Food Commercials Past and Present: Likes/Dislikes?
I love the Planters commercial with the unattractive woman using cashews as "perfume" to attract men; the men go crazy for....Planters.
This may be silly, but I don't like the current commercials for Kool-Aid. The pitcher wears cargo shorts or skateboard shorts...CLOTHING! A pitcher usually doesn't have a gender, so why start covering it up now? I know it is referred to as "Kool-Aid Man," but still...it's bizarre.
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27 Comments:
I love the commercials put on by Publix Supermarkets - usually around holiday time. Snopes.com would call them "glurges." They're those heartwarming feelgood 60 seconds films of joy designed to make the viewer feel all warm and squishy inside. Here's one. And just because that wasn't enough, here's another and if I don't navigate away from youtube, I'll never get to the gym. (Not to mention my eyes will not stop tearing.)
One thing I've noticed is that commercials for "convience foods" have steered the viewer away from the actual taste of the food and more toward how fast you can get it on the table. These commercials embrace "trough" mentality and take advantage of most viewers' hectic schedules. I've never once heard a convenience product advertised as "a conglomeration of salt, fat and sugar designed to trick your palate into believing you're eating actual food!!" which would be closer to the truth.
chiff0nade at 5:13AM on 06/20/08
The commercial that really made an impression on me when I was very young was the coke one about teaching the world to sing.
For the most part though, if it's advertised it probably isn't good for me so I'm unlikely to be seduced, good or bad commercials.
I do hate that whole "4th Meal" push and the Activa ones selling a performance food really annoy me.
Sieseye at 5:40AM on 06/20/08
I'll admit it, I'm a sappy fan of the Christmas Coke commercials. The polar bears and the Santa train, both make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Also, clearly, the Christmas coffee commercial where "Brian" comes home early Christmas morning and makes coffee for his sleeping family who aren't expecting him home for the holidays? Love it.
There was a chocolate bar commercial a few years ago with a woman eating chocolate in a movie theatre and she gets it all over her face, and it's just the most disgusting thing ever. Melted chocolate on people just looks like poop. I actually think they pulled the commercial because it was so disgusting.
embolini9 at 8:58AM on 06/20/08
I remember that Coke commercial - there was a young lady walking it it wearing a long, slit up one side skirt that I thought was the cat's ass - I remember telling my mom that when I grew up I'd have a skirt just like that (hasn't happened yet and I'm 42!) I am also a fan of sappy holiday commercials - I remember a Labatt's beer (is that food?) ad that was produced when Canada was hosting the Calgary Olympics in 1986 - a family walking through their house in the early morning and they stop in the living room to look at their mantle covered in trophies and photos. As they leave the house, the voice over stated that Labatt's had paid for the parents of every Canadian Olympic athlete to travel to the games to see their children. It was great.
Maureen at 9:27AM on 06/20/08
I adored the Snoopy advertisements for Zingers, and was always upset I never saw that snack cake in my area--loved the Hostess Cupcake and Twinkee the Kid commercials as well as the "O-Oreo" stuff. McDonald's commercials were pretty nifty too, I remember using "two all beef patty, etc" as a jump rope song and was upset to finally realize it referred to the BIg Mac, which I didn't even like!
HeartofGlass at 9:36AM on 06/20/08
Unless it is the Super Bowl, I Tivo everything I want to watch so I can forward through the commercials.
izatryt at 9:50AM on 06/20/08
Can I just say that I hate, hate, HATE Carl's Jr. commericals? I hated the whole "if it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face" thing, I hated the car wash thing, and I hate the giant sloppy burger commericals with chili running all over some male or female model. They're just gross, and completely unappetizing. Sad part is, when I do eat fast food (maybe once a month), Carl's Jr. tends to have the best quality food...why do they have to screw it up with nasty ads?
Okay, putting soapbox away....who knew I was this vitriolic about fast food ads?
rosezilla at 11:06AM on 06/20/08
@embolini9 - Wasn't it Peter? And if not, why do I remember it that way?? (Brain hiccup?)
What about the old singing "Dr. Pepper" commercials - "Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?"
And "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature... If you think it's butter but it's not, it's Chiffon."
"That's a speecy spicy meataball..."
I can't imagine what valuable information was squeezed off the brain real estate occupied by this stuff...
chiff0nade at 11:43AM on 06/20/08
Trying to get families to use Hellmann's ketchup as pizza sauce...and in pasta sauce.
Asado at 12:04PM on 06/20/08
The cheesy Mentos "fresh maker" commercials crack me up. (I know, I'm easily amused!)
I do have a touch of the nostalgia for the commercials of childhood: Mikey eating Life cereal, the cartoon commercials for Pebbles and Count Chocula cereals, the singing Kool Aid pitcher, "my bologna has a first name...," etc., etc.!
Also - does anyone else remember the PSAs about nutrition that they used to play on Saturday mornings, "I'm hankering for a hunk of cheese!"? I loved those!
CookiePie at 1:10PM on 06/20/08
@chiff.........no Publix around here - love the commercials! It was Peter, and I cried every damn time I saw it. Brought back special memories.
Remember.........
Where's the beef?
Is it soup yet? After that commercial, we never said, "Dinner's ready.", but we said, "It's soup."
Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Wow, if I still remember it after all these years, that must have been a powerful commercial!
@Asado.......funny and ewwwwwww
PerkyMac at 1:15PM on 06/20/08
The Redi-whip commercials that show the little girl begging for whipped cream on her breakfast send me around the bend. I also don't like animated food, the M&M commercials really freak me out.
catfoodbudget at 1:27PM on 06/20/08
@chiff - you're right, it was Peter! Where the crap did I get Brian from? Ignore me.
embolini9 at 1:44PM on 06/20/08
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hfZEZM2Bgh4
embolini9 at 1:47PM on 06/20/08
I have to admit that I like the commercial where the pink M&M loses her contact lens (it's huge) and yells, "Don't move!" even though the huge lens is right in front of her and will never be in danger of being lost.
I dislike the commercial where the lady on the bus/subway/train (???) is wearing a huge ring and holding a Bagelful. Another rider comments on the hugeness of the ring but the Bagelful eater thinks the other lady is talking about the Bagelful. Yeah, right.
I'd forgotten about that old Folger's commercial. It's an example of people remembering the commercial more for its message than for the product it advertises.
holdthemayo at 2:43PM on 06/20/08
Those ads for the Hungry Man tv dinners and those weight loss diet plan ads that both tout that you can "eat like a man."
I just thought those commercials were always so freaking ludicrous. What does it really mean to eat like a man? Way to play on society's collective fear surrounding sex and gender.
Unfortunately that ploy are probably very effective.
Also those Trix and Lucky Charms commercials have always scared me a little. I don't know whose idea it was to have ads with kids antagonizing and chasing down food mascots.
The new skittles and pop tart ads are kinda idiotic too. Apparently nonsense shouted at a high volume constitutes a good selling technique, these days. But hey, at the end of the day, we DO remember them, despite how tasteless they were.
I guess the only food ad that I actually liked recently were those artsy cinematographic Haagen Daazs ads...
fuuchan at 2:46PM on 06/20/08
One that used to make me run for the remote was the coffee commercial - Maxwell House or Folgers?? with a group of real people singing the jingle - WAY OFF KEY. I think they were contest winners? It grated on my nerves and got under my skin so bad. Maybe being a musician had something to do with my reaction, but I can't believe that anyone could listen and not be disturbed.
PerkyMac at 2:51PM on 06/20/08
I am sick of seeing "personal" products hyped on tv - jock itch powder, "personal" lubricants, viagra, tampons and pads, birth control pills, nail fungus remover, Pepto Bismol diahrea dancers and my personal pet peeve, the pregnancy test that brags "it's the only stick you can pee on" or something similar. For crying out loud, you're giving me WAY too much information! All of these companies have the right to advertise their products but, HELLO, we get it already!!!
Josdean at 3:17PM on 06/20/08
I am such a sucker for every sappy commercial out there--Peter making coffee for the family, the Coke polar bears, the Budweiser Clydesdales, every ad where families cook together and then there are the funny ads--Mikey, "Where's the Beef", the "Speecy, Spicy Meatball" and who could ever forget, " I can't believe I ate the whole thing". As for my personal dislikes...I agree with Rozilla and those horrid Carl's Jr., commercials and quite frankly, I think Ronald McDonald and the Burger King are just down right creepy.
jsd517 at 3:52PM on 06/20/08
@Josdean: Thank you for saying that. I have always maintained that if one needed a product such as a tampon or jock itch cream, one knew that one needed said product and would go to the store and buy it. 'Nuff said. Most of our preferences in this particular department are determined by our doctors and by what our mothers/sisters/fathers/brothers used when they were afflicted. There's just no way any advertising is going to convince me to "try out" the new yeast infection medication. Just not gonna happen. Certain things just don't need to be advertised...or at least, not between the hours of 5 a.m and 11 p.m. Play that s**t when I'm asleep, please.
rosezilla at 6:06PM on 06/20/08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXbMCOywVY
EAT LIKE SNAKE.
:)
FastFoodCritic at 6:50PM on 06/20/08
What about the pharmaceutical commercials?... May cause gas with greasy
discharge! NO thanks.
stacemace at 12:48AM on 06/21/08
I thought of another food commercial I hate. Hot dog and yellow mustard are reclining on the beach. Hot dog looks up to see SPICY mustard running towards them in slo mo. Yellow mustard sadly realizes that he just doesn't cut it with the hot dog.
holdthemayo at 6:25PM on 06/21/08
The Burger King commericals lately have been pretty clever. Like their campaign showing customers' reactions when they removed the Whopper from the menu for a day. Whopper Freakout hahaa.
as for dislikes...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=krXP_TUZqsk
.... talk about scary
foodbeast at 7:16PM on 06/21/08
That first Ronald McDonald was Willard Scott the Today Show weather man, who does the 100 year old birthdays for Smuckers. I knew he did that, but I don't remember the commercial. The voice is still recognizable.
PerkyMac at 9:49PM on 06/21/08
@FFC - That's hysterical! I love You Tube.
I know this is a marketing strategy but I hate it when big sponsors pay to have the same #*@^@ commercial run multiple times in a given half hour. It reminds me of the old Crazy Eddie commercials. And I'm no more driven to buy the product - I either need it or I don't.
chiff0nade at 5:03PM on 06/22/08
fastfoodcritic has it figured out... Japanese food commercials are the best. so artistic and epic
http://foodbeast.com/content/?p=279
teriyakkki boy? obviously Kool-Aid Man's sidekick
foodbeast at 1:31AM on 06/23/08