# Whatever happened to Gas Station commercials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679 "2016-01-30T19:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/21 "2016-01-31T06:58:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Put a tiger in your tank! Ya. Right. I still remember how Esso sponsored Hockey Night in Canada. The “Put a Tiger in your Tank” ads appeared during the game; and hockey’s “three stars” tradition hearkens back to Esso “Three Star” brand of gasoline. For a while, Esso gave away tiger tails that you could hang from your rearview mirror. When my Dad filled up with Esso gas, I got the tiger tail. Lost them years ago, though. Esso gave up on the tiger mascot for a while, but he came back in the 1990s, when the convenience stores at their gas stations were named “Tiger Express,” and a friendly tiger was happy to sell you gas, smokes, potato chips, soft drinks, and newspapers. Then, something happened, and Esso no longer had the tiger, and the stores were renamed. I miss Esso’s tiger. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/22 "2016-01-31T11:45:17Z")
So you haven’t seen [this one?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev_DY7mYY3Q) As for auto insurance ads, I think most of those started when states began requiring minimum liability, and providers of cheap liability only policies started springing up. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/23 "2016-01-31T13:23:07Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I’m pretty sure I still see a lot of Speedway commercials, but the ads are always about the stuff inside the store, not the gas. Phillips 66 sponsors Big 12 basketball so I see a lot of their ads during the games, and this is pretty much it. The ads are rarely about the gas itself, more about the experience at their store. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/24 "2016-01-31T13:53:35Z")
Yeah, **Leaffan** got it upthread. Gasoline is a fungible commodity, and there’s no way for anyone to differentiate their product from anyone else’s. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/25 "2016-01-31T17:15:46Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Yeah, **Leaffan** got it upthread. Gasoline is a fungible commodity, and there’s no way for anyone to differentiate their product from anyone else’s. Well, there is and they’ve tried to do it (“Our exclusive premium gas additives will add to the life of your car”) but I don’t know how much anyone cares. I hear quite a few gas commercials on the radio which may be slightly more effective (and cheaper, anyway) since you’re actively in your car and driving past gas stations as it happens. As **Lord Feldon** mentions, Speedway is big on trying to lure you over with offers of coffee and doughnuts or other non-gas products. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/26 "2016-01-31T17:47:28Z")
[My favorite gas station logo from back in the day.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a7/Sinclair_Oil_logo.svg/1280px-Sinclair_Oil_logo.svg.png) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/27 "2016-01-31T17:58:53Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > [My favorite gas station logo from back in the day.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a7/Sinclair_Oil_logo.svg/1280px-Sinclair_Oil_logo.svg.png) Someone I knew had a big Sinclair inflatable dinosaur. I was a little kid, so probably not that big, but it was the fun gas station sign. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/28 "2016-01-31T18:20:11Z")
I hear a lot of gas station ads on the radio too. Mostly about additives. The few I see on tv are about snacks in the store, like someone said unthread. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/29 "2016-01-31T22:33:29Z")
Fewer advertisements because people always buy the gas that is one cent cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/30 "2016-01-31T23:29:52Z")
Chevron advertises a lot around here. The others, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/31 "2016-01-31T23:46:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Someone I knew had a big Sinclair inflatable dinosaur. I was a little kid, so probably not that big, but it was the fun gas station sign. We had one of those, and i had a Texaco ride-on firetruck. There was a station near us - Martin I believe - that I remember giving out toy old-fashioned cars with the purchase of gas. And many gave out drinking glasses. I remember my parents looking for station that gave S&H or plaid stamps. WhenI was a kid, it seemed like gas was in the low $.30s for a long time! We had a Texaco at the end of our block in Chicago. “You can trust your car to the man who wears the star…” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/32 "2016-02-01T00:41:00Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Yeah, **Leaffan** got it upthread. Gasoline is a fungible commodity, and there’s no way for anyone to differentiate their product from anyone else’s. Topless attendants. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/33 "2016-02-01T15:00:01Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Did you forget about the [Shell Gunk Monster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xndGinZXoKE)? I did… we got that commercial in fairly heavy rotation for a little while. Still… most of the oil company commercials aren’t really touting their gas, but rather something about their eco-friendliness, or in the case of BP, how they are working to restore the Gulf Coast from Louisiana eastward. No idea why they’re playing them in Texas though; our coastline wasn’t affected by the big spill. And like several others have said, this is because gasoline is a commodity product with very little to distinguish it between brands. The few attempts at advertising branded gasoline that you do see (Shell and Chevron primarily) are centered around cleaning additives like the Shell V-Power and Chevron Techron additives, because that’s about all you can really differentiate gasoline by. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/34 "2016-02-01T15:36:57Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Chevron advertises a lot around here. The others, not so much. With their [Aardman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4RvMiwdDmI) [animation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24ub9tOKT9M) [ads](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZiGf6JE-zQ). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/35 "2016-02-01T17:24:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Someone I knew had a big Sinclair inflatable dinosaur. I was a little kid, so probably not that big, but it was the fun gas station sign. They’re still around in some places. I remember getting a green bar of soap in the shape of the Sinclair dinosaur- thought it was the coolest thing ever. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/36 "2016-02-01T17:26:32Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Topless attendants. A local service station tried that around here once. That poor topless attendant! It didn’t help sales; he just ended up getting cold! ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/37 "2016-02-01T22:21:25Z")
[Remember these?](http://image.timepassagesnostalgia.com/watermarked/imagesg6/g648gulfx2.jpg) The same chain also gave away bright orange styrofoam balls that you stuck on the end of your antenna. One time the attendant gave us a bunch and we stuck them in the spokes of our bicycle wheels. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679/38 "2016-02-04T21:57:41Z")
Speedway runs commercials all the time, but they focus on their coffee and other stuff in their convenience store rather than their gas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-gas-station-commercials/744679.md?page=1)