Hershey Kisses Happy Holidays Commercial!

Such a simple commercial, yet it brings so much pleasure to so many people. This is the Hershey Kiss Christmas commercial where the Kisses play in bell-choir fashion “We Wish you a Merry Christmas.”

This commercial has been around since either the late 80s or early 90s. I’m not sure exactly when, but it feels like this has been around forever! It’s really hard to write about this commercial because it is so short and simple. The best thing about this commercial is that it’s been on for so long that I have so many memories associated with this commercial.

When I was younger, my Christmas was about getting, getting and more getting. I would scope out the catalogs for what I really wanted and this would take weeks! Now days, I have more fun watching my kids open their presents then getting them. This past weekend, I saw this commercial for the first time this year and saw it with my oldest daughter. She loved it, and it feels good to know that my children will hopefully grow up with this commercial and gather some wonderful memories like I did.

I hope everyone who reads this blog a very Happy Holidays. See you next week.

Fruity Pebbles Christmas!

Ah, it’s Christmas time once again and that means wonderful Christmas Commercials! Maybe it’s me, but it seems like Christmas Commercials today just don’t have the same effect as they did back in the 80s. Then again, I was a kid back then, so Christmas in general had a different meaning. Back then it was all about GETTING the toys, now that I’m grown with three little ones, it’s about GIVING the toys. But today I have a commercial for a cereal that has been around for a long time. Actually, I believe that this commercial was on TV just a few years ago. It’s for Fruity Pebbles Cereal.

The Post Fruity and Cocoa Pebble commercials have always been fun. With Barney always trying to trick Fred out of his Pebbles, I never understood why Barney just didn’t go get his own box at the store. But with this commercial, we start with Fred trimming his tree, with carolers singing outside. Taking a break to check out his tree, Fred pours a large bowl of Fruity Pebbles. What the heck is with all the Fruit on the tree? I know the commercial is for Fruity Pebbles, but my goodness! If this was for Cocoa Pebbles, would he have chocolate bars on the tree? Anyway, who happens to arrive in time for this bowl of Fruity Pebbles? Why Santa Clause! Seems a little early in the evening, don’t you think?

But as Santa is eating his well deserved bowl of Fruity Pebbles, who is working on tricking Fred out of his Pebbles? That’s right, Barney is at the top of the chimney, decked out in his Santa gear, ready to make his entrance. Where is the real Santa’s sleigh? You’d think that would be a tip off to Barney. Oh well, Barney makes his entrance and finds Santa eating “my pebbles!” Fred get’s upset and Santa has to remind him that it is the season for giving and Barney finally gets some Pebbles Cereal. Santa then fly’s away as Barney and Fred enjoy a bowl of Fruity Pebbles.

I love this commercial. Maybe it’s because it came out when I was younger, and everything associated with Christmas was magical, or I think it’s just a great commercial.

Hey You GUYS!! We are going to bring you the POWER! The Electric Company!

When you think of PBS for kids, what comes to mind? For me, growing up and even today, it’s Sesame Street 3-2-1 Contact, and Mr. Rodgers. Back in the 70s, PBS and Sesame Workshop came up with a show for older kids called The Electric Company. I barely remember this show, but if you look around online, you’ll see it was a very loved show. Just today, I found out that it is coming back!

Ask any Gen Xer about The Electric Company, and many will smile and shout out “HEY YOU GUYS!” Even though I barely remember this show, I still remember that. It was one of the most memorable part of the intro. In my research for this, it seems like the “Hey You Guys” part was not in all the season’s intros. But that’s ok, the show itself is more important.

Produced from 1971 to 1977, The Electric Company was made by the Children’s Television Workshop, the makers of Sesame Street. It was meant to be for school age children what Sesame Street was for Pre School and early Elementary age kids. Even though they stopped producing it in 1977, PBS channels continued to show it until 1985.

I guess that’s why I sort of remember it. I remember it being on after Sesame Street, but I believe that it was replaced in my market when 3-2-1 Contact came out. That was an awesome show, but I’ll talk about it on a later date.

I’m sad that my memories of this show are slim. I went looking for clips on YouTube and found few that I remember. I do remember the two faces ones, those were cool. What are some things about this show that you remember? If you can find clips on YouTube, please share in the comments!

I Loved My Star Wars Glasses!

Something I just don’t see anymore is commemorative glasses. McDonalds, Burger King, hell, even Gas Stations would run deals where if you bought so much gas, you get a free glass! Oh, I know McDonalds, or is it Burger King, just had a deal where you can get a Coke Glass. BIG DEAL! I want my favorite movie of today to have a cheaply done picture from that movie plastered on the side of it. And more than that, I want it to be so cheap that after a few washes it starts to fade away! Dumb? You bet, but that’s what we had as a kid!

Before I get into this commercial, I want to thank X-Entertainment.com for this video. Awesome site and awesome commercial!

Growing up in the 80s, Star Wars was king! My friends and I played with the toys, we use wrapping paper tubes, color them red and green and blue and we were Jedi with our Lightsabers! We’d tie a bath towel around our neck and that was our cape. Cheesy? Hell yea, and damn fun too!

This commercial brings it all back. Unfortunately I did not have any of these glasses, but my best friend did, and when at his house and we asked for a drink, our refreshing beverage was served in one of these glasses. Some how, the drink was much better when drunk out of these glasses.

Yes, the commercial is extremely dated with the wardrobes worn, but that was the 70s. And the hat the lady at the counter is wearing? One main reason I never wanted to work Fast Food.

They had Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca and Han Solo, Darth Vader and C3PO with R2D2. I always got the C3PO glass or Chewbacca, never Luke are Darth. I felt so robbed. I knew that my glass of juice would taste better with Darth Vader or Luke on the side of the glass.

I’m sure you can do a quick search on ebay for these and they are probably worth a mint, but if I ever got my hands on these again, oh hell yea I’d sue them!

Can You Resist Nestlé’s Nesquik? Yea, It’s Not That Hard.

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.