# What are Your Earliest Memories of TV Commercials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856 "2006-05-08T07:05:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/1 "2006-05-08T07:05:34Z")
The ones I remember most fondly were the public service announcements of the early '60’s. Seat belts were just coming into vogue then and I remember a men’s chorus singing, “Buckle up for safety, buckle up!” Smokey the Bear would tell us that only _I_ could prevent forest fires. Also, we were reminded that “Every litter bit hurts.” In other words, don’t dump your trash wherever the heck you please. That’s what trash cans are for. I remember Josephine the Plumber but not which drain cleaner she hawked. Probably Drano. Even at the tender age of 6 or 7, I realized that she held a nontraditional job for a woman. She was sort of my role model back then. The coolest commercial was for Shell gasoline. There were a series of them that all ended with a car bursting through the center of the scene, which had suddenly, seamlessy, become a giant paper panel. I never expected it. I think even nowadays it would be an impressive special effect. Speaking of cars, I remember the “Wide-Track Pontiac” of the mid-sixties and that we were encouraged to “See the USA in a Chevrolet.” The toys I remember advertised most fondly were Slinky and Silly Putty. The part where the Slinky walked down stairs and the Silly Putty lifting the ink off of comic strips impressed me the most. I was an original viewer of the commercial that asked, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?” Oh, and I remember John Cameron Swayze demonstrating in various ways that “Timex takes a licking but keeps on ticking.” What are some of your early commercial memories? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/2 "2006-05-08T09:48:52Z")
I remember a commercial for I think Right Guard deodorant where a man opens a medicine chest and there is another man looking through the other side, the dialogue always started with the phrase “Hi, guy!” I also remember a commercial for beer (maybe malt liqour?). They were wordless each one featured a man calmly pouring and drinking a beer while narrowly avoiding catastrophe. For example, the front of a house would fall on him, but he would be seated so that an open window would keep him from being crushed. The commercials had a whistled tune that I can still remember. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/3 "2006-05-08T10:34:41Z")
“Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!”, to which the lagomorph replied hopefully, “And sometimes for silly rabbits.” ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/4 "2006-05-08T11:52:09Z")
Wow, talk about a ride down Memory Lane! Two of my favorites: Bonomo Turkish Taffy; [Here’s](http://www.oldtimecandy.com/bonomo.htm) a place for all you’d ever want to know about it. Ahhh, the good old days! 😃 Doan’s Pills – I was surprised to find out these are still around, but yup, they are. What is most memorable about these commercials to me is the tag line “with gentle diuretic action to the KIDNEYS.” I was pretty much an adult before I realized what diuretic action was, never mind that the action was **not** for the KIDDIES. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/5 "2006-05-08T11:58:19Z")
The commercial for “Contact” cold pills with the tiny time released pills inside is the first that really stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/6 "2006-05-08T13:06:26Z")
I’ll place my first ones in the early 50’s on somebody else’s TV, since we didn’t have our first set until 55. Lucky Strike on _Your Hit Parade_. Others from that era: Bardahl Mohawk Carpet Carling’s Black Label beer Miller… High Life Schick razors Brylcreem Revlon cosmetics Kaiser foil (it’s quilted) Old Gold cigarettes Chesterfields Pall Mall cigarettes (outstanding…and they are mild) M&M’s Kellogg’s Sugar Corn Pops (I’ll leave room for others, but I could go on like this for quite a while) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/7 "2006-05-08T13:07:02Z")
“I’d fly to the moon for a Lorna Doone.” “You’re darn tootin’ I like Fig Newton.” “Yo Ho Ho for an Oreo.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/8 "2006-05-08T14:11:05Z")
[Marky Maypo](http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_markymapo.htm), advertising Maypo Oatmeal in the 1950s. _I want my Maypo!_ ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/9 "2006-05-08T14:30:39Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Marky Maypo](http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_markymapo.htm), advertising Maypo Oatmeal in the 1950s. > > _I want my Maypo!_ You beat me to it. [Here’s a video](http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96781308/K=maypo/v=2/OID=49ec7d9a298a27d0/SID=e/l=VDP/;_ylt=A86.OSVcVV9EtxcBwjH8w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=123l9udm3/EXP=1147184860/*-http%3A//www.homestatfarm.com/video/Maypo2-HS.mpg) of one. It’s interesting how this stuck in both our minds. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/10 "2006-05-08T14:49:02Z")
Early 70s–big thunderclap, followed by woman saying, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” Googling indicates that it was for Chiffon margarine. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/11 "2006-05-08T14:53:11Z")
Commercial for **Good-N-Plenty** candy played during the morning cartoon programs in the mid-to late sixties: \* Once upon a time there was an en-gin-eer, Choo Choo Charlie was his name, we hear. He had an engine, and he sure had fun! He used Good-N-Plenty candy to make his train run. Charlie says, Love my Good-N-Plenty! Charlie says, Really rings the bell! (Ding!) Charlie says, Love my Good-N Plenty Don’t know any other candy that I love so well! Good-n-plenty, good-n-plenty, good-n-plenty, good-n-plenty…\* ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/12 "2006-05-08T15:02:07Z")
Certainly one of the earliest commercials that sticks in my memory is Max Headroom schilling for Coke (I’m pretty sure it was Coke and not Pepsi). ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/13 "2006-05-08T15:04:33Z")
The earliest I can seem to remember are for Brylcreem and Pepsodent: - Brylcreem! A little dab’ll do ya! Use more Only if ya dare! But watch out! The gals will all pursue ya! They’ll love to stick their fingers in your hair! \* Brycreem was a hair oil for men. It’s still made, but I don’t recall seeing it in stores anywhere (not that I look for it.) The jingle accompanied a stop-motion animation ad which I thought was really well done, but of course I was only a kid at the time. - You’ll wonder where the yellow went When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent. \* How come I can remember this stuff, but I can’t remember my basic geometry or chemistry from high school??!? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/14 "2006-05-08T16:10:33Z")
I believe the earliest I recall well was the commercial for Mr. Bubble. It was animated by the same folks who did Mr. Magoo and featured a little boy in the bathtub while being babysat by his Magoo-sighted grandma. The boy would use the suds to construct a beard or some dog ears and fool grandma into thinking a man or “Finky” the dog had gotten into the bathtub. “Madam, how do you do?” “A man! Operator, there’s a man in the bathtub!” “Grandma, it’s just me!” “Why, so it is, and you’re so clean, your mother won’t know you!” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/15 "2006-05-08T16:22:26Z")
_Hey! I got color TV RCA Victor color TV I know what I’ve been missing now WOW! I got color TV!_ I always thought it was weird that they advertised cigars during my kids’ shows: _A hundred thousand times a day Someone lights up a Santa Fe!_ (Then someone’s cigar would get shmooshed and the announcer would chime in with “Well, maybe 99,999…”) And ditto for those Maypo and Mr. Bubble ads. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/16 "2006-05-08T17:17:05Z")
Woodsy the Owl…“Give a hoot! Don’t pollute!” And for some odd reason, I have a strong memory of the Calgon “Ancient Chinese secret, huh!” commercial. Also the Dolly Madison ads that ran only during the Charlie Brown specials on CBS. Those ads were very effective, at least to me! Also, for some reason when I was about 4 or 5, I began to memorize and parrot back a life insurance ad that I believe Ed McMahon starred in…“you cannot be turned down…” My mother found that very odd, indeed… ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/17 "2006-05-08T17:23:23Z")
I remember the tootsie pop commercials and the Mr. Bubble commercials too. I also remember Madge soaking her customer’s fingernails in Palmolive. “You’re soaking in it” “DISHWASHING LIQUID?!?” “Relax, it’s Palmolive.” “Mild?” “More than just mild, it’s (something something)” Pearl Drops tooth polish commercial with the hot blonde licking her teeth. It aired during that pre-pubescent time when my sexuality was just beginning to form and the provacative tooth-licking really got my attention. Alka-Seltzer’s plop-plop, fizz-fizz commercials. Pepto-Bismal “I can’t believe I ate the whooole thing” Ring-Around-The-Collar. I _think_ the product was Whisk, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/18 "2006-05-08T17:26:46Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > Pepto-Bismal “I can’t believe I ate the whooole thing” Nope – Alka Seltzer. “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” “Happiness is the taste of Kent.” “Come to where the flavor it. Come to Marlboro country.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/19 "2006-05-08T17:27:58Z")
I remember Bert Lahr and Buster Keaton shilling for Lay’s Potato Chips; the lady in the Lemon Pledge Treehouse; and the jingle, “You get a quick tan with QT, A double tan, you see– It tans you anytime, rain or shine, When you use [snap! snap!] QT!” ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856/20 "2006-05-08T17:44:42Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Also the Dolly Madison ads that ran only during the Charlie Brown specials on CBS. Those ads were very effective, at least to me! Watch out for… The Zinger Zapper! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-earliest-memories-of-tv-commercials/355856.md?page=2)