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Post by Belchic on Aug 1, 2015 11:46:18 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. Today, we're going to be looking at a series of commercials for a short-lived candy by Nestle: The Magic Ball. This candy was introduced in 1997, and the commercial for it went a little something like this: youtu.be/RC-79Xxl0foThis commercial came out around the time 101 Dalmatians: The Series debuted on television. Those were good days...*sniff*...good days... Anyway, the way this candy worked was it was a hollowed out chocolate ball covered in foil. Inside the chocolate ball was a mini plastic ball, and inside the plastic ball was a miniature action figure of a Disney character. According to this commercial, the only movies they had toys from were Hercules, Lion King, Dalmatians and Aladdin. I can understand Hercules since it was the newest Disney movie at the time, and I can understand Aladdin and Lion King considering how popular they were, but Dalmatians was kind of a random choice (maybe it was for the sake of the live action movie and the series). I also find it kind of interesting that they chose Disney characters. Maybe Disney had a deal with Nestle. Hey, they made deals with McDonald's and Coca-Cola, so why not? Sadly, this candy didn't last. It was discontinued by the end of the year since the plastic ball inside the candy could have been a choking hazard for kids. However, two years later, they brought back the Magic Ball now with the new name: Wonder Ball. youtu.be/eV5mHXu56UMWhat made the Wonder Ball different from the Magic Ball was that instead of having a plastic ball with an action figure inside the chocolate ball, they had character-shaped candy pieces inside the ball. At least those were edible. They started off with Sweet-Tart-like candies, but they later had soft chew fruity candies as well. As the commercial showed, the franchises included Toy Story, Lion King and even the Dalmatians, but they also had other Disney movies like A Bug's Life and Aladdin. Though it's a shame the Lion King shapes hogged all the spotlight. Later on, they also added holographic stickers into the Wonder Ball. Well, it was just Disney characters for a while, but in 2001, they started featuring other franchises like Pokemon and SpongeBob SquarePants. If they were still making them today, they might do other franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, My Little Pony, and maybe even PAW Patrol. That would be pretty awesome. Still for the remainder of the time this candy was manufactured, the formula of the commercials didn't really change much. youtu.be/yFiNb7sF3iEAround 2004, the Wonder Ball was discontinued. The most likely reason is because it was a difficult candy to manufacture seeing they had to make a hollowed out chocolate ball and put candy inside it. There have been a couple petitions to bring the Wonder Ball back showing that it did have a fan base. I think I heard they did bring it back briefly in 2008 or 2012, but since then, it's been rediscontinued. In conclusion, the Magic Ball/Wonder Ball was an intriguing candy from Nestle, though it's a shame it didn't last. That's all for this month's episode of Commercial Corner. See you guys next time!
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Post by Belchic on Sept 1, 2015 18:31:20 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. Well, it's September, and the kids are going back to school, and some already have gone back. So I thought for this episode, we will talk about something that could relate to something we learned in school at a really young age: The ABC's. There is a breakfast cereal that is based around this from Post, and it is called Alpha-Bits. A cereal consisting of sweet corn pieces shaped like the letters of the alphabet. There were tons of different types of commercials for this product ever since it was introduced in 1958. youtu.be/vuwvkFak76IPretty much all cereal ads were like that in the 1950's. Yeah, this was back in the days when it was ok to mention that the cereal had sugar in it, but it's even more ironic is that they also brand it as healthy! For the first few years, Alpha-Bits didn't really have an official mascot, though some ads in the late 50's and early 60's featured trademark cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny and Mighty Mouse. However, in 1964, the first true mascot of the cereal was introduced: youtu.be/eECc06dlBN4And so we were introduced to the Post Man. Get it? Because he represents Post? Not to mention, he says that all of his "letters" are Alpha-Bits. The Post Man was kind of a wacky character with a gangster-like accent. Though later, they decided to give him a little bit of a different look and personality: youtu.be/q7aR92G7lzMThis Post Man was known as Lovable Truly. I guess because he's lovable and addresses himself as "Yours Truly". He kind of reminds me of a Rankin/Bass character in some ways. In the early 70's, Post decided to have the Jackson 5 advertise the cereal: youtu.be/PZsKtp4xS58Fresh off with their huge hit, "ABC", it seemed appropriate to have them advertise the cereal. Though once they started growing older and changing up their style of music, it was clearly time to move on, so starting circa 1976, a new form of commercials were made for Alpha-Bits: youtu.be/o9vMzZ6B4NcThis new form of commercials showed a couple kids sitting around eating their Alpha-Bits and saying they had an encounter with someone or something and then ate them. Wish it was that easy to do in real life! In the early 80's, another new form of advertising arose: youtu.be/RoB7PQiwjoAThese commercials featured Mr. A & B, two animated cereal pieces who performed a Vaudeville act. This was a very short-lived campaign. Around 1984, a new series of commercials came up, which is probably the creepiest types of ads the cereal had ever had: youtu.be/5TAf0K1gCkUThese were the "You can take an Alpha-Bits bite ads", which featured kids warping into an alternate dimension and fighting off a monster by eating a word. These were just really creepy ads that probably drew kids away from the cereal more than they got them to buy it. Fortunately, these didn't last long and were replaced with ads that were slightly less creepy: youtu.be/InuFEc2Z-GEYeah, I don't think I need to say anything about this one, other than the guy you hear in that commercial sounds like the Dirt Devil guy (Maybe it is him.). Let's move on to this one: youtu.be/mtWiqm88TZYThis is what led to the 1990 introduction of a new variation of Alpha-Bits: youtu.be/MQWp6IGBkoYAnd so, Marshmallow Alpha-Bits were introduced. Basically it's the same cereal only with marshmallow vowels. In 1992, we were introduced to another new mascot, the Alpha-Bits Wizard: youtu.be/vzkXxp4Ch64First off, I'd like to give a special thanks to the guy who uploaded that commercial, for it was in such amazing quality! Anyway, the Alpha-Bits Wizard was a character who would try to get away from kids who were after his cereal (hmm, this sounds familiar), and he'd attempt to get away by spelling a word, but his plan backfires when one of the letters changes. Sadly, he only appeared in two commercials, and this is about the time when Marshmallow Alpha-Bits introduced the blue marshmallow Y's. I guess Y is considered a vowel now. After this short-lived ad, we were introduced to the prominent form of 90's ads for the cereal, Alpha-Bits Land: youtu.be/_TtflLc9CqYAlpha-Bits Land was a magical animated world of Alpha-Bits cereal pieces that live-action kids would enter. During this period, the cereals were constantly changing like the marshmallows coming in different variants such as super swirls, two-in-one, splits, and a few others before finally going back to their original forms. In the late 90's, Alpha-Bits Land was discontinued, and they decided to make the cereal pieces just perform alone in the ads: youtu.be/jS4HnZVRsskThere was even one where they met the gang from The Land Before Time: youtu.be/9FTPrFGiFJ4Yeah, unfortunately, that's the only version of that ad I can find. After 2001, the ads didn't really change all that much. In fact, I don't think they even made them anymore. In 2006, Alpha-Bits was temporarily discontinued, but was brought back on the shelves in 2008, though Marshmallow Alpha-Bits has been discontinued as of 2011. In conclusion, it seems like Alpha-Bits was constantly changing its form of advertising over the years even moreso than Honey Comb. Though it's a shame kids today will no longer get to taste the marshmallow goodness that Marshmallow Alpha-Bits had to offer. Well, that wraps up this episode of Commercial Corner. Tune in next month when I will deliver a Halloween special. Until then, I'll see you all next time.
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Post by Belchic on Oct 1, 2015 8:51:36 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. Well, it's Halloween time! During this time of year, General Mills puts out on the shelves the monster cereals: Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Boo Berry. These cereals were all basically the same thing only each one had different flavors, and you can probably guess what the flavors are by what their names suggest. The monster cereals first debuted in 1971 with Count Chocula being the first one, and Frankenberry coming out two months later. In the early 70's, the ads went something like this: youtu.be/xr-xtUoTcZMBasically, they'd show Count Chocula and Frankenberry arguing over which one had the better cereal, but then something random would scare them away. I always thought it was funny how they labeled the cereals as "vitamin-enriched". I guess I can kind of see that in Frankenberry, but not Count Chocula. There's nothing healthy about chocolate whatsoever. It wasn't until 1973 when Boo Berry was introduced: youtu.be/ZF_DhgisbysThe formula for the commercials were pretty much the same just with Boo Berry as a new addition. Though for some reason, Count Chocula and Frankenberry were always scared of Boo Berry. I'm not really sure why; I guess it's because he always popped up out of nowhere. You'd think they'd all be on the same side. As you can see in the ads, each monster was a characature of a classic Universal horror star. Count Chocula was Bela Lugosi, Frankenberry was Boris Karloff, and Boo Berry for some reason was Peter Lorre. Well, in 1975, a fourth monster cereal was introduced. youtu.be/aR3vQbuqej4And so, we were introduced to Fruit Brute, a werewolf. Now, you would think they'd model Fruit Brute after Lon Chaney, Jr., but no. They made him his own character. Fruit Brute was a goofy werewolf who had a habit of howling, "FROOOOOOOOT!" The cereal was a multi-fruit cereal with lime-flavored marshmallows. While Fruit Brute only appeared in a couple commercials, he did appear in a lot of merchandise with the other monsters, plus the cereal had a fairly long run. Fruit Brute was discontinued in 1983 leaving behind a legacy to a lot of fans. During the 80's, the adverts for the monster cereals were a little different than they were in the 70's: youtu.be/ZmFz7ER1LMIDuring the 80's, commercials would feature either Count Chocula or Frankenberry sharing their cereal with a group of kids, and it seemed like they had like an exact clone representing both monsters. These ads always ended with the slogan: "Have a monster for breakfast today." Usually, the kids would say the name of the cereal by impersonating their respective mascots. Oddly, Boo Berry never appeared in these commercials even though the cereal was still being made and advertised. In 1988, another new monster cereal was introduced to the lineup: youtu.be/xsO17RUHe6YAnd so, Yummy Mummy was introduced. This goofy multi-colored bandaged mummy served as the mascot for this fruity cereal, which was essentially Fruit Brute, except instead of having lime-flavored marshmallows, it had vanilla-flavored marshmallows. The slogan for his cereal was, "Fruity Yummy Mummy makes your tummy go yummy!" Yummy Mummy didn't appear in very many commercials. Sadly, Yummy Mummy was discontinued in 1993. During the 90's, after Yummy Mummy's discontinuance, Count Chocula seemed to be the only monster to appear in commercials: youtu.be/7MWLm7TW52kAs you can see, that was the basic formula. Count Chocula introducing kids to a new feature added to his cereal. Now, here's an interesting ad: youtu.be/5PUo_3_6u64This commercial, unlike the others was in 3D. As you can tell, they advertised a pair of 3D glasses in the box that you could use to watch this commercial, and it only worked on this commercial. Yeah, that's a clever way to get kids to watch commercials. The only problem is that kids who had the glasses would wait hoping in vain for the commercial to come up, and if it did, and they didn't have their glasses, they'd have to rush and find them and not make it back in time! Also, once this ad stopped airing, they were out of luck! It's a good thing these glasses came in the box; can you imagine mailing in two proofs of purchase for them? The nice thing is unlike most 3D shows, the commercial was still watchable without the glasses, but even without them, you could probably tell which parts were in 3D. Seeing this on YouTube now makes me wonder if those glasses will still work. Anyway, by the time the 90's came to a close, commercials for the monster cereals were on the verge of discontinuing, and grocery stores decided to start selling the cereals only around Halloween time. Most likely because there were three of them, and they were taking up space on the shelves and not selling very well. Now, let's take a look at this ad: youtu.be/fGIiAmVdfAMThis was the first time in years Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo Berry all appeared together in the same commercial, and it was also most likely the last. Since the early 2000's, General Mills discontinued making ads for the monster cereals, but these three continued to haunt the supermarket shelves every Halloween season, and they still do today. Of the three, Count Chocula has always been the top seller, while Boo Berry had the least amount of sales. For the Halloween season of 2013, General Mills brought back both Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy after years of popular demand. This was to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Fruit Brute's discontinuance and the 20th anniversary of Yummy Mummy's discontinuance. Even though it was a one-year-only thing, it was nice to see these two hit the shelves one more time after being gone for so many years. In conclusion, the General Mills Monster Cereals were intriguing cereals that can catch one's attention. Though it's a shame we only have three of the five that come around every year. There was also a time when Count Chocula was played by a live actor. I was going to show that commercial on this month's episode, but unfortunately it's been taken off of YouTube. I guess the Count was just too creepy to show to anyone. Well, this concludes this version of Commercial Corner. Tune in next month when I talk about adverts for one of the most popular candies out there. Until then, see ya!
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Post by Belchic on Nov 3, 2015 0:10:51 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. Well, Halloween is over, so I guess it's time to dig out all the candy you got from trick-or-treating and sort through the leftover candy that you weren't able to give out to the trick-or-treaters. Let's see what we've got here...Snickers, Nestle Crunch, M&M's, Starburst...Ooh! How about Tootsie Rolls! youtu.be/1wrI4iHSusAAh yes, this is a classic commercial jingle from around 1969 that a lot of people know because this commercial continues to air on tv from time to time making it one of the longest-running commercials in history. The animation always reminded me of School House Rock, and I didn't quite get the "Umm..." bit at the end. Although, that same year, another classic commercial was released for a similar product that I think surpassed that commercial in terms of classicness! youtu.be/NnuHGeCMd4EJust about everyone has seen this commercial at some point in their lives, and they can recite it word for word. Just like the Tootsie Roll commercial, since it first aired in 1969, it continues to periodically air on television from time to time. There's a shorter version of this commercial that still airs on television today: youtu.be/PYpTd-r6oe0In case you're wondering, Mr. Owl is voiced by the late comedian, Paul Winchell, best known as the voice of Gargamel, D!ck Dastardly, and Tigger. So, I've shown you two different versions of the same commercial, but did you know that there exists a longer version of this commercial? youtu.be/O6rHeD5x2tIYep. This was the original full version of this commercial. As far to my knowledge, it only had an average commercial run, but the 30 second and 15 second versions continued to air from time to time. I guess that's another example of "less is more". As far as I know, there was only one other Tootsie Pop commercial that ever got made, at least here in the US. Here's how it went: youtu.be/xDdf9MIIt2cThis commercial debuted on television in 1996, and as I seem to remember, this one also had a long run. This one also had a shorter version that continues to air on TV from time to time. The scenario for it is kind of bizarre, though. The original Tootsie Pop commercial was such an iconic classic that the product didn't really need to make any more commercials for it. It's been parodied numerous times, and you can find a lot of those parodies on YouTube. Heck, even Johnny Bravo had some laughs with it. Well, that wraps up this edition of Commercial Corner, but before I go, I have a special announcement to make! For next month's episode, I am going to be talking about foreign video game commercials and compare them to the US versions of the commercials. I am taking commercial requests for this one, so if you have any specific commercials from any country in any game that you'd like me to cover, let me know! I thank you in advance for your participation.
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Post by Belchic on Jan 18, 2019 1:37:03 GMT -5
Hey, everyone! Belchic here, and after more than three years of not doing a Commercial Corner episode, Ive finally decided to come out of retirement and present you with a new episode! Today, we are going to be talking about the evolution of advertisements for the most popular car insurance company in the world: GEICO. Now, GEICO has been around for decades, but it wasn’t until 1998 when they launched their popular advertising campaigns. Over the years, they’ve had numerous different types of ads, and I’m going to attempt to talk about each one to some extent. Here is an example of their breakthrough ads: youtu.be/EucraA5zQpkDuring the early days of their ads, they would normally play two commercials back to back since they were only 15 seconds long as opposed to 30. In 1999, GEICO had a series of animated ads that went like this: youtu.be/dr9XsR1aA5kThis was around the time when GEICO ads really started getting people’s attention, and this is when their popularity launched. Along with these ads, we also got some live action ads like these: youtu.be/nhYpEs8Lri8You may have noticed amongst those ads was an ad with a gecko. This gecko would start to appear in more commercials where he continues to suffer people calling him because they confuse him with GEICO. One ad even showed him attempting to change his name to “Komodo Dragon”. Eventually, in 2002, this gecko would learn to be more of a spokesgecko for the company and would eventually become the mascot of GEICO. Here’s an ad where he did a crossover with another recognizable mascot: youtu.be/PmH2-WxHIyEThe GEICO Gecko really took off, but he wasn’t the only mascot for the company. In the mid-2000’s, these mascots were introduced: youtu.be/qqCcSc-se24As you can see, GEICO came up with the slogan: “So easy, even a caveman can do it,” and these cavemen would be highly offended by it. These ads were so popular they spawn off a TV series starring the cavemen, but it only lasted a couple episodes before cancelation. Another form of advertisements they had were rhetorical question ads, which went like this: youtu.be/BJDni6BopzoThis ad introduced us to Maxwell the Pig, another mascot for the company who would later return in 2013 to advertise the GEICO app: youtu.be/Lxc2nCmZzrsAnother character who became a short-lived mascot was this camel who loves Wednesdays: youtu.be/7LtjzQaFZ3kThis was part of a “Get Happy, Get GEICO” campaign. This mascot didn’t last very long, but this ad in particular brought “Hump Day” into the mainstream. I really don’t see any need to get excited over Wednesday, other than the fact that it’s two days before Friday. Another form of advertising GEICO was good at was misdirection: youtu.be/v6VW2aeR2FYThese ads were very similar to the Energizer commercials as they made it look like they were advertising a different product, but it turns out to be a plug at GEICO when they mention, “But it won’t save you money on car insurance.” Some of the ads looked pretty cool like this one that looked like it showed a Chester Cheetah knockoff advertising a cereal. However, some of these ads were also a bit disturbing, like this one that looks like it’s supposed to be advertising a reality show: youtu.be/RXKqdi0Wp0EI can spend over an hour talking about this commercial, but strangely, it seems to be a very popular one with a lot of people. Some recent ads for GEICO include the “Did you know...?” campaign: youtu.be/-0PTYje5AIEThen there was also the “Surprising” campaign: youtu.be/5KEfwf_ofDMBut I’d have to say my least favorite campaign of theirs would have to be their fairy tale campaign: youtu.be/70xJPE77lcMI mean, come on! Is a little kid listening to a story really going to give a crap about insurance? Anyway, GEICO commercials have been entertaining people for 20 years, which is why they decided to make this ad in December 2018: youtu.be/KOaE0ODfCSwAs the ad says, that Best of GEICO DVD was not real. Obviously another shoutout to their misdirection campaign. But this ad started a new trend where GEICO started to re-air ten of their classic commercials on TV, and fans could vote for their favorite on the GEICO website to win a chance to be in a GEICO commercial. Kinda reminds me of that time The Simpsons held a contest for people to win a chance to be in a Simpsons episode. Well, as of the time I’m making this post, the contest is still going on and will be ending on February 5, so how the winner will be determined is beyond me at this point. In conclusion, GEICO is a company that really knew how to get people’s attention with their ads. Though I wonder how many people are insured with GEICO these days. Well, if there’s a lot, then it only shows that advertising does work. That’s it for this episode of Commercial Corner. I don’t know if I will do another one in the near future, but it depends on what might inspire me. Until then, this is Belchic signing off.
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Post by Belchic on May 6, 2019 22:14:20 GMT -5
Hey everyone! Belchic here back with another episode of Commercial Corner! Today, we’re going to talk about Fruit Stripe Gum. A product of fruity chewing gum with intense flavor that has like a zebra-shaped design on it. In the early 60’s, commercials would be claymation commercials that were like this: youtu.be/_ojOy0mh7eYI don’t know about you, but I can’t understand a word that was said in that commercial, and I also can’t identify the voice actors either. The animation looked very similar to Rankin/Bass, but I’m sure it wasn’t. As you can see, the mascots were originally a zebra, a tiger, an elephant and a mouse. But later on in the decade the mouse was dropped, and they changed from claymation to hand-drawn animation: youtu.be/lUKenR9k238I guess hand-drawn animation was cheaper than claymation. Also, according to this commercial, the elephant changed from a female to a male, while the mouse was replaced with a kid. By the time the 70’s rolled around, most of these mascots were dropped leaving the zebra as the only mascot, and the formula of the commercials changed to this: youtu.be/j_GlGBXtibUThis was the whole “Tickle your tongue” campaign for the gum. These commercials were very similar to the Cocoa Puffs commercials where whoever tried the product would go crazy, one person says they won’t do it until the mascot tries them and they lose the bet. Later on in the 70’s, Fruit Stripe Bubble Gum was introduced, which had slightly different flavors than the chewing gum variety. Also, the zebra mascot was given a different personality: youtu.be/LLRhpeyVU_sDuring the 80’s, Fruit Stripe gum was still being sold but wasn’t being advertised all that much. It wouldn’t be until 1991, when Beech-Nut would revive Fruit Stripe Gum with a new commercial in an attempt to make it hip and more upbeat for the 90’s: youtu.be/MSrhxAidI08Man, what a fun commercial! And in case you’re wondering, yes, that voice in the commercial is Kath Soucie, which makes the commercial even more fun. This commercial also reveals the zebra’s name is Yipes. Since 1993, Fruit Stripe Gum hasn’t been advertised again, but despite its lack of advertising, the product continued to be sold in stores. A few stores still carry it, but usually the only place you’d find it is up at the checkout stand where all the gum and candy is being sold. This concludes another Commercial Corner. This is Belchic signing out.
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Post by Belchic on Oct 11, 2019 15:27:26 GMT -5
Hey, everyone! Belchic here with another edition of Commercial Corner. I’m sure all us children of the 90’s remember Pokémon. It was first introduced in America in 1998 and became a worldwide phenomenon in 1999 and 2000. Naturally, this meant fast food restaurants would want to jump on the bandwagon of its popularity. The first fast food chain to sell Pokémon toys was KFC. In November 1998, they gave out Pokémon beanbags. youtu.be/Akb6WXKslzoAs you can see, the four Pokémon they had available were Zubat, Vulpix, Dratini and Seel, which to me seemed like odd choices. I mean, I guess Vulpix makes sense since she is one of the most popular Pokémon from G1. Dratini I guess could appeal to those who like the rare Pokémon. Zubat is one of the most hated Pokémon in G1, so I don’t get why they’d include him. Though the most unusual choice of the whole pack is Seel; talk about random. It’s quite obvious that they could have made some better choices. I mean, how can they not include Pikachu? I mean, come on! Pikachu is the freaking mascot of Pokémon! That would be like having a series of Disney character toys but not having Mickey Mouse, or Looney Tunes without Bugs Bunny! If they really wanted to sell, they should have chosen Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur as the beanbags of this series. Though to be fair, Pokémon was still new at the time, so they were probably experimenting, and some may say they wanted to give other Pokémon some spotlight. Though I don’t mind these choices too much. In fact, I had all four of them, and I still have mine even! In November 1999, Pokémon was at the peak of its popularity, as the first movie was being released in theaters at this time. To get in on the excitement, Burger King ran a promotion of Pokémon toys for their Big Kids Meal: youtu.be/Xw5PqgPjIk4This series consisted of trading cards as well as miniature Pokémon toys inside a plastic Pokéball. Seems like a fun idea, and sounded perfect for any Pokémon fan. However, these toys resulted in some major backlash. The following December, three babies suffocated on one of these plastic Pokéballs, and two of them died. While these toys were not intended for children under three, Burger King decided it was best to recall these toys entirely. In fact, this tragedy was so serious, they made this commercial: youtu.be/31O33zX3DBgI wonder if anyone actually called that number and what the message said. Well, since then, Pokémon toys have continued to be sold as fast food toys from time to time, and thankfully, they have followed safety regulations. That concludes this edition of Commercial Corner. This is Belchic signing out.
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Post by Belchic on May 12, 2020 11:37:02 GMT -5
Hey, everyone! Belchic here with another edition of Commercial Corner. Well, summertime is approaching, so it’s time to heat up the barbecue and whip out the snacks while you’re waiting for the ribs to cook. One very popular snack to have out is chips and salsa, and one of the most popular salsa brands out there is Pace. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, Pace had a very interesting line of commercials. It would feature a group of cowboys out camping. One of them is using Pace salsa and runs out asking for a refill. Another cowboy gives him a no-name brand of salsa, which the first cowboy claims isn’t Pace. Then he explains that Pace salsa is made with the freshest vegetables and spices by the people in San Antonio who know what real salsa is supposed to taste like. Then the guy who gave him the no-name salsa said his salsa was made in New York City, to which all the cowboys respond by shouting “NEW YORK CITY???”, and this is followed by an insult from another cowboy, and finally, the announcer says the tagline: “Pick up the original. Pick up the Pace.” Here’s an example of one of those said commercials: youtu.be/mX2AyjVrrckApparently, this was the most popular one as I see it pop up numerous times on YouTube. In the 80’s, the announcer would sing the slogan. youtu.be/yvIRh-qt9EQI wonder who wrote that jingle? In conclusion, this commercial concept surprisingly had a good long run going from about 1985 to 1997. After that, there really wasn’t much advertising for it, but still to this day, Pace is still on shelves and remains quite possibly the top-selling brand of salsa to this day. Whether these commercials had anything to do with it or not, the jury’s still out on that. So that’s it for this edition of Commercial Corner. This is Belchic signing out.
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Post by Belchic on May 8, 2021 22:29:21 GMT -5
Hey everyone! Belchic here with another edition of Commercial Corner! Today, we’re going to be talking about a short-lived fruit snack from the late 80’s and early 90’s known as the Berry Bears. This was a mixed-berry flavored fruit snack shaped like bears made by Fruit Corners, and they were first introduced in 1988. Here is the first commercial for the product: youtu.be/lmRa4xzlQOoAfter this commercial, ads for the product mainly focused on just the Bear family featured in this commercial. A family of bears who live in the forest. Sounds like a rip-off of the Berenstain Bears. This was most likely to capitalize on the success of that show as well as Gummi Bears with the fruit snack concept. The only difference is the family had a baby in addition to the boy and girl bear. However, despite its short life, the Berry Bears went through quite a few changes during its run. In 1989, a new character was introduced: youtu.be/NhAwQCySQ44And so we were introduced to Flight, the pegasus. This character seemed a little out of place. I guess he was added to make the ads more original or to capitalize on the success of My Little Pony. Either way, the Flight pieces remained with the fruit snacks up until the product was discontinued, but other temporary pieces were added over the years such as this one: youtu.be/ft99hnKcYJMAnd so we were introduced to the shiny star pieces. How they got these pieces to shine is beyond me, but it was a cool addition to the snack nonetheless. This commercial also revealed that the son of the Bear family was named Bobby. These star pieces were only temporary though. They were only available during 1990, and the following year, they were replaced these pieces: youtu.be/vlb2o0yyNNkAnd so in 1991, we were given the Invisible Bobby pieces, which I assume were a lot like the pineapple Gummi Bears with their transparency. Also, as you can tell by this commercial, Berry Bears did give away prizes from time to time as well, but they didn’t last long. Also, I could be mistaken, but I believe that’s Cree Summer who voiced Bobby’s sister. Anyway, these were temporary too, but in 1992, they came up with one more addition to the Berry Bears fruit snacks before it was pulled off the shelves: youtu.be/2zdL4lKzP1YThe last new piece to be added to the Berry Bears fruit snacks were strawberry cake pieces. At this point, the Berry Bears just weren’t doing too well, and around 1993, the product was discontinued never to be heard from again. It is a shame the Berry Bears had a short life because it had so much potential, not just in the product itself, but the commercials too as it made for lots of opportunities for world-building. I guess the product was discontinued due to poor sales because Gummi Bears were still the big hot seller in comparison. Still, even though the product was short-lived, it’s easy to tell that they made the most out of it’s lifespan with its advertisements and the periodic updates they’ve been giving the product. Who knows? Maybe someday, the Berry Bears will come out of hibernation and reintroduce themselves to a new generation of kids. In the meantime, we’ll just have to settle for our PAW Patrol fruit snacks. So that’s it for this edition of Commercial Corner. This is Belchic signing out.
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Post by Belchic on May 29, 2022 1:49:32 GMT -5
Hey everyone! Belchic here with another edition of Commercial Corner!
Back in the 80's and 90's, advertising milk was a pretty big deal. Yes, that's right: milk. No particular brand or licensing, just plain, generic milk. I don't think I've ever heard of any plain food product that was advertised as much as milk during the 80's and 90's. It even had it's own slogan: "Milk: It does a body good."
During this period, there were various different kinds of ads for milk. Most people are familiar with the "got milk?" ads from the 90's, but there were other types of commercials made to show how healthy the product was for your body, such as the ads in the 80's that showed a kid gradually growing up showing what happens to him after he drank milk regularly. However, today, I'm going to be talking about a series of ads in the 90's that almost seemed like they were forcing us into it.
These commercials would feature a duo of mischevious cows known as the "Milk Bandits". They would come across a guy or a duo of guys who are either trying to advertise or sell either a soda or a juice of some kind, and the cows would come up with some kind of sneaky plot that would change what they're trying to sell as milk. This could either be selling the product to other people, making a billboard ad, driving a truckload of the product, flying a blimp, or just having a generic vending machine of it. The cows would always succeed in their mission and give out the message they're trying to give: "Milk: It does a body good."
Some of these ads had a twist at the end. Like there was one where the cows take down these guys on the beach selling big punch and wind up changing it to milk, but then in an unexpected twist, the Nesquick Bunny makes a cameo to cross-advertise Nesquick! I guess with this ad, the writers of the commercials probably assumed the audience knew what was coming already and decided to throw in this twist to throw them off and make it seem more fresh.
In conclusion, these comedic milk ads were a pretty amusing way to convince people that milk is a much healthier beverage than something that's loaded with sugar, and it must have worked because still to this day, milk sales continue to increase every day, and it seems to always be a must-buy item for anyone whenever they go to the grocery store. Believe it or not, I can't find any of these ads on YouTube, which is why I am not providing any links this time, but just trust me, I have seen them plenty of times back in the day!
That concludes this edition of Commercial Corner. This is Belchic signing out.
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Post by Belchic on Jun 12, 2022 18:43:07 GMT -5
Hey everyone. Belchic here with another episode of Commercial Corner! On today's episode, we're going to be taking a look at a series of commercials for Pizza Hut known as "The Pizza Head Show", a series of commercials created by Walter Williams, who is best known for creating the Mr. Bill sketches on Saturday Night Live in the late 70's. The commercial featured this slice of pizza named Pizza Head who had two slices of pepperoni for eyes, olives for pupils, a green pepper for a nose, and red peppers for a mouth. He was given a high-pitched falsetto voice similar to Mr. Bill. The commercials also featured on off-screen narrator who is supposed to be like Mr. Hands, who is never addressed by name in the commercials, so I'm just going to call him Mr. Hands for this review. There is also this pizza cutter named Steve, who is supposed to be like the Sluggo of this series. Steve shows up in every commercial always taking on a different occupation like a superhero, a coach, a police officer, the list goes on. A running gag in the commercials is whenever Steve showed up, Pizza Head would say, "Hey! He's not a (insert occupation here)!" to which Mr. Hands always responds, "Sure, he is." I guess this was to pay homage to the Mr. Bill Show and the running gag of whenever Sluggo showed up, Mr. Bill would say, "He's gonna be mean to me!" to which Mr. Hands gave him reassurance. The formula of each commercial ran similarly to the Mr. Bill Show. The commercial would begin innocently, usually beginning with a promotion for something Pizza Hut was doing at the time. Then Steve would show up, and then Pizza Head would get into a jam and get into harm inflicted onto him in various ways. The chaos would continue to escalate usually ending with destruction, and then it would end with the narrator saying "See you next time!" Here's a video containing all of the Pizza Head Show commercials: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agok_TVaDms&t=67sI don't think these commercials are in chronological order, and I noticed there were two commercials missing from that compilation that were promoting action figures for "The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest", but at least that gives you a basic idea of what the ads were like. Though I find it funny that Pizza Head got excited about going to Pizza Hut. Is he a cannibal or something? Anyway, these commercials debuted around 1993 and continued through 1997. It's unclear as to why they were discontinued, but I can think of a few possible reasons. It could be because they were getting repetetive. It could be because Pizza Hut was looking for a new form of advertising. It could be due to parent complaints because of the amount of violence in it, although that's highly unlikely. Or it could be because Walter Williams was getting tired of making these commercials and was running out of ideas, because shortly after the last commercial aired, Williams was working on rebooting the Mr. Bill show with a new series called "Oh No! Mr. Bill Presents", which would be one of the launch titles for the FOX Family Channel in August of 1998. But still, the Pizza Head commercials will always be remembered by us children of the 90's for giving us lots of laughs and plenty of good memories of going to Pizza Hut, which is still my favorite of the three major takeout pizza chains even to this day. That wraps up another edition of Commercial Corner. This is Belchic signing out.
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