You do not use the sniper rifle on this level lol

Once upon a time guns that actually looked and acted like real firearms were sold willy-nilly to children of all ages. Today I would venture a guess that any kid carrying something like this on the street would get arrested, or possibly drawn into a fire fight with local police.

The moralities of selling guns to children aside, this old commercial from Mattel is a recipe for disaster for any children trying to emulate what they see. Case in point, the gangster ‘hilariously’ falling backwards out of a window into an alley, and safely landing in a garbage can. It was just a simpler time, nobody knew any better. As far as cartoon-watching Americans knew, getting shot with a gun meant you turned ashen and black until you shook it off.

(Oh there is more…)

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I think this is from Space Ghost

This ancient commercial gem dates back to 1986, when a young William H. Macy was doing local New York City area commercials. Using the power of typing things into Google, I have placed the ‘Hanover’ mentioned in this spot to New Jersey.

From watching this its evident that Macy has a really electric advertising voice. I wish at least once in each one of his movies he would turn to the camera and talk briefly to the audience about where they could find local savings.

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Honey go see who is at the door

I found this old print ad from the 70’s via advertising is good for you. The print ad tells the French that’s it’s now possible to fly to the Big Apple in just under 17 hours time. This now ominous ad is a good example of how an ad or other media work can become unintentionally offensive with the passage of time. Like the ill-timed planned first release of Collateral Damage, or this gem of an album cover which was later used by 911truth dot org to promote its ‘planted explosives’ theory. Notice the government agent behind the guy with the detonator ‘directing’ the event.

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Carry the one

Behold “Copy that Floppy” (via in4mador and digg) a ten-minute PSA from sometime in the deep dark past of the computer age (around the time people were still calling it “the computer age”)

This is an excellent case study of all the advertising clichés from the eighties, from the overplayed “let’s put a rap in there to communicate to the kids” concept to the stilted dialogue all the way down to the subtle pro-Reagan undertones which still permeate popular culture today (SUBSCRIBE TO MY POLITICAL NEWSLETTER FOR MORE INSIGHTS LIKE THIS!!).

Sorry I think I was channeling my Sociology 101 professor for a second. What (maybe) makes this entire video worth watching are the references to specific games from this era, like Oregon Trail (the Indian has dysentery and a broken leg and has also been dead for three months) and Carmen Sandiego. That’s right kids, before it had an acapella theme song, it was a crappy video game that made learning tedious. (Hit F-12 to see Carmen topless).
(Oh there is more…)

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From USA Today

The news that Orville Redenbacher (the company) was digitally reviving Orville Redenbacher (the ex-human) escaped my notice, so seeing their flagship commercial during the Golden Globes was the first I knew about this. And even then, I wasn’t sure if they had just hired a look-alike, or gone all out and recreated him using dark sorcery.

This story in USA Today gives some good background information on the process and decision to do this. The accompanying video link is somewhat crappy, and unfortunately I don’t have the video to post yet. You can find the ad and some other original Redenbacher spots on the YouTube.

Unlike what companies like The Gap have done to disgrace dead celebrities, I don’t have a moral problem with what this new Redencacher ad does. Whether or not it gets good results, it’s not really grave-robbing to bring the man back to sell the product. After all, he did it while he was alive.

My only real question is, why not just find a look-alike? It seems like a (financially) painful process to go through to recreate a human being every time you need a new ad. In any event it looks rather nice, though from a content point of view it’s nothing mind-blowing.

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