I was and still am a Chocolate Milk junky.I remember working for a local grocery store, and every Sunday that I worked, I’d buy a quart of their Chocolate Milk and down it in about an hour.Good stuff it was.But when I was younger, I’d have to make it myself, and my mom bought Hershey’s Powder.Now, it’s not the same kind they have today.They had a different kind and for the life of me, I can’t find anything about it on the Web.But I never saw commercials for it, but always did for Nestlé’s Nesquik.I begged and pleaded to try it, and when my mom broke down and got it, you know what my reaction was?“This isn’t the same as Hershey’s.” and I stopped drinking it.I know that drove parents mad, and my oldest is starting to do that to me now.Karma sucks.
But it’s commercials like the one below that got me wanting to try this.First off, it’s a cartoon.Kids love cartoons!You really could sell anything to kids as long as it is in cartoon format.
Second, the mascot is a rabbit.Let me change what I said before, you can sell a kid anything as long as it’s in cartoon format and has a loveable animal telling you to buy whatever it is selling.
Third, it’s rocking out baby!Being a kid of the 80s, the birth of music television, I was unlucky enough to have parents who thought MTV was crap and bared us from watching.Saying that, that made us want to watch it more, so anything to do with music was awesome to us.
So let’s rehash;the commercial is animated, with a loveable animal and has music.Yup, everything needed to mesmerize a kid.Later in life Nestlé’s Nesquik grew on me, but it’s this commercial that I will love more.
Life was rough growing up in the 80s.Homework, chores, and annoying siblings.We had so much crap to put up with it wasn’t funny.What could we do to just let our hair down?Sure we could play Atari or Nintendo, but you’d always have a parent yelling, “Go outside and get some sun!It’s too nice outside!”What a drag.And when you went out, you could ride bike or run around, but you really couldn’t “Let Your Hair Down.”I just want a place where we could be kids, you know?Then, on TV one Saturday Morning, as I was stuffing my face with my second bowl of Count Chocula cereal, what came upon my TV?The answer to all my problems!Chuck E. Cheeses!
I proceeded to beg my parents to take me there.I would pout, cry, wine, and be as annoying as I could, just thinking that my parents would take me there just to shut me up!No deal.But thankfully I had a best friend who got whatever he wanted.What did he want? His birthday party hosted at Chuck E. Cheeses!Oh what fun, oh what joy!
What is everything I dreamed of?Oh god no.The pizza was awful.So awful that I can remember it over 20 years later.A friend of mine, ex’s kid had a party there that I went to and I refused to eat the pizza off that memory.But that’s not why we went.No!We went for the games!They had video games, Skee-Ball games, and other ticket winning games.That is why we went!There were other things there, but I could care less about them.Video games were, are, and will always be my weakness and that is all I cared about.
After that experience, I wanted to go back.No for the food but for the video games.A year later, I found a wonderful video game hangout that was a five minute bike ride from my house.At that point, Chuck E. Cheeses became old business.But the commercial below brought back these cool memories, and that is the purpose of this site.Excuse me, my daughter just saw this and now I got to calm her down.She now wants to go to Chuck’s house.I guess that’s ok, as long as she doesn’t want their pizza.
Growing up, I loved my Superheroes.I was obsessed with The Hulk!I loved to watch The Incredible Hulk with Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby.I loved that show so much that one day I got into my dad’s green paint and painted my hands green.When my dad came home from work in his orange Datsun 240Z, I can still remember the terror in his eyes as he stepped out of his car and I bellowed, “Dad, I’m the HULK!”We can laugh about it now, but back then, that car was my Dad’s baby.But one of the other things about The Hulk I remember growing up, are the Underoos!
I had a pair of The Hulk one’s and Spiderman ones.In the summer, I’d wear them as pajamas.And my demeanor would very depending on which one I wore.The Hulk ones and I would be banging around and stomping and the such.Spiderman ones and I would be jumping from chair to couch to whatever else while trying to avoid my mom and a spanking.It’s amazing, these memories were dormant until I saw the commercial below.
This commercial is from the late 70s, and I don’t remember ever seeing it, but seeing the outfits brought back memories.Like I already said, I had The Hulk and Spiderman, and I believe my sisters had Wonder Woman.There is nothing really special about this commercial.It’s boring by today’s standards, but as a kid idolizing many Superheroes, these Underoos made me believe that I was one, if only for a little.
Anyone else out there have these?Which one’s did you have?
Kellogg’s first created Pop-Tarts back in the 1960s.It was a hit from the beginning.Why?I have no idea.I was never a fan of them.They were to dry if you don’t toast them, and I could never toast them to make them taste good, so I stuck with cereal until Toaster Strudels came out.Now those were the bomb!But my guess at why they were such a big hit would be that they are a quick breakfast.Just open the box, pick out a pack, and two Pop-Tarts will hold you over until lunch.
But as much as I dislike Pop-Tarts, I must say this commercial is a good one.It really shows off what the 80s were about in 30 seconds.The neon lights, the new age sound music, and the long shirt pajamas the gals were wearing.
I have two sisters and growing up, when ever they had sleepovers, I swear my sisters and their friends all wore those long shirt pajamas.Ok, so did I, but it was the 80s, and messed up stuff like that was acceptable.I’m not apologizing for it, hell no!
Even though I hate Pop-Tarts now, seeing commercials like this back in the 80s actually made me what to try them.Growing up, we didn’t have tons of money to throw at just any type of food.So watching commercials like this, knowing I won’t be eating a Pop-Tart anytime soon, really made me want one.When we finally had the money and got these, YUCK!Anyone else hate them as much as I do?And if you do like them, please tell me why?Is there anything I can do to actually like them?
I think most Public Service Announcements, PSAs, are lame.Most are so dumbed down or idiotic that they just don’t hit home.Not only that, but they are unmemorable.For a PSA to be effective, it needs to be memorable.Very few are memorable.Smokey the Bear commercials are memorable and who doesn’t remember his tag line; “Only you can prevent forest fires.”But the most famous of all PSA’s is the Anti Drug on from the 1980s that featured a concerned dad, confronting his son with a box that is full of drugs and drug paraphernalia with the son delivering his phrase:“From you alright!I learned it from watching you!”
The 80s brought us many memorable Anti Drug slogans and commercials.“Just say NO!” was brought to us by Nancy Reagan.I don’t know if it worked very well, but it was memorable.Also the Anti Drug one where the gang member turns into a werewolf or monster or something.That was scared the shit out of me when I was younger.But let’s face it, the one below is the most memorable.
Growing up, I think I like the messy room the most about this commercial.My parent’s never let me have a messy room and I always wanted one.And the box the father carries in, I was always wondering what was in it.Now that I’m older and understand things better, I look at it now and see exactly what was in it, but when I was younger and extremely innocent I had no idea what was in it.
Looking back on this commercial, it was VERY memorable, but when this came out, for me, I was too young and too innocent to have been affected by drugs.But later on in life, if this would have been out, it wouldn’t have done anything anyway.Why?That’s a subject for another article.
