# Vintage commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [May 24, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814 "2021-05-24T16:55:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [May 26, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/81 "2021-05-26T20:13:18Z")
Fictionalized version of a classic American Express campaign: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/M0rCyHL9Gbs/maxresdefault.jpg "Major League AmEx") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0rCyHL9Gbs) ---
**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:** [May 26, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/82 "2021-05-26T20:14:40Z")
7-Up: the un-cola [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aFxFWs9_4is/hqdefault.jpg "Ha, Ha, Haaaa - 7Up the "Uncola" - 1984") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFxFWs9_4is) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/83 "2021-05-27T00:31:32Z")
“Parkay” “Butter” “Parkay” “Butter” “Parkay” “Butter” “Hmm. It is butter” “PARKAY!” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-LapXzYhag) ---
**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:** [May 27, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/84 "2021-05-27T00:33:39Z")
> [@Madam\_Librarian](#): > > I remember hearing this ad for Xerox only ran once (I can’t find any citation to confirm this)-- but everyone seemed to remember it. My recollection is that it ran pretty frequently for a while, but memories can be faulty. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/85 "2021-05-27T01:04:22Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My recollection is that it ran pretty frequently for a while, but memories can be faulty. 🙂 I correctly guessed what it is before opening it. It’s possible that some ads may appear more in some regions than others or during certain hours of the day, types of programs, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/86 "2021-05-27T07:49:40Z")
This one has long been my favorite by far. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jVmlxRft4vM/hqdefault.jpg "Sprite - Sun Fizz (1998, USA)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVmlxRft4vM) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/87 "2021-05-27T12:14:46Z")
I had totally forgotten about these. Also totally forgotten is if at the time I realized the song is a take off on _Ain’t She Sweet_ This whole thread is such a great trip down memory lane. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/88 "2021-05-28T02:10:12Z")
Can’t find a clip for this one: The first ad (B&W) for Pop-Tarts, ca. 1965. A peddler pushes his fruit and veg cart through what looks like the streets of old New York crying “STRAW-ber-RIES! BLUE-ber-IES! CHE-ee-EE-EE-EE-ries!” Another one from the '60s, for Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee canned pasta: A horde of children rushes through the streets of what looks like an Italian town to have lunch at tables set up in a courtyard, all to the tune of “Oranges and Lemons.” I always wondered who the hell these children were (orphans at a childrens’ home?) and why there was no place I could eat pasta for free near where I lived. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/89 "2021-05-28T02:16:01Z")
One thing that’s great about being born when I was is that I could still watch all the old Harveytoons on TV and learn the songs they had in their sing-alongs. I probably knew this one by the time I was in second grade. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/90 "2021-05-28T02:41:53Z")
Euell Gibbons did many adverts for Grape-Nuts by flogging natural foods. My favorite started with “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible!” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qGp7OzTaoe4/hqdefault.jpg "Euell Gibbons Puts the Nuts in Grape Nuts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGp7OzTaoe4) John Byner parodied Euell on _ **The Carol Burnett Show** _: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZVEF5V551zY/hqdefault.jpg "tough act to follow") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVEF5V551zY) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/91 "2021-05-28T03:03:16Z")
The original Uncola ad: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/AXmc7DG4uu8/hqdefault.jpg "7-UP "THE UNCOLA"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmc7DG4uu8) _“Je ne sais quoi.”_ I love the bird in the background! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/92 "2021-05-28T04:28:48Z")
Oh, yes, it was real. Companies like Topper and Mattel turned out enough toy weapons in the '60s to arm a third-world country. Topper in particular made beautiful life-size M1911s and M-14s that could pass for the real thing. Mattel produced replica 1928A Thompsons (my all-time favorite! 🥰 ) and M3 grease guns that were probably 1/3 smaller than the real thing. (They also made an M-16 later on that, for some reason, didn’t sell all that well. 🙄 The rifle John Wayne smashed against a tree in _ **The Green Berets** _ was a Mattel M-16; you can tell by looking at the magazine, which housed the noise-making mechanism.) Remco made a series of “Monkey Division” weapons that I found rather hokey. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q4zyApeZ8n4/maxresdefault.jpg "💥 Monkey Division Monkey Gun Remco Toys 1965 💥 Part of the AwesomeCollection of Classic Toys💥💥🔥") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zyApeZ8n4) Their bazooka was nice, though. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Eb55_FcXQRM/hqdefault.jpg "💥🔥🐒💥 Monkey Division Bazooka Remco Toys 1963 💥 Part of the AwesomeCollection of Classic Toys🔥🐵 🐒 💥") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb55_FcXQRM) Oh, the days when a kid could be armed to the teeth and not have to worry about getting shot by the cops! 😇 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/93 "2021-05-28T13:31:15Z")
My toy M-16 may have been Mattel. It looked real, and had a noisemaker in the magazine. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/94 "2021-05-28T13:57:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My toy M-16 may have been Mattel. It looked real, and had a noisemaker in the magazine I had a similar machine gun. May have been the same as yours. It was big, I think actual size, although it might have been scaled to 3/4 size for kid hands. It was very realistic looking- black or a dark camo coloring. The only thing that distinguished it as a toy was a two inch part at the end of the barrel that was neon orange or pink. Had a spring-action lever you pulled back several inches and when you pulled the trigger it made a ratatat sound until the lever ran out. I also had a cap gun that looked like a cop-issue style revolver. Not those wimpy caps that came in paper rolls for me-- I preferred the guns that fired plastic caps that came in a round 6-shot config that you plugged into the barrel. Those plastic caps were **LOUD**. Again, it was a very realistic looking gun-- all black. The only thing that distinguished the pistol as a toy was a neon orange or pink insert inside the barrel. So you would only _ **maybe** _ notice it was definitely a toy if it was pointed right at you and you saw into the barrel. The other kids on the block and I would have great fun playing army with our realistic looking toy weapons for hours and hours. The rules were, we’d have ‘rounds’, and if someone got the drop on you and shot, you were dead until the next round. It was like a live-action video game or primitive laser tag. Except there was always one lame kid who tried to cheat and say the other guy missed. Very different times. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/95 "2021-05-28T16:45:05Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Except there was always one lame kid who tried to cheat and say the other guy missed. “Nuh-UHH! My grandma gave me a silver plate to remember her by during the war, and I was carrying that under my shirt!” “Yeah, well, silver’s too soft, my ammo went right through!” “Nuh-UHH! You had reverse warewolf bullets, so when they hit the silver, they turned into balls of fur!” We all wanted the Mattel M-16, but our moms got together and decided “No guns!” So the next day began the Great Search For The Perfect M-16-Shaped Stick. (Ahhh, the summer of '59… when hundreds of Nazis in the 72nd Street neighborhood were shot down with sticks…) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/96 "2021-05-28T16:53:10Z")
‘You can tell it’s Mattel. It’s swell.’ ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/97 "2021-05-28T16:56:31Z")
The central Indiana folks will remember: Noooobody ---
**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:** [May 28, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/98 "2021-05-28T17:23:56Z")
Chicagoland’s Empire, before they went national with an 800 number: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Bp9Kwe0v7L4/hqdefault.jpg "Empire Commercials, Sirca 1979-83") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9Kwe0v7L4) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/99 "2021-05-28T18:43:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Oh, the days when a kid could be armed to the teeth and not have to worry about getting shot by the cops! 😇 In 1966 I had what looked like an M60 machine gun with a loop of “ammo belt” that went round and round while you were firing. The ammo belt broke one day, but that was okay because I found out I could feed it into the gun, fire until it fell out the other side, and then pick it up and reload. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814/100 "2021-05-28T19:05:26Z")
Yeah, the Mattel M-16 came out when I was in sixth grade (1966), I guess because of its growing use in Vietnam. While a nice replica, it never really caught on with those of us who were still fighting WWII. (The same went for Topper’s M-14.) You could buy a _very_ realistic snub-nose .38 along with the police/FBI version of Mattel’s Tommygun, which was colored realistically. Being a fan of _ **Combat!** _, I always had the camouflaged version, which came with a sling. (The .38 also came with a shoulder holster., which was a nice touch.) Those round stick-on caps were used on the bullets that came with the .38. The magazine of the Thompson swung open so you could load it with a roll of 50 paper caps. Since the Thompson could fire bursts of ten rounds, you went through a roll of caps in no time. Oh, all the Nazi trains I shot up hiding in the brush down by the railroad tracks! 👍 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vintage-commercials/942814.md?page=6)