Classic Television Commercials (Part III) (1948)

★★★★★ · So catchy it's disgusting! · tanne · 2003-07-16

My personal favorite of the musical ads is the one for Speedway "79" Power Fuel. Catchy adaptation of "Dem Bones," well performed with terrific percussion and animation. Speaking of percussion, on the Esso ad most of the sound effects are just that. The Bank of America ad is an obvious takeoff on the "coffee jitters" ads done by companies advertising Sanka and Postum. And the Marlboro guy who says sometimes he forgets to eat, but never forgets to smoke--does he have his priorities in order or what? LOL! As for me, I keep waiting for those Ajax elves to come along at night and clean my…

★★★★★ · Ajax and Muriel cigars · LDF · 2005-06-06

Shamus Culhane writes about making the Ajax and Muriel cigar ads. Culhane had worked at Fleischer Studios, so 58pacer was on target. He made these ads when he had his own company. He had animated Mae West previously for a military training film. I don't remember the details, but I think someone, perhaps Mae West herself, objected to the use of her image and the "pick me up and smoke me sometime" line (and who can blame her?). In one of his books, he used the characters from the Ajax ad as the basis for suggested exercises for beginning animators. I'm pretty sure the voices of the small elf…

★★★★★ · Advertising Landmarks · brickmush · 2008-11-16

This clip contains three of the most important commercials in TV history. First, the Lucky Strikes square dancing cigarettes, very early (I think 1949) and a big hit amongst TV fans at the time. You hear mention of it in many pop-culture sources at the time, including Old Time Radio. Second, The Ajax one, which introduced this soon to be staple of the American household. Third, probably most important, is the Marlboro one, kicking off maybe the most important/successful rebranding campaign in history: Marlboro changing from being a "Mild As May", unsuccessful woman's cigarette, with its…

★★★★★ · Uh oh! The catchy jingles are here! · Spuzz · 2003-04-01

A great bunch of commercials are here, with (yikes!) the cigarettes ones providing the most entertaining ones. The damn near perfect "Winston Tastes Good As A Cigarrette" should jingle, the LSMFT dancing cigarettes commercial, and one of my all time faves, the Muriel cigars vaudeville parody. The cleaning commercials just start on this volume, with the Ajax (boom boom) the foaming cleanser,, A great collection, and probably the best ones.

★★★★★ · Viewed without sound · boohunney · 2003-11-29

I was taught by an English/film professor to first view films and not to listen to the audio the first time if one wants to see the film in a more complete way. I did. WOW! I remember many of these ads and can sing the "Winston" song. What a great piece of Americana!These ads also document what was happening in America at the time. The animated ads (as all the ads) are just a tribute to creativity.