For the longest time still airing on modern TV there was a Campbell’s Chicken Soup commercial featuring a snowman eating some soup and melting to become a kid, and the commercial had to be from the late 80/early 90s because the commercial had that “VHS buzz” and visual blurring that super old tapes had, for a commercial that was airing on HD TV up until 206 (last time I saw it).
I haven’t seen Santa sled down a hill on a Norelco electric razor in more than a decade. That commercial aired from the 1970s into the early 2000s, from what I remember.
See how successful it is!
Ah, the Christmas laundry tradition.
FWIW I recall the “Noelco” razor ads since forever. I recognize the name Calgon and recall they did advertise heavily on 1960s-70s TV but have no recollection of the Chinese laundry ad.
And another vote for [WTF does laundry have to do with Christmas?] I suppose maybe the housewife will be washing lots of food stains out of lots of tablecloths after all the feasting she’s preparing for the family. Or something. Sheesh.
I don’t know why people brought up he Calgon ad – it definitely has and had nothing to do with Christmas, and it hasn’t been on TV in ages. I guess it’s just burned indelibly into the minds of too many people (even if some can’t recall what the product it’s advertising was – that makes the commercial a mixed success.)
The assertion that they keep running these ads because “ads are expensive” is absurd. Companies change ads frequently and have huge ad budgets precisely for that reason.
And I’m not talking about running the same kinds of ads or ad campaigns. The ads I’m talking about in the OP appear to be literally the same advertisements (although they might change the prices and the end material) run year after year.
Advertisements, I think, are subject to a sort of process of evolution. They are generally replaced as soon as they are perceived to be ineffective, but persists in some cases for some reason. This could be because they are popular. Or because they are simply perceived by the Powers That Be to be popular, or possibly because the Powers That Be like the ads. (Tom Carvel, of the Carvel Ice Cream company, was supposed to be a law unto himself when it came to advertising, which is why we were treated to his gravelly voice for so many years.)
So I’m still not sure why these ads continue to be re-shown. Are there really people who like the mini-play about the husband and wife and the “I Like It” sorta-twist? Or does the ad survive because so many people are annoyed by it (and thus remember it and the product)? Or does the Sales Team at the company Really Like the ad?
And why is it only Christmas ads that seem to acquire this longevity? You don’t see this crap with Eastertime, or the Fourth of July.
Agree overall; great observations. As to this snip …
The only plausible reason is nostalgia. But there’s a special form of nostalgia applicable almost exclusively to Christmas.
Christmas is for everyone, but is especially for kids. Each of us view Christmas through the soft-focus lens of what we remember about Christmas at e.g. age 5.
As such, if you want to sell something to a 30 yo today, run an ad from 25 years ago when they were 5. Even if the product wasn’t for 5 yos, e.g. a car, they will remember the ad if it was any good at the time.
Want to sell to a 60yo? Run an ad from 1965. A 40yo? Run one from 1985. Or at least run an updated version that nods back to the original, uses outtakes, same characters reimagined, same music, etc.
That same nostalgia-drenched sales technique isn’t nearly as effective applied to e.g. January white sales, 4th of July, or even Halloween, the second most kid-centric holiday.
As to Halloween you do notice that some nostalgia products, e.g. Necco wafers, seem to appear for that holiday and then evaporate for 10 months only to recur briefly next year like some weird perennial plant? Same logic at work.
Does this look familiar? Betcha we’ll see it again this Spring.
Good catch. They ran it for 35 years, according to various websites. But they say that they’re redoing it for this year, so I don’t think we’ll see it in the Spring
Can’t forget Corona’s O Tannenpalm.
Don’t recall seeing that lately, but apparently it has run for about 30 years, and might still be going.
This article from 2018 says that they tried to come up with something differe, but nothing else seems as good
I have yet to see this holiday commercial for Temptations Cat Treats this year but it’s still early.
I’ve seen this one instead:
