Greatest Commercials of the 1980s
Giant Magazine has a couple of articles on the best commercials of the 80s. I highly recommend you check them out, here and here. It’s chock full of YouTubey goodness.
December 13, 2006 in Television | Comments (21)
Awesome.
My brother emailed me these two the other day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB-jyKJ3mEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX_wlcpNMaE
Comment by Susan M — December 13, 2006 @ 12:21 pm
Man, I could watch those commercials all day.
Indeed, as a child, that’s precisely what I did.
Comment by Supergenius — December 13, 2006 @ 12:23 pm
ah, the “I learned it by watching you, dad” commercial. Classic!
Comment by Dan — December 13, 2006 @ 12:38 pm
Duuuuude! I have Freedom Rock!! And it’s one of the best compilation’s ever!
Comment by tracy m — December 13, 2006 @ 12:40 pm
Pretty Sneaky, Sis.
Comment by Jennifer — December 13, 2006 @ 5:10 pm
Can I say how much I miss Max Headroom? The commericals were so-so but I thought the TV show was a bit of pre-cyberpunk goodness that was well ahead of its time.
Comment by Clark — December 13, 2006 @ 6:21 pm
Those were great. As a total tv junkie, I can’t believe that I only remember about 60-70% of those. Excellent time waster, dudes.
Comment by meems — December 13, 2006 @ 7:31 pm
I have such an 80s glow about me right now.
Could anything have been more schmaltzy than Mr. Microphone? “Hey good-lookin, we’ll be back for YOU later!”
And when I complimented the interviewing skills of the guy who replaced me in the Bishopric he looked me dead in the eye and with the perfect inflected said, “From you, alright? I learned from watching you!!!” I couldn’t go back to Sunday School I was laughing so hard.
Comment by Chad Too — December 13, 2006 @ 7:55 pm
Oh, and if they are going to break the “Nationwide Commercials Only” rule with that stupid “you’ve got to eat some kind of breakfast everyday” slug-looking thing from ABC Saturday Morning cartoons then there should have been at least a little Schoolhouse Rock Love too.
Comment by Chad Too — December 13, 2006 @ 8:01 pm
How can the Apple Macintosh commercial not be on there? It’s often considered the greatest commercial of all time.
Comment by Rusty — December 13, 2006 @ 9:32 pm
No way, the crying Indian is the best.
Comment by David J — December 14, 2006 @ 9:27 am
I believe they addressed the absence of the Mac ad, saying it has been over-hyped (which I agree).
If it’s any consolation, the current Mac vs. PC ads make me want to hurl something through my TV screen, so maybe it’s an homage.
Comment by NFlanders — December 14, 2006 @ 9:42 am
NFlanders,
I would have to argue that the Mac Vs. PC is by far the best ad campaign to come around in a long, long time.
Comment by Tim J — December 14, 2006 @ 9:49 am
I was just reading about the Mac vs PC ad campaign, and how it’s backfired a bit. Apparently most people identify more with the PC guy than the Mac guy. He does steal the show, IMO.
Comment by Susan M — December 14, 2006 @ 9:52 am
Tim J.– I’ll admit that they’re memorable, which is half the point, but to me they are grating.
I’m no PC fan, but condescending Mac hipster smugness is not going to win me over.
Regarding the 80s ads, Jason Alexander in the McDLT ad is priceless.
Comment by NFlanders — December 14, 2006 @ 10:18 am
What, no “time to make the doughnuts?”
Comment by S. P. Bailey — December 14, 2006 @ 11:05 am
Anyone else grow up in the Bay Area and remember the Charlie and Humphrey commericals? “Borrowing without asking” ?
Comment by tracy m — December 14, 2006 @ 11:37 am
I like the early Mac vs. PC commercials. The recent ones are vexing.
Comment by David J — December 14, 2006 @ 11:50 am
Susan, the issue though isn’t who they identify more with but how it drives sales. Many of the most memorable commercials actually didn’t drive sales terribly well. Reportedly Mac sales are booming although it’s debatable how much of that has to do with the recent ad campaign and how much with the Intel switch. (Running Parallels on a Mac and having Mac and Windows windows intermixed is pretty amazing)
Comment by Clark Goble — December 14, 2006 @ 11:58 am
Clark, it’s amazing, but it’s very buggy, from what I hear.
Comment by David J — December 14, 2006 @ 1:32 pm
No California Raisins??
Those guys rocked
Comment by John Scherer — December 14, 2006 @ 2:55 pm