In 1997, Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union, needed some cash. So he made a Pizza Hut commercial. Of course there was more to the story than that, but not really so much. He reportedly received $1 million for the spot. "I thought that it is a people' s matter -- food," Gorbachev told the New York Times after the filming. "This is why if my name works for the benefit of consumers, to hell with it -- I can risk it." Over at Foreign Policy, Paul Musgrave tells the tale:
Gorbachev had suffered the same fate as many Soviet retirees, who had looked forward to generous pensions only to find themselves forced to hustle and scrape to get by as the Russian economy collapsed around them—shrinking by 30 percent between 1991 and 1998. The foundation, too, was tottering, with even Gorbachev’s significant lecture fees unable to sustain both his family and the foundation and its staff, let alone any projects he might want to pursue to leave a legacy. Even generous donations from Ted Turner only went so far.
Gorbachev was determined to stay in Russia and fight for reform, not to take up a life of well-compensated exile abroad. To do that, he would need money to fund his center, his staff, and his activities—urgently. As Gorbachev later told France 24 when asked about the ad, “I needed to finish the building. The workers started to leave—I needed to pay them...”
(After months of negotiations,) Gorbachev finally assented—with conditions.
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Enjoy this 1983 television commercial advertising Centipede for the Atari 5200.
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For this funny advertisement, CleanMyMac dressed up a fellow as a public pile of trash and when people dropped their litter on his back, he sprung up to surprise them.
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In 1988, I worked in a toy store and quickly became annoyed by all the requests for the Snuggle bear. But this I can tolerate. For a moment anyway.
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This totally excellent computer animated television commercial for Hawaiian Punch was created in 1987 by Omnibus/Abel, the ill-fated company born from the merger of Omnibus Computer Graphics with computer animation pioneer Robert Abel's Abel and Associates.
From Vintage CG:
Rarely seen is this full 90 second version.... Music is by Mark Mothersbaugh (of DEVO), who later admitted to embedding a subliminal message: "Sugar is bad for you."
Excerpts from the commercial later turned up in the classic computer animation VHS compilation "Beyond the Mind’s Eye," the content of which you can enjoy below:
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In 1994, Pizza Hut aired this TV commercial in the UK that was reportedly the first completely non-English advertisement on British television. The entire thing is in Klingon.
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Kraft has launched "Salad Frosting" as part of a jokey marketing campaign about the lies that parents tell their kids. Because, y'know, deceit is funny and those kids who already like ranch dressing will be too dumb to recognize that this is the same thing while those who can't stand the stuff will suddenly develop a taste for it because of the "fun" packaging. From the press release:
“Innocent lies parents tell their kids help alleviate the pressures of everyday parenting, and if it gets kids to eat their greens, so be it,” says Sergio Eleuterio Head of Marketing for Kraft, “Simple innocent lies are not only part of parenthood, but a true tactic used by parents everywhere. Kraft Salad 'Frosting' is one lie you won’t feel bad telling your kids.”
According to a recent study, Ranch dressing is the most popular dressing in the United States*** and kids will eat anything with frosting, right? It’s a match made for dinnertime bliss. Now, convincing children to eat salad, broccoli and carrots may be a whole lot easier. Just add Kraft Salad “Frosting.”
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This excellent 1982 TV commercial for Mattel's Intellivision game console features a "computerized" futuristic newscast that predates both Max Headroom's cyber-pisstake on the media and A-Ha's rotoscoped classic "Take On Me!"
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To boldly go where no pitchman has gone before.
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The Atari 800 was released in 1979. I wish I'd bought one at the time because apparently it will never become obsolete.
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In 1994, Ikea ran this television commercial in major East Coast US markets. (Interestingly, the commercial's art director was Patrick O'Neill who went on to be Chief Creative Officer at everyone's favorite Silicon Valley start-up disaster Theranos!)
From a 1994 article in the Los Angeles Times:
A few East Coast Ikea stores have been targeted by angry protesters who have jammed phone lines since last week. One store in Hicksville, N.Y., was briefly evacuated last week after a bomb scare. No bomb was found.
At issue is the homosexual relationship between the two men in the Ikea ad, who talk about how buying the dining room table together shows their commitment to each other. If it becomes clear to other major marketers that Ikea's business is not harmed--and perhaps even helped--by the ad, it could profoundly affect the way major advertisers speak to gays and lesbians.
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Here are soccer legend Pelé, comedy actor Don Knotts, and since-disgraced baseball hit king Pete Rose pitching the Atari Video Computer System in 1978. "Don't just watch television tonight - play it!"
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Every Sith Lord has his price.
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This surreal advertisement for corn from 1964 is reportedly the USSR's first TV commercial.
Over at r/ObscureMedia, amer_amer kindly offers this translation:
If you would like to be healthy,
fed for a hundred years,
ask with a kind word
at restaurants and cafeterias
(and) recieve dinner
wait, sit down, don't rush
wait... (and) recieve dinner.
Chef: where are you from?
Corn: (unintelligible)... We were grown in azerbaijan, in a southern warm country, in the virgin lands of kasakhstan.
Chef: understood. so what do you want?
Corn: we want to get on the menu.
Chef: i'm sorry, and i'm not kicking you out, but i'm not changing the menu.
(The dishes start sliding)
And the salads, and the soups, and (dishes) made from maize groats,
and with sugar: porridge, pudding and cakes,
and appetizers and garnish.
Peace for all (i think).
What a dish, absolutely spectacular!
Every day will be prepared!
Chef: and let me tell you something, all these dished can be made easily by any hostess (as in housewife).
(Thanks, UPSO!)
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Found in the January 1912 issue of Casket and Sunnyside magazine, "the foremost journal of the funeral profession since 1871."
As our friends at Weird Universe noted, Shave the Corpse would make a terrific band name. Read the rest
The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority has banned winemaker Premier Estates' "Taste the Bush" advertisement, created by agency Saatchi Masius. According to the government agency, the phrase is understood "to be a reference to oral sex, particularly given that it was accompanied with the image of the wine glass positioned directly in front of the woman's crotch" and that the "ad presented the woman in a degrading manner."
Of course, the value of the ad's earned media, aka free publicity, has far exceeded anything Premier Estates could have paid for.
ASA Ruling on Budge Brands Ltd t/a Premier Estates Wine (via Huffington Post)
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