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Post by Belchic on Oct 2, 2014 14:56:23 GMT -5
Hey everyone! I made this topic for fun. Inspired by Flo's Game Show Corner topic, in this topic, I will talk a little bit about nostalgic commercials for various products. I will take a look at certain advertising campaigns for a product and how they went. I am open for requests on this topic, so if you can think of anything that you'd like me to talk about here, you can PM me your idea!
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So for this first episode, I'm going to talk about a series of commercials from the early 70's that advertised Aunt Jemimah Waffles. These were animated commercials, which look like they were made by the people who worked on the Jay Ward cartoons.
The commercials featured this man named Professor Goody, who sounds like he was voiced by Daws Butler (but don't quote me on that). They also featured this other character named Wallace the Waffle Whiffer, a strange-looking character who looks like what you'd end up with if you mixed the Michelin Man with Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, Gogo Dodo and Bert Raccoon. Wallace was crazily-addicted to Aunt Jemimah Waffles; even the aroma would drive him towards it, and his gimmick was that every time he would sense it, he'd say, "Waffle-waffle-waffle!"
The commercials would start off with Professor Goody in a remote, impossible-to-get-to area (like up in a bell tower, or in a submarine 400 feet below sea level) attempting to have some Aunt Jemimah Waffles all to himself because he doesn't want Wallace to take them from him. But of course, it never works. The aroma of the waffles is so strong that Wallace could smell them and drive him directly to the professor. After which, Professor Goody would give up and say, "Okay, Wallace. Care to join me?" These ads often ended with the slogan: Is there a Waffle Whiffer in your house?
I'm not sure exactly how long these commercials lasted, although I do know that they were around in the early 70's. Today, Aunt Jemimah products are still being sold in stores, though I'm not sure if they're still making waffles. One thing I do know for sure, the Waffle Whiffer is no longer appearing on TV, and he was left out in the abandoned alleyways of forgotten media along with the other forgotten product mascots.
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Well, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner. If you like this idea of mine, and you have something to request me, feel free to send it to me via PM! Tune in for my next episode where I'll take a look at a breakfast cereal that has had many different mascot changes.
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Post by Belchic on Oct 9, 2014 21:48:19 GMT -5
Welcome to Episode 2 of Commercial Corner, and on this edition, we're going to take a look at the evolution of adverts and mascots for the General Mills cereal known as Cookie Crisp.
For those who want a reminder, Cookie Crisp is one of the more underrated cereals produced by General Mills. They still make the stuff today, but it's not as popular as other cereals like Trix, Lucky Charms or Honey Nut Cheerios. The cereal consists of miniature chocolate chip cookies that are known for tasting exactly like chocolate chip cookies, and staying crispy in milk (much like Crispix).
Anyway, when Cookie Crisp was introduced in the early 1970's, the mascot was this miniature animated wizard named Cookie Jarvis (I don't know who the hell came up with a name like that). His gimmick in the early commercials was he'd appear in front of kids who would try to have cookies for breakfast, then he'd use his magic wand to turn the cookie jar into Cookie Crisp.
Around 1981, there was a commercial where Jarvis met a little cookie-loving crook named Cookie Crook attempting to steal a box of cereal, but Jarvis stops him with his magic.
Cookie Crook would soon after become the new mascot of the cereal. In the mid 80's, the new ads would feature him attempting to steal the cereal from live-action kids, and he would be chased by a new character named Cookie Cop, sometimes referred to as Officer Crumb. Officer Crumb was a police officer with a comedically large moustache, and he spoke with an Irish accent. In the early versions of these ads, Officer Crumb would always get outsmarted by Cookie Crook, but later on, General Mills thought this wasn't delivering a good message to kids, so they decided to have the cop always catch the crook in the end. I liked watching these ads when I was little, because Cookie Crook and Officer Crumb reminded me of the Mario Bros. in some strange way, even though Mario did have his own cereal in 1988, but that's another story.
In 1991, a new form of advertising was made for Cookie Crisp. They still featured Cookie Crook and Officer Crumb, but this time, they were fully-animated with the characters in a real environment rather than microscopic and on a kitchen table. Cookie Crook was also given a sidekick: a dog named Chip. These commercials would feature the duo attempting to steal Cookie Crisp from Officer Crumb, and Chip's gimmick was that he would howl, "Cooooooooookie Crisp!" which would always result in backfiring Cookie Crook's plan, thus resulting in them getting caught by Officer Crumb. Sometimes at the end, Chip would say, "Doggone it!"
There were two unique commercials in this format that really stand out to me today. One of them was a Christmas-themed commercial, and in this one, Officer Crumb decides to be nice to Cookie Crook and Chip and let them have some cereal because it's Christmas; its a lot better than that one Trix commercial, let me tell ya. Another one was one where Chip tried to dress up as a Dalmatian to promote the live action 101 Dalmatians movie, but Officer Crumb stops him and says, "Sorry, Chip. It's not 102 Dalmatians." At least it wasn't until four years later. Heh, heh.
The marketing campaign changed again in 1997 when Cookie Crook was dropped from the ads, and Chip took over as the main mascot. In these ads, Chip was given a new look, and a new personality. These commercials were computer-animated as opposed to the previous ones which were hand-drawn. For these ads, Chip would randomly show up in front of a group of kids and offer them some Cookie Crisp, but an adult would stop him and say that cookies are not for breakfast, but then he'd let the adult try the cereal, and they'd change their mind. A lot of the commercials occurred in the strangest places like at a baseball stadium, or in a classroom. I mean, who eats breakfast in school? (Unless you count high school students trying to sneak food into the class because they skipped breakfast.) Oddly enough, Officer Crumb did make an appearance in one of these ads; he was voiced by the same actor, but he had a completely different personality; all of a sudden, he's now an antagonist going against kids instead of crooks! I mean, talk about a good cop gone bad! Yeesh!
Well, the ads with Chip did pretty well for their time, but they didn't last too long. In 2005, a new mascot was introduced. Enter Chip the Wolf, a goofy anthropomorphic wolf with a hoodie and jeans. These ads would feature Chip trying to get some cereal but always failing and usually getting himself hurt. Yeah, imagine something like a modernized Fruit Brute, a more annoying Trix Rabbit, and a less cool Chester Cheetah; that's basically what this guy is.
In conclusion, Cookie Crisp is a unique General Mills cereal that's perfect for pleasing your cookie cravings in the morning. Today, Cookie Crisp is no longer making TV ads to my knowledge, but Chip the Wolf is still currently the mascot. It's weird how the cereal kept changing its mascots all the time. The ones with Cookie Crook were the most entertaining, but I guess they got rid of him because they didn't think he was politically correct to have as a mascot for a product that's targeted at kids, especially with how much higher the crime rates have gone up. Well, if you ever want to look back at those nostalgic commercials, that's what we've got YouTube and Retrojunk for!
That's all for this episode of Commercial Corner. Tune in next time when I take a crack at the fast food chain that probably had the most popular marketing campaign of them all! See you next time.
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Post by Belchic on Oct 16, 2014 18:41:15 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay on this one. Welcome back to Commercial Corner. On today's episode, we're going to take a look at the McDonaldland commercials. Now I won't talk too much about the characters since I already did back on my Best/Worst McDonaldland Characters countdown.
Anyway, what can be said about McDonald's. It's one of the most recognized fast food joints on the planet. Part of the reason why it was so popular was its commercials that took place in the wacky world of McDonaldland, a magical, whimsical land that was largely inspired by the late 60's children's television series, "H.R. Puff'n'Stuff". Commercials for McDonaldland ran on tv during the 70's, 80's and 90's.
In the early days of these commercials, they would feature the following characters: - Ronald McDonald, who is the mascot of McDonald's and one of the most recognized characters on the planet. - The Hamburglar, a crazy burglar dude who would run around stealing Hamburgers and talked in a random gibberish. - Grimace, a big goofy purple guy who was originally called "The Evil Grimace", and he had four arms so that he could steal cups preventing anyone from having any sodas or milkshakes; but he soon became one of the good guys with only two arms. - Grimace's uncle, Uncle O'Grimacey, who would often come to McDonaldland around St. Patrick's Day to deliver those Shamrock Shakes. - The Professor, a goofy-looking scientist who loved to invent things. - Captain Crook, another antagonist who was a pirate who loved to steal Filet'O Fish Sabdwiches, and he'd often translate what the Hamburglar was saying. - Officer Big Mac, a police chief with a Big Mac for a head who would often chase the Hamburglar and Captain Crook. - And Mayor McCheese, the mayor of McDonaldland who had a giant cheeseburger for a head, though he usually stood off in the background in most commercials and rarely spoke.
During the 70's, the commercials in McDonaldland were more adventurous and plot-driven. Though I find it surprising that a lot of the commercials mentioned that they sold Coca-Cola. Yeah, we can't get away with that today; that would be cross-marketing.
As the years went by, some new McDonaldland characters were added to the roster: - In the late 70's, they introduced the Gobblins, a trio of shaggy pom-pom-like characters with legs and eyes who loved to steal McDonald's French fries, and they sang like the Chipmunks. In the 80's, they were renamed the Fry Guys. - In 1980, they introduced the first identifiable female character: Birdie the Early Bird, who was created to promote McDonald's breakfast menu.
However, things started to change in 1985 when McDonald's decided to streamline the McDonaldland cast. A few characters were kept, while the rest were dropped. The characters that were kept were Ronald, Grimace, Birdie, the Hamburglar, and the Fry Guys; the rest of the characters were dropped. The characters' designs were also upgraded. In fact, all of McDonaldland got a makeover. The place now looked much brighter and more colorful; gone were the hamburger patch and the talking trees, and the commercials were now more comical and musical rather than adventurous. There were also a few new characters who were added: - There was the McDonald Happy Meal Gang, which were a talking hamburger, fries and milkshake; though they didn't last too long. - There was also the McNugget Buddies, which were little talking versions of McDonald's infamous Chicken McNuggets. - The Fry Guys were also renamed the Fry Kids as female versions were introduced in 1987.
Now, in the 90's, most McDonald's commercials would feature Ronald spending time with a kid or a group of kids in a real life situation and would help give them a great day, such as a kid who can't go outside due to his broken leg, helping kids grow flowers, having fun playing in the back yard, and helping a boy unite with his lost dog. Though there were still plenty of McDonaldland commercials with Ronald and his gang. One new character who was introduced was this weird, creepy-looking Dr. Seuss reject named Bernice; she would always gobble up inedible objects.
Throughout the years, there were also some bizzaro one-off characters in the McDonaldland adverts, such as a pair of singing trash cans, an alien named CosMc, Iam Hungry the Vice President of Snacking, and probably the most infamous one of all, Griddler.
In the early 2000's, McDonald's decided it was time to discontinue the McDonaldland commercials and focus more on a campaign for their new slogan: "I'm Lovin' It!", and that's remained the chain's slogan ever since. I think it's kinda silly that they had to take down a series of commercials in favor of some slogan change, but that was their final decision, and around 2003, they dropped an atom bomb on McDonaldland, and everyone and everything from it was destroyed never to be heard from again leaving Ronald as the only survivor.
In conclusion, McDonaldland was one of the many reasons that kids would smile for McDonald's. It's a shame they had to stop doing those commercials, because they one of the many things that made McDonald's so memorable. I guess I could understand if it was due to money problems or something like that. They were actually planning to transform the McDonaldland commercials into animated commercials at the time of their discontinuance, but they decided to take the "I'm Lovin' It" route instead. Even though it's kind of a bummer they didn't do, it was probably for the best, as I'm sure those animated ads would never have lived up to the original versions.
Well, that's it for this episode of Commercial Corner. Tune in next time when we take a look at the fruitiest cereal made by General Mills. See you next time.
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Post by Belchic on Oct 23, 2014 16:01:44 GMT -5
Hi everyone. Welcome back to Commercial Corner.
On this week's episode, we're gonna take a look at another General Mills cereal: Trix.
I'm sure everyone is familiar with this cereal. It's mascot is one of the most popular cereal mascots of all time, and its slogan has been joked about for decades. But believe it or not, there actually was a time when there was no such thing as the Trix Rabbit.
When Trix was first introduced in 1955, it did not have a mascot. The ads for it had a surprisingly catchy jingle. They would tell us that Trix was a great fruity breakfast cereal and was great for snacking. They would also feature a kid eating the cereal and saying its slogan, which at the time was, "Some Trix!" Also, believe it or not, when Trix were first introduced, there were only three flavors: Raspberry, Lemon and Orange, though it was kind of hard to tell because the commercials were in black and white. It's also hard to believe they went nearly 3 decades with only three flavors.
The Trix Rabbit was first introduced in 1959, and his first commercial was one where he admitted that he had an addiction to Trix when he was supposed to like carrots, which he hated. Since then, the commercials for Trix have always been the same formula: The rabbit would try to get Trix, but the kids would either outsmart him or not let him have any and then deliver the classic: "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!" In some commercials in the 60's and 70's, the rabbit would follow that up with: "...and sometimes for very tricky rabbits!" and show that he snagged some from under the kids' noses.
Although, since Day 1, everyone who watched these commercials couldn't help but feel sorry for the rabbit. The kids in the commercials were always d!cks with him, but real kids watching the commercials often asked, "Why don't they let him have the Trix?" The Nostalgia Critic branded him as the Greek Tragedy of breakfast cereals, and for many good reasons.
Though there were a few moments when he did have some Trix. One commercial that I particularly remember was one from 1991 shortly after the lime green puffs were introduced. The Rabbit entered a bicycle race where the grand prize was a bowl of Trix. The rabbit won the race, but the two judges argued whether or not he should have the Trix. One judge said that he should get the cereal because he won the race fair and square, while the other judge opposed because he's a rabbit and Trix are for kids. So they held a contest where kids should vote whether or not the rabbit should get the Trix. The winning answer was "Yes", so in the conclusion to the commercial, we got to see the rabbit devour his bowl of Trix uncontrollably.
One thing that still puzzles me is why the rabbit never came to his senses and decide not to let those kids boss him around. Heck, even Family Guy had some laughs with this character. Though, if General Mills decides to change their Trix mascot, which I doubt they'll ever do, I have an idea as to how the rabbit's last commercial should go: The rabbit gets kicked out of a club where kids are eating Trix, and fed up with getting rejected after all these years, the rabbit flips and busts in with a loaded gun and demands the kids to give him some Trix! The kids reluctantly pour him a bowl, he eats some, but then spits it out and says, "Eww! This stuff tastes nasty! Is this what you kids like to eat! Well, screw this! I'm done with Trix forever!" Yeah, I don't see that happening today since they'd never get away with kid-friendly characters holding guns these days. I mean, Disney removed the "Martins and the Coys" segment from Make Mine Music for that very reason!
In conclusion, Trix was a cereal that started out with a catchy jingle, but it wasn't long until they changed the formula to the famous one we know today.
So that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner. Tune in next week for a Halloween special!
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Post by Belchic on Oct 30, 2014 9:20:10 GMT -5
Ghoulish Greetings, everyone, and this edition of Commercial Corner is going to be a special Halloween edition.
For this edition, I'm going to talk about a commercial that I remember seeing from the Halloween season of 2000. I don't remember what it was for. It may have been Party City. Believe it or not, I can't find this commercial on YouTube anywhere! But I'll do my best to tell you all about what I remember from it:
This commercial was a promotion for the variety of Halloween costumes they had available.
The commercial opened with a little kid coming up to a door trick-or-treating, and he was in a Superman costume. Throughout the commercial, he kept changing his costume and coming back to the same house in a different costume. The neat thing is he acted like the characters he was dressed as, which was a little stupid, but at least he was being in the spirit. Some of the costumes he wore included Maril from Pokémon, Wolverine from X-Men, a wizard with a magic wand, and my favorite one was Gabumon from Digimon; yeah, even though Gabumon isn't my favorite Digimon, I thought it was at least nice to see somebody acknowledge the show, since I was a huge fan of it at the time.
I think the worst thing about this commercial was the fact that they played Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy". I mean, I get it. It goes with the theme, but it's one of the few songs from the 80's that I hate.
I always wondered what this kid's problem was. He seemed pretty relentless. I know the commercial was supposed to be promoting the costumes, but have kids done this in real life? Probably. I wonder if Bubs from Homestar Runner got inspiration from this commercial.
Well, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner. Sorry if it wasn't as good as my previous ones. Tune in next week when I tackle on my first requested episode!
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Post by Belchic on Nov 5, 2014 23:52:31 GMT -5
Welcome to another edition of Commercial Corner. Today, I'm going to do a request by Flowgli. For this episode, we're going to take a look at some nostalgic board game commercials. This episode is going to be a little different though. For this episode, I'm going to show a link to a commercial from an obscure lesser-known board game that you may or may not have heard of and then talk a little bit about the game itself. These are also some games that I think James Rolfe might consider doing in his "Board James" series. I'm sure everyone is familiar with games like Monopoly, Battleship, Operation and Twister, but here, we're going to be adventurous and explore the world of the unknown. Like let's take a look at this one for example: youtu.be/7XuTwlDMZ1IAh yes, Snardvark. I remember when this game came out in 1993, it was one of the top items on my Christmas list. Anyway, in this game, we've got this aardvark-like creature with a long tongue who slowly eats pulling his tongue in. The players play these little bugs called Snards who move along his tongue trying not to get eaten. Each time the Snardvark eats, his eyes change color; if the color corresponds with your Snard, then you get to move ahead one space on the tongue, and if any other Snards are in your way, you can jump over them to the next open space. Whoever makes it off the tongue first or whoever is the last one standing wins. Now let's take a look at a more stupid board game: youtu.be/97zYLmkny80Yeah, as if Limbo was weird enough, they had to make board game about it and throw a chicken on top. The game is quite simple as far as rules go, but it's not recommended for the out-of-shape. Basically, you limbo under the chicken without touching him, and if you do, he'll make an annoying laugh. Sorry, but I'm not inviting this chicken to my party, and is it just me, or does he sound like Bullwinkle? Now, let's look at a couple scary games: youtu.be/OtoUe0AuWNQIt from the Pit was a game where you race around a giant pit trying to get to treasure being guarded by this creature named It. And yes, his name is It...not to be confused with Stephen King's It or Cousin It; this is It from the Pit! Anyway, It rotates in a circular motion and randomly grabs at the spaces your character walks on. Yeah, this is one of those games that's based on luck. While we're on the subject of scary, epic, treasure-hunting games: youtu.be/mdbyR5zcrHUHere's Forbidden Bridge, a game about crossing a bridge and back to retrieve some jewels, but on the other side of the bridge guarding the jewels is an angry idol who will do everything he can to stop you, and by everything, I mean shaking the bridge. The bridge has holes in it to make it more challenging. Now, here's a board game commercial I always found disappointing: youtu.be/5mYrc2N-m6EAh yes, Gator Golf, one of those games that never ends until you say so. I don't think I need to explain seeing that the commercial speaks for itself. The disappointing thing about the commercial is that the first three seconds, we see this gator mini golf course. That looks so cool! I want to go play golf there! But no, it doesn't exist, and all we get is this crappy board game. Talk about a slap in the face! Next up, here's Melvin: youtu.be/PYQjqwR0fhcMelvin is a worm-eating bird with...what looks like an exotic collar. This game is all about feeding Melvin as he walks around. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. This is the only board game commercial I recall where the kids said, "We love you". I wonder if Bad Lucky Bootsy does too. Now let's take a look at something more crazy: youtu.be/DBLe7rp_KcsBed Bugs was a game that was all about collecting bugs hopping around in this little bed. The goal is to try to get as many as possible. Say, have you noticed that every board game commercial ends with a kid saying, "I win!"? Some people have given me the counter-argue: "Well, someone's gotta win." I guess it's a tradition to give one of the kids in these commercials a sense of victory. Next, let's chill out with some penguins and polar bears: youtu.be/CAoJkdcCJVgHere's a game where you play as these penguins trying to cross over water trying to avoid a hungry polar bear. I never had this game, but supposedly, the polar bear is moved based on a roll of the dice. If any penguins make contact with the polar bear, they go back to the start. Don't you love it when the commercials explain the rules? I like the attitudes the Penguins have in this commercial too. Some board games are easy, others are hard, but then there are games that are so easy that they're hard! Like this one: youtu.be/ZSIO0Q58vWoI remember having this game. I hated this game! The object is to wear these elephant masks and try to get three rings around your trunk without using your hands. The thing I hated most about this game was that you couldn't breathe in those masks! Seriously, they squeeze your nose so tight they could possibly cut off the circulation! How could they package such a thing? Now here's a really old game that I remember playing: youtu.be/qcNzODV62lEWhat makes this game interesting is there is a story behind it, which is explained in the commercial. Anyway, the object of Crackers in My Bed was to find half of a cracker, pull it out of the bed, and match it with the other half of the cracker you have. Basically, it's like a memory game. Of course, you feed the crackers to the kid in bed who has a freakishly-huge mouth. Crackers in My Bed was made by Parker Brothers, which was Milton Bradley's rival company. About five years after this game's release, Milton Bradley made a similar game, except their game was something more putrid: youtu.be/WCzOud61NyYOh yeah is right! This is a game where you feed a giant billboard head outside of a diner, and the goal is to feed him all your food, but at random times, Ralph will regurgitate everything that he ate. Yeah, this game was an absolute no-no in my house. My mom refused to see me get involved in anything gross. Even the kids in the commercial were grossed out by this game! I'll stick to Crackers In My Bed, thank you very much. Well, if you thought that was bad, wait til you see Gooey Louie: youtu.be/ek5yaSkppg4That commercial you just saw was from 2013, but there was a version of this game from 1995. Believe it or not, I can't find the original anywhere on YouTube. But anyway, onto the game. Yep, Gooey Louie, a game that's all about picking a guy's nose, which is apparently the grossest thing in the world. Picking the wrong gooey will cause Louie's brain to pop out; I guess you can say it's similar to Crocodile Dentist when the croc snaps at you if you pull the wrong tooth. As you can see, this game was recently remade, except in this version, Louie looks more three-dimensional, plus he can talk. Its a shame I couldn't find the original, because what I like about it is at the end, they say, "If you must have this totally gross game, Gooey Louie comes with everything you see here." It just begs the question what they were thinking when they came up with a game like this. And if you thought THAT was bad, here's a game that I think needs no explanation: youtu.be/JDyOD1C67J0Yes, this game does exist, and it is what it is! This one was already reviewed on Board James, so go watch that episode if you must know more about it. Anyway, it's time to stop being so foul. I saved the best game for last, and I think this has to be featured on Board James! He has no reason not to review this game (unless he doesn't have it), because it looks like his kind of game, and it's a really old underrated classic: youtu.be/cxrY7MWEkwEDark Tower was a game that came out in 1981, and its a game that my family had for a long time. I won't go into a lot of details because there's too much to talk about, but let's just say that if Final Fantasy had a board game, it would be Dark Tower. The thing that makes the commercial so great was that it was narrated by Orson Welles. If you can find this game, by all means check it out, but if you're going to play it, don't make any other plans; it takes a long time to set up, there's a lot of rules to follow, and it takes a while to play. Well, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner. I know it was nice and long, but hopefully, it was still enjoyable. Next week, we will look at another breakfast cereal.
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Post by Belchic on Nov 14, 2014 11:44:35 GMT -5
Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Commercial Corner where I talk about nostalgic commercials. Today, we're gonna look at yet another breakfast cereal. This time, we're gonna look at a Kellog's cereal, which is actually not as popular as most of the others. I'm talking about Honey Smacks. This cereal has undergone many mascot changes, advert changes, slogan changes, and name changes! Yeah, trying to keep up with the times on this cereal is like trying to keep track of the stock market! Anyway, when Honey Smacks were first introduced in 1953, they were actually called "Sugar Smacks". At the time, various clowns from Ringling Brothers Circus served as the mascot. The adverts went a little something like this: youtu.be/Te_Sy8kBnecThe Sugar Smack Swing was used to introduce the cereal. As I said, various Ringling Brothers clowns served as the mascot. The most popular one was Cliffy the Clown. There was also a time when an animated clown was the mascot briefly. However, in 1956, possibly because they thought clowns would frighten children, Kellog's decided to change the cereal's mascot to Smaxey the Seal. Not a lot is known about Smaxey, partly because none of his commercials can be found on YouTube. But he remained the mascot until the end of the decade. In the early 60's, Kellog's started using the Hanna-Barbara characters to serve as their cereal's mascots. Quick Draw McGraw was chosen to represent Sugar Smacks. There weren't really any commercials of him representing the cereal in some way; he was just slapped onto the box. There were also characters from other shows who advertised the cereal during the 60's such as Superman, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and a few others that I won't get into. In 1966, a new mascot was introduced for the cereal called the Smackin' Bandit. Again, not too much is known about him since his adverts are not on YouTube. Besides, he was a very short-lived character. He was replaced by a new duo the following year: youtu.be/GkBfE_llfpgAnd so we were introduced to the Smack Brothers, two identical twin brothers dressed like boxers. Their gimmick was one of them would say, "Give me a Smack", and the other would smack him in the face. While the Smack Brothers did hang around for quite a while, they too didn't stay. In 1972, a new mascot was introduced who revolutionized the cereal forever: youtu.be/K8AE0y4WpWYAnd so, Dig'Em Frog was introduced. During the 70's and early 80's, Dig'Em would show up to a couple of live action kids, and they'd give each other fives (or "smacks" as the commercials said). Yeah, the slogan was, "Gimme a smack, and I'll smack ya back!" However, in 1983, Kellog's decided it didn't sound right to have the word, "sugar" in the name of their cereal: youtu.be/htvS_h7vbCcSo the cereal's name was changed to "Honey Smacks". Dig'Em remained the mascot, but the "Gimme a smack" slogan was changed to "Honey-Smackin' good". Though, shortly after the name change, Kellog's felt they should change their mascot to a character who would be more associated with honey: youtu.be/WK0nsa1V70cAnd so we were introduced to Wally Bear (not to be confused with the title character from Wally Bear and the NO! Gang). In these adverts, Wally would pester a kid for some Honey Smacks, but the kid would either refuse or ignore Wally completely. Hmm, this sounds familiar, doesn't it? *sneezes "Trix!"* Apparently, a lot of people were outraged that they got rid of Dig'Em in favor of Wally (Heck, I think even that commercial I just showed was self aware that it sucked!), so the following year, Dig'Em was brought back by popular demand. Although, Kellog's went through various different concepts for adverts with Dig'Em in the late 80's. They tried making him hip for the current generation: youtu.be/TMzCk_n7JkEThey tried ripping off the Honey Nut Cheerios concept: youtu.be/g-kuH1UPWG8Until finally, around 1991, they decided on an original concept that they stuck with: youtu.be/g-kuH1UPWG8As you can see, in the 90's, the commercials would have Dig'Em attempt to get some Honey Smacks, which were then just called "Smacks" because that's what he called them in the adverts, while outsmarting his nemesis: a cat named Kitty (that's very creative). Dig'Em was voiced by Frank Welker in these adverts; you actually may recognize that voice when he did Steven the Alligator in 101 Dalmatians: The Series. These adverts continued to run until around 1997, and as far to my knowledge, the cereal has never been advertised on TV again ever since...at least not in the US. Though, it's still being sold today, and Dig'Em still remains the mascot. In 2004, Smacks reverted back to the name, "Honey Smacks"; I assume the reasoning was due to poor sales, since that was the case for Corn Pops when they changed the name to just "Pops" in 2006. Dig'Em was also given an updated look, and even though he no longer had any TV adverts, you were still able to see him in comics found on the backs of the boxes. I often wondered why the Nostalgia Critic never included him in his Top 11 Cereal Mascots. So there you go, a history of adverts for Honey Smacks, a cereal that couldn't seem to make up its mind! Well, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner, so I'll see you all next time.
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Post by Belchic on Dec 7, 2014 0:22:45 GMT -5
Happy Holidays, everyone. Belchic here with a special holiday edition of Commercial Corner. Every year around Christmastime, there would always be Christmas-themed commercials that would air on TV. Most of these commercials were one-year-wonders (if you could call them that), but there were a few commercials that would continue to re-air on TV every single holiday season. That's what we're going to take a look at here. First up, let's take a look at this commercial for Fruity Pebbles from 1988: youtu.be/MadGwgiRgAMThis commercial continued to air on television during the holidays throughout a majority of the 90's. Though, in 1998, another commercial for the product aired: youtu.be/49TU4WADZUwThis commercial played again during the 1999 holiday season. Though to the best of my knowledge, neither of these commercials have aired on TV again for a long time, but I heard some people say they continue to air today. Maybe they only air at a time when I'm not watching TV like during Saturday morning cartoon time. While we're in the subject of breakfast cereals, in 1989, Honey Nut Cheerios had their own annual Christmas commercial: youtu.be/Ic51_JTRx8IThis commercial had a fairly long run, and I'm pretty sure it still airs today. Unlike the Fruity Pebbles commercial, though, this one was updated a few times over the years. As time went on, the voice actor of Buzz Bee and the cereal's slogan changed, so I guess they updated the commercial so that it would be up to date with the times. Now I'd like to talk about two commercials that I know for sure still play on TV today. First, let's take a look at this M&M's commercial: youtu.be/iE8CJwXSPRsThis commercial first aired on TV in 1994, and even though it's short, I still look forward to seeing it on TV when Christmastime comes around. That and this 1995 Hershey's Kiss commercial: youtu.be/4HtSLF4vlrkWell, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner, so Merry Christmas, and I'll be back next month with another throwback to nostalgic commercials.
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Post by Belchic on Jan 7, 2015 11:41:01 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's edition of Commercial Corner. This is the month of January, and the most anticipated event that always happens at the end of this month is the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is famous for showing unique commercials during the commercial breaks of the game; commercials that normally wouldn't air on regular television. Usually, they'd be football-related, a lot of them had dogs, but most of them were beer commercials, particularly Budweiser. Today, we're going to take a look at a commercial icon who was a mascot for Bud Light during the mid-late 80's who appeared in many Super Bowl commercials. I am talking of course about Spuds Mackenzie. youtu.be/0K5BgCI-U7cSpuds Mackenzie was a Bull Terrier who first started appearing Super Bowl ads in 1987, and he would remain the spokesdog for Bud Light until the end of the decade. The ads would show Spuds at some kind of summer activity like driving a car, going to the beach, going to a pool party, you name it, and there would always be people who saw him and acted like he was the biggest star in Hollywood or something. He didn't talk in the commercials, but the dog that played him was actually a female (kinda like the Chihuahua in those Taco Bell commercials from the late 90's, or I guess you can say it's like a reverse Lassie). In addition to Super Bowl commercials, Spuds also appeared in other commercials, including a couple Olympics commercials. In 1989, they decided to retire Spuds Mackenzie partially because CSPI and MADD thought he was targeted at children encouraging them to drink, thus making it a bad idea to show him in commercials outside of the Super Bowl. Though the main reason was because the creator, Anheuser-Busch thought the character was overshadowing the product they were trying to sell. Starting in 1989, Budweiser started making a series of commercials for the Super Bowl called the Bud Bowl. These were animated ads that ran through 1994 during the Super Bowl that featured beer bottles playing football. I'm not going to talk too much about this because Chris Bores already spoke about these in great detail in his Irate the 80's episode, so check that out if you want more info on them; also, if you want to see the real Bud Bowl ads, all of them can be found on YouTube. I just felt like mentioning this because Spuds Mackenzie did make a cameo in the first set of Bud Bowl commercials. Well, that's it for this month's edition of Commercial Corner. Keep sending me those requests, and maybe I'll feel inspired to take you back to memory lane. See you next month.
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Post by Belchic on Feb 17, 2015 18:14:33 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's edition of Commercial Corner. I know it's pretty late in the month, but hey, better late than never, right? Well, in my last episode, I talked about a dog who was a famous commercial icon in the late 80's. Today, we're going to look at another dog who was a famous commercial star in the late 90's, whose popularity probably surpassed Spuds Mackenzie's. I am talking of course about Gidget, the Taco Bell Chihuahua. youtu.be/M8sZ1DWsAHEThat was Gidget's first commercial, which aired on TV in the fall of 1997. In early 1998, Gidget made a couple more appearances in Taco Bell commercials. In the early days, he would sense something and get up to go after it. The commercial made you think he was going after a female chihuahua, but really, he was after a guy eating something from Taco Bell, and he'd stop in front of the guy, get his attention, and utter his catchphrase: "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" Gidget was voiced by stand-up comedian, Carlos Alazraqui. Ironically, much like Spuds, Gidget was portrayed by a female dog. Anyway, in 1998, Gidget pretty much became the mascot of Taco Bell as he would be featured in pretty much every single commercial for it during that whole year. Yeah, in 1998, Gidget was the biggest commercial star on TV. This was even proven. There was a special I watched on ABC that September called "Best Commercials You've Never Seen (and Some You Have)" where they announced this and even had Gidget as a guest star. As the year went on, Gidget's commercials would feature him in various random scenarios, only he spoke English more than he spoke Spanish. One of his most famous adverts is this one promoting the infamous 1998 Godzilla movie: youtu.be/bohI-J9pe4cYeah, there was certainly no doubt that merchandise would start popping up all over the place for this dog. They had everything from T-shirts to toys. However, by the end of 1999, Gidget's popularity was starting to decline. People were starting to lose interest in the dog, though he continued to appear in commercials right into 2000 until finally, Taco Bell decided to retire Gidget. Gidget's last known commercial appearance was in a 2002 Geico commercial: youtu.be/PmH2-WxHIyEAfter that commercial aired, there were rumors going around throughout the decade saying that Gidget was dead, but the president of Taco Bell confirmed that she was living in a retirement home. Though, on July 21, 2009, Gidget died from a stroke leaving behind a great legacy that surely will not be forgotten. Well, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner. Tune in next month when I will have an Easter special for you guys! Until then, this is Belchic saying, "Adiós!"
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Post by Belchic on Mar 1, 2015 14:35:40 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's edition of Commercial Corner, where I talk about nostalgic commercials you may or may not have heard of. Well, it's the month of March, and you know what season we're in, right? That's right, tax season. Well, besides that, another thing we always keep in the back of our heads is that Easter is coming, which means that it's time to go out to your local grocery store and shop for some Easter candy. One of the most notable candies that becomes available in stores around Easter time is the Cadbury Creme Eggs. For those who don't know, Cadbury is a candy company from the UK that produces various chocolate products. The Cadbury Creme Eggs were first introduced in 1963. These were chocolate eggs that had a white and yellow Creme inside that looked like an egg yolk. They were not popularized in the US until the early 1980's, and a unique form of advertising was used to promote them. Every time you see these commercials, you just know that they scream Easter! youtu.be/Yw_gEyg7Nt8And so we were introduced to Cadbury's mascot, the Cadbury Bunny, a white rabbit who clucked like a chicken. At least this was the case for the ads in the US. The UK had a different form of advertising, not just for the eggs, but for other Cadbury products as well. During the 80's and 90's, there were a few different ads for Cadbury Creme Eggs that featured the bunny. Usually, they didn't have music. We just heard the bunny clucking while the narrator advertised the product. There were a couple of humorous ads too, like this one from 1987: youtu.be/Eu8XDWG6x2kThis was the earliest ad for the product that I remember seeing. There was also this similar one from 1994: youtu.be/731B20sSX1wA shorter version of this commercial continues to air on television today around Easter time. Aside from the traditional Creme Eggs, new variations were introduced in the 90's such as the caramel cream eggs in 1994, and the chocolate cream eggs in 1999. These had their own rabbit representing them. The caramel ones were represented by a brown bunny, while the chocolate ones were represented by a black bunny who had a very deep-sounding cluck. There were some other variations like orange cream ones, but those were either short-lived or only available in certain countries. The only ones that continue to be sold in the US are the original ones, the caramel ones, and the chocolate ones. According to Wikipedia, these Creme Eggs start getting sold in the UK on New Year's Day, but I don't see them being sold in the US until after Valentines Day. Regardless, Cadbury Creme Eggs are still a popular Easter candy every year, and they make great gifts for anybody's Easter basket, and they're also pretty convenient for people who gave up chocolate for Lent. Well, that's it for this month's edition of Commercial Corner. I'll see you all next month with another one of I think of anything cool that's worth talking about. Over and out.
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Post by Belchic on Apr 1, 2015 16:15:54 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's edition of Commercial Corner, where I talk about nostalgic commercials you may or may not have heard of. We're in the month of April now, which means we are due for hot days pretty soon, so I figured I'd cool you guys off with an icy series of commercials. This month's edition is going to be my first episode where I talk about a type of medicine. Now most medicine commercials are usually quite serious, but there is a brand of throat lozenges that had a pretty entertaining form of advertising from 1991 to 1994. This product was called N'ice. youtu.be/NniDrlqvmLgCommercials for N'ice featured a couple of penguins at the South Pole who would be preparing for some big event like a hot date or a concert. One of them complains about having a sore throat, and the other offers him a N'ice throat lozenge, and then he's instantly cured. All of us who have had sore throats before know that throat lozenges don't cure your throat instantly, so this was false marketing. Although, N'ice has been known to be one of the most powerful and most dependable throat lozenges out there. In addition to the sore throat kind, there have also been other variations that helped other ailments such as this one known as N'ice 'n Clear. youtu.be/TOXpwLN_600In addition to helping sore throats, Nice 'n Clear also had some formula that helped head and nasal congestion. I kind of liked these commercials. The animation on the penguins were pretty wacky. Unfortunately, the two I just showed you guys are the only ones I could find on YouTube, even though I know some others existed like one with a baby penguin and his mother. As of 1995, these ads have been discontinued. Although, N'ice products are still being sold in stores, mainly Walgreens. It's a shame they no longer advertise them seeing how good the reviews have been on the products themselves, plus the commercials for them were quite clever to say the least. Well, that's all for this month's edition of Commercial Corner, so I will see you all next week.
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Post by Belchic on May 1, 2015 14:03:06 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's episode of commercial corner where I look into the adverts of the unknown. As far as breakfast cereals go, I'm sure just about everyone is familiar with the one and only Cheerios. It's been around since the 1940's and is a possible candidate for the healthiest cereal out there. Cheerios has come in multiple different variants over the years, and unlike most cereals that come up with different variants, which are usually discontinued after a certain amount of time, Cheerios is a cereal where pretty much all of its variants are still being sold today. The first of these variants was Honey Nut Cheerios, which was introduced in 1979. This was the most popular variant, well obviously since it was recently dubbed "America's Favorite Cereal". I'm sure you all know the commercials with the bee, but I'm not gonna talk about those adverts. Instead, I'm going to take a look at a series of adverts for the second Cheerios variant to hit the shelves. Apple Cinnamon Cheerios was introduced in 1988. This variant of Cheerios had a blend of apple and cinnamon flavors mixed into it. It was sort of like Apple Jacks only smaller and with more whole grain. Yeah, I'm sure Strong Bad would hate this cereal as he dislikes miniaturized versions of already-bite-sized food. While Apple Cinnamon Cheerios didn't sell as well as its two predecessors, it was still fairly popular in the late 80's and early 90's. Beginning in 1992, General Mills started a series of adverts that featured a dynamic duo who almost became the cereal's mascots: A superhero named Cinna Man, and his trusty sidekick, Apple. youtu.be/cByXLo8dofEThe commercials featuring this dynamic duo would open with kids sitting around enjoying the cereal when suddenly, an evildoer would show up to take the cereal. Apple and Cinna Man would receive the distress call and then get into an argument as to why the villain wants the cereal. Apple would say something like, "He wants the cereal for its delicious apple sprinkles!" Then Cinna Man would respond with something like, "No, Juice Head! He's after the cinnamon sprinkles!" Then they'd rush to the scene and defeat the bad guy in some comical way and save the day. Then they'd conclude with their tagline for the cereal: "It's Apple-licious and Cinnamon-credible!" I really liked this concept for adverts. I think a superhero concept worked great for a mascot for a breakfast cereal. Cinna Man had such an over-the-top superhero personality, and Apple was the stereotypical goofy idiot sidekick. Like Blue Falcon said: "It's a goofy idiot sidekick that makes a superhero super!" Now one would expect some of these adverts to end in cliffhangers, much like the old Batman TV series. Well, there was one that did... youtu.be/Zyi23YaAqZcYeah, this was back in the days where cereal adverts were like soap operas. Though the thing about this commercial that bothers me is they never showed the conclusion to it. Now a lot of you might be saying, "Well, maybe they did and you just didn't see it." Well, believe me, I watched a lot of TV back in those days, so I'm sure it never happened. Though I find it weird that it never did because all the other cereal ads I saw that had cliffhangers always showed the conclusion later on. I guess it might have been due to the lack of popularity of the characters, or maybe there was a comic of it on the back of the box one time, or maybe one of the flip books showed it. Well, whatever; I still think Sprinkle Gator won. While these were pretty cool ads, they just weren't enough to increase the sales of the cereal, and around 1994 after airing about 7 commercials with the duo, these adverts were discontinued, and Apple and Cinna Man were thrown away into the toy chest of forgotten cereal mascots never to be seen again. Even though it's no longer being advertised, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios are still being sold today. Though since its first initial release, it was overshadowed by other newer variants of Cheerios such as Frosted Cheerios, Multi-Grain Cheerios, Fruity Cheerios, Banana Nut Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios, and a few others. Not to mention the original and Honey Nut variants, which still today are the most popular ones. Well, that wraps up this edition of Commercial Corner. Next month, I'm going to do a mixed batch of various breakfast cereals that time forgot! Until then, I'll see you all next time.
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Post by Belchic on Jun 1, 2015 11:00:38 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's episode of commercial corner where I look into the adverts of the unknown. Last month, I took a look at adverts for a lesser-known variation of a popular breakfast cereal. This time, I'm going to be looking at a mixed batch of adverts for cereals you may or may not have heard of that were short-lived. I'm not going to talk about Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy in this episode as they're more associated with Halloween, plus MeltingMan234 already talked about them on his Forgotten Media series. Let's start with this one: youtu.be/F8THB52xYhwS'mores Crunch was a short-lived General Mills cereal from the 1980's. It was basically Golden Grahams with a blend of chocolate mixed in as well as marshmallows. The commercials would feature a couple of kids on their way to get some cereal, but then something tragic happens like lightning hitting their sail or they get chased by a lion. Then, the S'morcerer would appear and magically transport them to the cereal. What I never understood was why the kids continued to panic even when the S'morcerer was helping them. Usually the ads would end with one of the kids saying, "Can I have S'more?" The cereal was first introduced around 1982, and it was discontinued around 1988. Later on in 2003, Kellogg's would release a cereal called Smorz, which is still being sold today, but this is nothing like S'mores Crunch, so don't even bother trying to compare the two. Your only hope of having the cereal again is if you had Golden Grahams mixed with Nesquik powder and a packet of marshmallows you'd get from those hot chocolate packs. It's not quite the same, but it's close enough. Now, let's talk about this one: youtu.be/n1VIZ6TRFXcOreo O's was a cereal made by Post released in 1998, and it was discontinued in 2007. As you may have guessed, this is a cereal adaptation of the popular Nabisco cookie: Oreos. The ads for these commercials were weird. They were like news reports stating that there was no more milk in the world due to this cereal, and a reporter would interview people grudging through their life, or at least pretending to. I just didn't get it. It's like: a new cereal based on the world's most popular cookie is out, but there's no more milk in the world to support it! I'm almost always expecting to see these commercials end with: "got milk?" Hehe. Now here's another Post cereal that not many people talk about: youtu.be/nW5WTQ9Tc7sWaffle Crisp was introduced in 1996. The commercials for this cereal focused around this secret factory where grannies made the cereal getting it to taste like grandma's homemade waffles while a team of kids in a treehouse tried to steal some cereal for themselves. Often times, their plan would backfire. These commercials always reminded me of the Honey Comb commercials from the 80's with the kids in the clubhouse and their klunky robot friend. Ironically, Post is also responsible for that cereal. Anyway, these ads did not last long, but Waffle Crisp continues to be sold in stores today. Next up, here's a cereal that was too good to last: youtu.be/V_ALmDATIcQSprinkle Spangles was a very short-lived cereal produced by General Mills. It was introduced in 1993. The cereal consisted of sugar cookie star-shaped cereal pieces that were "spangled from every angle with sprinkles". The mascot of this cereal was a genie (most likely to capitalize on the popularity of Aladdin) who was voiced by Dom DeLuise. The commercials would feature a couple kids wishing for sprinkles for breakfast, and the genie would grant their wish, and his catchphrase was, "You wish it, I dish it!" Then it would end with the other kid making another obscure wish, and the genie would grant it. This was a really good cereal, but unfortunately, it was discontinued, probably because they ran out of ideas for commercials, or it could be because the pieces got soggy in milk really fast. According to Wikipedia, as of the day I'm posting this episode, it was discontinued in 1998, but I haven't seen it on shelves since 1995. I heard from someone else on YouTube that there's a recent variation of Cap'N Crunch that tastes almost exactly like Sprinkle Spangles, so if you want to get an idea as to what it tastes like if you never got a chance to, then that's the closest thing you'll get...that is until they discontinue that one as well. While we're on the subject, here's another General Mills cereal released the same year that suffered the same fate as Sprinkle Spangles: youtu.be/unSXhu2RkPMHidden Treasures was a very unique cereal with an interesting concept, and I'm surprised it never caught on. Hidden Treasures was a cereal that had these corn cereal pieces that all looked the same. Some of them had fruity fillings inside. They either had cherry filling, orange filling, grape filling, or no filling at all. The whole gimmick was to be surprised by what you got. There was only one commercial that featured a robot named H.T., who was intended to be the mascot, but didn't make it. H.T. would always try to find out which square is which, but the kids just tell him to not bother as it ruins the fun of the cereal. He wore a backwards baseball cap; I guess they were trying to make it seem hip for the 90's, so I guess having him stick around would have made the cereal seem dated. There was one other commercial that featured an annoying kid, just like pretty much all the other commercials of the 90's. Hidden Treasures was released the same year as Sprinkle Spangles, but it had an even shorter life. It was discontinued in 1995. Now, I've got one more cereal to talk about: youtu.be/86LG2YxDbl8Bigg Mixx was a Kellogg's cereal that was introduced in 1990 and discontinued in 1992. The titular mascot of the cereal was some hybrid creature who had the head of a wolf, the lower body of a chicken, the nose of a pig, and the antlers of a moose. It was a little terrifying. What was even more terrifying was the cereal itself. The whole thing was basically a combination of random Kellogg's cereals all thrown into one like Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, and a few others. Yeah, could come in handy for the indecisive kids at the grocery stores. According to a Wikipedia article I read, the cereal was basically made from all the leftover cereal pieces in the factory swept off the counters that didn't make it into the boxes. I guess it's a good thing this was around during the B.I. era, because then nobody would buy the cereal since they'd wonder where all those pieces would have been! Yeesh! The cereal was very short-lived as it didn't sell very well, probably due to the fact that people found it too surreal. Either that or it could have just been due to poor marketing. Needless to say, the cereal was a flop. In conclusion, it's a shame that some breakfast cereals were just too good to last. This seemed to be a very common thing in the 80's, and especially the 90's. It would be cool if they brought some of these back. Heck, General Mills brought Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy back on the shelves in 2013. Even though it was only for one Halloween season, at least they did it. So if they can do it, then so can other cereals. I'm sure there must exist petitions to bring some of these back. Only time will tell. This has been Commercial Corner. I'll see you all next month.
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Post by Belchic on Jul 1, 2015 9:39:43 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Welcome to this month's episode of commercial corner where I look into the adverts of the past and the unknown. This month, we're gonna be looking at a series of adverts for another breakfast cereal. Now, as we know, there were three major cereal manufacturers: Kellogg's, General Mills, and Post. Of those three, Post has been the least successful, probably because their cereals seemed the most forgettable compared to the other two. They are responsible for Waffle Crisp and Oreo O's, which I talked about in my last episode. They also had their own version of Raisin Bran, which was considerably more "natural" than the Kellogg's version. Post is also known for Honey Bunches of Oats, Golden Crisp, Alpha-Bits, Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pepples, and the one I'm going to talk about in this episode: Honey Comb. Now, after I made my last episode, I decided to take a look at the Honey Comb ads of the past, and the adverts actually had quite an evolution over the years. Even though I never liked the cereal very much, I did notice the commercials did have quite a bit of change, and it always seemed to me like they were trying to convince you that it was the greatest cereal in the world. (Yeah, right.) Now, with a name like Honey Comb, you would expect the mascot to be a bee, right? Well, that never happened. Besides, General Mills already has a bee as one of their cereal mascots, even though Honey Comb predates it. Anyway, on to the commercials! Let's start in the 1960's... youtu.be/UfnrYIkp5hEHoney Comb was introduced in 1965. Yep, this year marks the cereal's 50th anniversary. Anyway, the earliest ads would be animated commercials that took place in a Western atmosphere and featured a cowboy known as "The Honey Comb Kid". Yeah, even though he seems kind of old for a kid. I guess they were paying homage to Billy the Kid, or the Sundance Kid. The commercials would be about him saving a town from a disaster or helping an individual using the power of the cereal using a bizarre mode of transportation. In this instance, he rode a chariot hauled by two lions. Okay, listen to what I'm saying: A cowboy known as a "Kid", who drives a chariot hauled by lions, represents a cereal based on the inside of a bee hive! I have no comment. Oddly, I never saw him ride a horse like normal cowboys do. You may have noticed at the end, they say, "Post cereals make breakfast a little bit better." That was their slogan in the 60's. Now, in the 70's, a new form of advertising came... youtu.be/RBXJ9gLlYrgAnd so, we were introduced to the Honey Comb Hideout. These ads were about a group of kids who hung out in a clubhouse, then get a visit from someone who greets them in a hostile manner saying that they're craving a big taste. Then the kids introduce them to the cereal and sing the Honey Comb jingle winning them over. The guests would be mostly bizarre characters like Big Betty the Blonde Bomber and Kung Fu Louie, but they also got some celebrities like Andre the Giant and even the Incredible Hulk. This form of advertising continued into the 80's, but with a few differences... youtu.be/yDZK6H3d5bkThis time, the kids in the hideout had a robot with them who would always say, "Big Taste! Honey Comb! Big Taste!" before the kids broke into the jingle. Also, the jingle was more upbeat, and the ads were more climatic. In my opinion, the Honey Comb Hideout was the best concept for the cereal's adverts. Unfortunately, in 1990, the Hideout was discontinued, and now the ads became...umm...this... youtu.be/2TIV3wwyC-EYeah, I don't know where they got the idea for these commercials. During the early 90's, ads for Honey Comb were these acid trips that looked like Peter Gabriel music videos. Well, these continued until 1995, when they introduced a new mascot for the cereal... youtu.be/m9DZ-8Uv3Z0And so we were introduced to Crazy Craving, a furry rodent-like creature who was hyper, and he'd say, "Honeycomb, honeycomb, me want Honeycomb!" The ads would feature three kids who were doing something. The first kid would say that they got a crazy craving for Honey Comb, then the second kid says they get the same craving, then the third kid gets it, then they say the cereal is sweet and crunchy like toasted honey in that weird shape, then finally one of the kids yells out, "Me want Honeycomb!...I mean, let's get some." The kids didn't really interact with the Craving character; he was just supposed to represent...what was going on in the kids' stomachs, I guess. The Craving started out as a likable character, but as time went on, these commercials got progressively worse. The CG effects on the Craving became more of an eye-sore. There was even one commercial where a kid said, "Uh-oh, I am hungry!" That alone is sure to make anyone say, "What the f*ck?" This formula, stuck around until 1999. The Craving was still the mascot, but the formula of the ads was a little different... youtu.be/dW8Ds_02mm8In these new ads, the kids themselves would transform into the craving and sort of go off on their own adventures looking for Honey Comb. Starting in 2010, a new form of ads for Honey Comb started up... youtu.be/BKsO1t3jktYBernard the Bee Boy, a boy who was raised by bees and loves Honey Comb cereal. Yeah, I know, just the thought alone makes you feel like you got stung. Oddly enough, these are actually remakes of Honey Comb commercials from the early 90's that aired in the UK. At least that's so I've heard. Check my facts. In conclusion, Honey Comb may not have been the best cereal out there or had the most memorable ads, but it's interesting to see how much of a variety of advertising they had over the years. Well, that's it for this edition of Commercial Corner. Hopefully next time, I won't do another cereal one. Until then, this is Belchic signing off.
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