I’m not sure I ever saw Wilkins Coffee growing up. But I learned about them when viewing a retrospective exhibit of Jim Henson’s career in Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts Museum a few years back.
Maybe not on TV (I know, the OP did specify “on TV”). But I’m fairly certain I have seen those ads play before or in the middle of YouTube videos within the past few months.
Actually maybe that’s why you don’t see some of these on TV anymore – they’ve realized their target audience doesn’t watch live TV anymore; they watch YouTube videos.
Some on your list are good, but I’m looking for products that a.) used to be advertised on TV b.) aren’t anymore but c.) are still sold. Dead technologies don’t count.
Kit-Kat commercials are back now, but there did seem to be maybe 10-15 years when they were gone (around the 1990s?). I might have missed them due to my own changing viewing habits at the time, though.
Actually, on that note, Chevy revived the Impala name in the early 2000s and until last year was still making them, but I can’t recall them advertising the Impala on TV in recent memory. I guess that doesn’t quite count since they don’t actually make them anymore.
But I haven’t seen any TV ads for the new Ford Maverick pickup, all I’ve seen about it has been from YouTube car review channels. But that could be because I hardly ever watch live TV anymore.
Cigarette advertising was banned in 1971, or at least direct commercials were. They sneak it in by sponsoring sporting events.
I remember the “People For The American Way” PSA; don’t see those any more, and haven’t seen a “Foundation for a Better Life” PSA in a while either.
I just wish they would do away with prescription drug advertising. Have I mentioned that it’s ethically inappropriate on so many levels? Oh, yeah, like an infectious disease specialist isn’t going to know about Biktarvy, or an oncologist won’t know about Keytruda.
Riffing off of terentii’s general idea: how about television commercials for film cameras in general? Still sold as specialty products nowadays, but there were tons of camera commercials up until at least the late 1990s.
Also, they aren’t yet available for sale (they only started production three weeks ago), so other than doing some teasers, there isn’t much need to advertise them yet. The Maverick is going to be introduced for the 2022 model year, and is expected to go on sale by the end of this year.