The (Sicilian) Indian by the side of the road PSA.
“I’d like to teach the world to sing.”
The gorilla handling luggage.
“I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”
There was one that I think was for a charity. The sounds were those of a dinner party. All you saw on the screen was a long, long dinner table that was laden with all sorts of yummy foods. Steaks, turkeys, pies, on and on. The camera panned over this feast. When it got to the end of the table, we saw a starving African boy eating a small bowl of gruel.
Don’t remember much about it except it was a Public Service type thing. A bunch of guys in a diner arguing about something. The door opens and one of the debaters says something like “Here’s Joe, he’ll know the answer!” As Joe leans over the counter top to see and everyone draws back to give him room, the camera moves in to show us the book sticking out of Joe’s back pocket. Voiceover says something about reading. As I child I thought it would be cool to be Joe and I believe the PSA helped me want to read.
“MYYYYYY bologna has a first name,
It’s O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name,
It’s M-E-Y-E-R…”
“It’s not too sweet,
It’s not too sweet,
Canada Dry ginger ale,
It’s not too sweet.”
“When I bite into a York Peppermint Patty…”
“I’m a pepper, he’s a pepper, she’s a pepper,
Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too?
Be a pepper!
DRIIIIINK Dr. Pepper!”
“Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
“Let’s see: One, two-hoo, three…{crunch}. Three.”
Announcer: “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? The world may never know.”
N-e-s-t-l-e, Nestle makes the very best…chocolate!
The puppet dogs singing were a little creepy. But it still had a huge nostalgia factor for me.
A lot of other Christmas ones, too–like Ronald McDonald talking a little girl out of running away from home around the holidays. And the little Seven Up dots, with Santa in the ad.
There was one where four teenaged boys walked by a Cadillac convertible with the top down. They notice that the keys are in the ignition. “Let’s go for a riiiiiide!” They drive around the city, and the driver is not really paying attention. Then they get into a crash where one car jumps right over another. Hollywood has rarely come up with better.
The message being that if you leave your keys in the car, horrible fiery death will be the result.
It’s funny, the boyfriend and I were recalling jingles last night and laughing - it’s gross, thinking back, how programmed we were by TV. Whatever it is I think I see,
becomes a Tootsie Roll to me!
This Shasta Root Beercommercial has been an earworm for 40 years; and it’s based on a wonderfully horrible pun (it helps if you’re familiar with the Andrews Sisters song, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”)
“It’s Shake and Bake and I helped”
“I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan and never let him forget he’s a man, cause I’m a woman…Enjolie”
That last one is a bald faced lie!
I really liked Stan Freberg’s Lone Ranger - Jeno’s Pizza Rolls ad. I had no idea that Stan Freberg had done it, or who he was, but I knew clever and funny when I saw it.
It helps if you realize that:
a.) this is a direct parody of Lark cigarette’s “Show us your Lark Pack” commercial
b.) That’s really Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels – the original and most famous Lone Ranger and Tonto.
I remember the older ads when the Norelco shaver Santa rode on only had two heads. This is not a joke. The triple-header was an upgrade.
