Bic pen works after being shot out of a gun

Cafe Society
1

From an IMHO thread:

Today my google-fu is not mighty. Can anyone point me to a video of the classic commercial where a Bic pen (‘Stick’) is shot out of a gun at a target, and is shown to still be capable of writing? I have an idea that John Cameron Swayze was the pitchman.

2

I’m sorry. I thought for a moment this was Fark.

3

I think he pitched Timex watches, although confusion about who was the pitchman is understandable. Swayze’s Timex ads also showed Timexes being subjected to various stresses–I seem to recall one where a Timex was strapped to the propellor of an outboard motor: “Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking,” was the tagline, IIRC.

I remember the rifle ad for Bic too. Couldn’t find it on YouTube, but I did find the one where the flamenco dancer has a Bic attached to his boot. After a vigorous dance, the Bic still writes. And it was still only 19 cents!

4

YouTube doesn’t seem to have them. They had several of these – They had a Bic pen being fired out of a rifle, through a block of wood, and working. They had one where it was attached, ballpoint down, to an ice skate, and a skater did a routine on the ice.
“Bic pen writes first time, every time. Even over butter!”

So how come I’ve got a zillion clogged-up Bic pens in all my pen holders? Maybe I need to shoot them through blocks of pine every now and then. Or grease them up with butter.

5

You gotta be rough with them! If you coddle them they only let you down.

6

When I was a kid, Bic pens had a slogan that I didn’t get at the time. I recently re-encountered it and laughed my head off.

Flic my Bic

7

No, that was the slogan for the Bic lighter. IIRC, it was one of the first cheap and widely-available disposable lighters. The slogan for Bic pens was as above: “Bic writes first time, every time.”

Yeah, I watched a lotta TV as a kid.

8

Well I still didn’t get it was a play up Suck My Dick.

9

That one didn’t go quite as planned.

10

One cartoon said, “Of course it didn’t work, sir. You don’t have any butter on the paper!”

11

I remember a popular song from that Bic/Timex period…

If I was a carpenter
and you were a lady
would you rather marry me
or John Cameron Swayze?

… or maybe I just dreamt it up.

12

I dunno, why do I have a Fisher Space Pen, that’s just as clogged up and smearing ink all over the place? :stuck_out_tongue:

13

Meh. Those are only good for getting you off the Moon.

14

No Bic pen commercial thread would be complete without mentioning this monster.