# Movies/series based on a commercial? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369 "2018-10-23T02:31:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/1 "2018-10-23T02:31:23Z")
The mention of a classic coke commercial in the “iconic commercials” thread made me think about the made-for-TV movie based on it, _The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid_ starring Mean Joe Greene and Elliot. There was also a more recent short-lived series based on the Geico cavemen commercials. So what else? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/2 "2018-10-23T02:40:33Z")
Jim Varney’s character Ernest P. Worrell was featured in many advertising campaigns in the 1980s. Those spawned a TV series and several movies. KnowWhutIMean, Vern? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/3 "2018-10-23T02:41:16Z")
The Ernest P. Worrell character that had his own films series starting with \*Ernest Goes to Camp \*(released in 1987) originated from television commercials created by the Nashville advertising agency Carden & Cherry. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/4 "2018-10-23T02:42:45Z")
There’s also the 1991 film _Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man_. Also the Kool Aid Man starred in the 1983 comic book series _The Adventures Of Kool Aid Man_. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/5 "2018-10-23T02:50:41Z")
Also the 2012 animated film _Foodfight!_ features Mrs. Butterworth, Mr. Clean, Chef Boyardee, and Charlie Tuna among other. It was supposed to feature a lot more advertising characters but it’s troubled production resulted in many companies refusing to cooperate. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/6 "2018-10-23T02:58:12Z")
[Those GEICO cavemen got a TV show…briefly.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavemen_(TV_series)) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/7 "2018-10-23T03:00:01Z")
A [series of adverts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4u1-O7-hW8)starring Rowan Atkinson, that became the [Johnny English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_English_(film_series))series of films. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/8 "2018-10-23T14:11:32Z")
The biggest one is probably Space Jam which started as a Nike Commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/9 "2018-10-23T14:16:00Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Those GEICO cavemen got a TV show…briefly.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavemen_(TV_series)) The best part of the series was the GEICO commercial after the series had been cancelled, with the eponymous cavemen expressing disbelief that someone would produce a show based on themselves. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/10 "2018-10-23T14:40:38Z")
With an intermediate step… In the early 1970s, Bill Fries (a creative director at an ad agency in Omaha) created a series of ads for Old Home Bread, featuring a trucker named C.W. McCall. The ads spawned a series of country songs (written by Fries and Chip Davis, later of Mannheim Steamroller), and one of those songs, “Convoy,” became a massive hit. That song then spawned the movie _Convoy_, in 1978. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/11 "2018-10-23T14:57:52Z")
Between ‘em, Adam Arkin and Joely Fisher and Elliott Gould and Holland Taylor have a double-digit number of Emmy nominations — plus Golden Globe nominations, plus an Oscar nomination. So you’d think you could build a comedy around them. What they got was BABY BOB, based on the talking-baby commercial. ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/12 "2018-10-23T16:06:00Z")
The California Raisins had a Saturday morning cartoon for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/13 "2018-10-23T16:10:52Z")
> [@uncle\_squeegee](#): > > The California Raisins had a Saturday morning cartoon for a while. And a Christmas special. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/14 "2018-10-23T16:33:12Z")
Just this summer there was [Uncle Drew](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7334528/), based on a series of Pepsi commericals. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/15 "2018-10-23T19:45:11Z")
Not exactly what the OP is looking for but _Mad Men_ did a whole story arc about the iconic Coke commercial (“I’d like to buy the world a Coke”) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/16 "2018-10-23T21:29:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Those GEICO cavemen got a TV show…briefly.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavemen_(TV_series)) My first thought, as well as mentioned by the OP. Checking some “lists” in this category we’ve pretty much run the table, it seems. An earlier [thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315732) mentions _Max Headroom_. It started with the British TV show, then a New Coke ad campaign and _that_ lead to the late lamented US TV series. I still miss Blank Reg. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-series-based-on-a-commercial/823369/17 "2018-10-23T23:58:42Z")
There was an action figure line in the early 1990s called _The Incredible Crash Dummies_. Fox aired an animated special feature them in 1993. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Incredible\_Crash\_Dummies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Crash_Dummies) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Incredible\_Crash\_Dummies\_(film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Crash_Dummies_(film)) They are based on crash test dummy characters used in a public service advertising campaign of the late 1980s, to educate people on the safety of wearing seat belts.