The “Golden Age” of television advertising” (think “Mad Men”) is generally considered to be the 1960s through sometime in the 1980s. TV commercials were often extremely creative and fun to watch.
Like this clever VW commercial from the very early 1970s.
And this ad from the very early 1980s. Gotta love those headphones with their wires leading to (I assume) a Sony Walkman.
And this snooty ad for snooty mustard 🙂
And this fabulous spot for really tough luggage.
Not to mention, as long as we’re rambling through the neighborhood of travel-related advertising, this classic ad for Hertz Rent-A-Car.
These Hertz ads eventually went a little too nuts, with O.J. hurtling (and hurdling 🙂 ) over various obstacles. But, on the other hand, you certainly got the message: If you’re in a big hurry at the airport, go with Hertz!
Anyway, most television commercials today are boring and/or annoying (my opinion). So when I saw this ad during the 10:00 news on television last night, I liked it so much I actually went looking for it online.
Kudos to General Motors and whoever is responsible for either creating this ad in-house or hiring the outside talent that produced it. The GMC Sierra tailgate itself is pretty cool, but the ad telling us about it is pure magic!
Katherine Wikoff 
We introduced our grandson Neil to the Snap Crackle Pop song last time he was here. He was singing it around the house all day. Those old commercials were magical. Love this.
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Excellent collection! I had not seen the Grey Poupon one — how funny to see a familiar face from my cult favourite series, ‘Yes, Minister’!
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It’s such a treat to find little surprises like that!
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In some commercials today, I’m not even sure what is being advertised!! Kind of defeats the purpose. 🙂
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You’re right! Sometimes I can remember the ad but have no clue what they were trying to sell me. Oops. That’s not good.
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Yes, the commercial is about product and it’s purpose. Commercials today make you wonder what the point of it is? and what does it have to do with the product?? I miss the jingles and skits etc
Today I viewed an old FL potato chip commercial with Bert Lahr the cowardly lion from the Wizard of OZ. As a teen, I drove my father crazy every time I ran from the kitchen sliding from the hallway into the front room to watch my favorite commercial at the time of a shining knight on a white horse.
I think it was a soap commercial…for some reason I want to say AJAX. ?? What can I say… I was a teenager!! LOL!! Thanks for the trip down memory lane :>)
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Rose, I absolutely LOVE that image of you running from the kitchen sliding from the hallway into the front room to watch your favorite commercial!
And you know what else? I think I remember that commercial. Did the knight touch the dirty surface with his lance and then there was a sparkling flash from the tip and the surface was clean? I’ll bet it WAS an ad for Ajax. Now I’ll have to go searching for it on YouTube next time I’m in that neighborhood.
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Yes, that’s how the commercial went. LOL I think I startled my father when he was reading the paper during the commercial. It’s amazing how one thing leads to another. I haven’t found the commercial clip yet but I found out the White Knight was in competition with Mr. Clean back in the day. Also another lookup. Jim Morrison of The Doors last line in Touch Me is “stronger than dirt” taken from the Ajax ’62 commercial. I wonder if I caught that back then when it was on the radio? I don’t recall a lawsuit as what I found reported online now.
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Wow, that’s an interesting twist on that song. Maybe Ajax thought it was good for the brand and let it go because of that?
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It didn’t sound like they were too kindly about that. Maybe that article was in the business section of the Journal then??
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