The old couple eating soup. Lady says, “Our romance is dead. Once the lights go out, you go to sleep.” Light burns out (screen goes dark), we hear a crash, then the sound of man snoring into his soup bowl. Sylvania commercial (I think). Length: 15 seconds only. How can this NOT be the best ever?
Especially if you’re a Washington State native:
A motorcycle is shooting along a mountain highway. We hear the gears being shifted up, “Rrrrrraaaaaaaaaaiiiiin iiiieeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr beeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr.”
And that commercial predates the Budweiser frogs by at least a decade. My sister and I loved that one when we were kids.
Sprint had a commercial that went like this: “For the purposes of this commercial, charges on your phone bill that you don’t understand will be represented by actors in bunny costumes.” Cut to street with several adults in bunny costumes. Back to spokesman “With Sprint,… See, no bunnies.”
I haven’t seen it it years but I loved it.
I really liked the cat herding one, too, Brynda. Hysterical. Can’t remember the company, though.
http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/advice/commercial.htm#
“$1500.00 for a leather bustier? I didn’t care - it lifts and separates!”
:smack:
Citibank! I knew it was a bank, but my brain locked up.
Every single time I see the one with the dental hygenist whose identity was stolen by that creepy Cassanova dude (waxing the old chassis, wink wink) I get the oogy shivers. Especially when she does that laugh. It never fails.
:smack:
Damn no workie linkie…try again…
Citibank
I like the commercial for the Porsche Boxster where all the music in the ad is made up of spliced footage of the engine revving at different speeds.
In the U.K., there were the ‘Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet’ commercials which were wonderful. Then there was the spat between Qualcast and Flymo - a newspaper article was titled, ‘Lawnmower manufacturers sharpen blades’. 
That commercial was actually the subject of a Wall Street Journal article. Brilliant idea, funny, unforgettable…
It didn’t work. It badly didn’t work. Consumers didn’t even realize it was for a car, couldn’t even remember a company name.
The commercial won a bag full of awards. Meanwhile, the Nissan dealers rebelled, got the ad agency fired, and had the commercial replaced with some hard-sell, scrteaming, “Nissan summer sales days” piece of drek.
Sales immediately took off.
One of my favorites was a Gatorade ad from about 1992 featuring Michael Jordan. There were several lengths of it – the longest was 60 seconds. It featured a wonderfully catchy jingle with a reggae-like beat, which was sung by a relay of voices of various ages. The lyrics expressed a wish to “Be like Mike”, and that was the punchline of the ad: “Be Like Mike – Drink Gatorade”.
It had really neat footage of Jordan making some move on the court, followed up by young children attempting the same move.
The premise may have been the most naked comercial endorsement ever. I am not a basketball fan, and I don’t care for reggae music. I don’t even drink Gatorade. But I never got tired of watching that commercial. A masterpiece.
This ad was very popular, so I apologize if my description is superfluous – but it’s been a while since the ad ran, and I figured I’d play it safe for those who hadn’t seen it.
Nike has had a bunch of good commercials over the years. The new Tiger Woods one is pretty cool.
I prefer the one that’s on Da Nerd (no URL as some of the stuff there is NSFW) with him practicing tee shots to the tune of The Blue Danube.
The Honda car one with the 16 cars juxaposed with the 16 people that looked like the cars, all with music box music in the background. I would stop anything to watch that commercial.
A few of my favorites have already been mentioned, “My girl robot” and “Wingman” being the ones I’d actually come here to mention.
There was another favorite I saw years ago, and I think it may have been local, as no one I’ve ever mentioned it to has seen it. It was for a carpet company of some sort, and it was a big orange cat lazing around on a nice blue carpet. There was a “time lapse” kind of thing, where the cat would move to different positions, and you’d see a small bump in the carpet slowly getting bigger, because it was installed correctly. At last, a foot steps on the carpet bump, which flattens out and pops up again directly underneath the cat, sending it straight into the air with all the accompanying sounds.
To this day, just remembering it still makes me laugh.
The Alka-Seltzer spicy meatball commercial and the Apple 1984 commercial stand out for me. The Coca Cola hilltop commercial was good too.
There was one for Midas Muffler in the 60s, which either had Eddie Anderson (Rochester) or someone who sounded just like him. A guy is asking EA about where he can get a muffler, and part of the conversation went something like this:
Guy: Well how about…
EA: No, they don’t have them no more
Guy: What about…
EA: Oh they had 'em, but they moved
and on and on.
Then there was a very short-lived one in the 80s or 90s for some beer or other, where a play is made and everybody starts celebrating. Then someone says “But that was only the first out.”
Rainier Beer, late seventies:
Racoon Encounters of the Freshest Kind - “R B fresh!”
Who else remembers that one?
The Pepsi Twist ad with Ozzy Osbourne. I loved that one.
“Aaron Burr!”
They had another hilarious 15 second spot: Cat sitting in the foreground, vacuum cleaner behind him. Light goes out on the vacuum cleraner, then you hear “MMMRRRRROOOWWWWW!!!”
The old man painting the end zone for the Kansas City Chiefs
“Hey, that’s great! But who are the Chefs?”
“Great googly-moogly!”
“Driver, do you have Bud Light in your vehicle?”
“Yes”
“Then I’m Mr. Gally-WEE-kitch.”
“You mean Doctor Ga-LACK-a-wits?”
“…Yes I am!”
“First time in a Limo…Doctor?”