking at him now, though, he has that unsettling “why is this staring at me during breakfast?” energy.
Then around 1960, Post replaced the clown with So-Hi, a small Asian boy character used to sell a rice cereal. The name was a play on “so high,” because he was short, but the character leaned hard into Asian stereotypes that would never fly today. It was the kind of lazy advertising shortcut that was common at the time: rice cereal, so they reached for an Asian caricature.
And no, this did not evolve into Snap, Crackle, and Pop. That was Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, a different cereal from a different company. Post Rice Krinkles was more connected to Post’s later rice cereal ideas, especially the road that eventually led toward Pebbles.
So it basically went from creepy clown to racial stereotype, all in the name of making cereal memorable to kids. And that’s the part that sticks out today. These mascots were meant to be cute and catchy, but looking back, they show how different, and often tone-deaf, advertising could be.
Rice Krinkles eventually faded away by the end of the 1960s, but the mascots are still remembered because they’re so bizarre. One scared kids by accident. The other should have made adults know better.
I remember my mom coming home from the grocery store, excited that they had just started selling pantyhose right there in the supermarket. Now, a lot of boys my age could have cared less, but even as a kid, I immediately saw the genius in this.
Before L’eggs, pantyhose usually meant a trip to a department store or some other clothing section. Then suddenly they were sitting there in the grocery store, packed in those unforgettable plastic eggs, right where moms were already shopping for milk, bread, coffee, and cereal. It was one of those simple ideas that made you wonder, “Why didn’t somebody do this sooner?”
And the display was just as smart as the product. Those big spinning racks of egg-shaped containers practically begged you to look at them. Even if you didn’t know much about pantyhose, you remembered the packaging. That was the genius of L’eggs. They didn’t just sell pantyhose, they turned it into an everyday grocery-store item.
Of course, once the pantyhose were out, those plastic eggs often got a second life around the house. Storage, toys, crafts, Easter decorations, you name it. Back then, nothing that useful-looking got thrown away right away.
