Question of the Day | 11/18/2008 12:00 am

What is the most memorable television commercial you ever saw?

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Liz Smith

Liz Smith | 11/18/2008 12:00 am

Liz Smith on What Ann Richards, Mario Cuomo Were Selling

The most memorable TV commercial I ever saw was of the former governor of Texas Ann Richards eating Doritos with former NY Gov. Mario Cuomo.  The money went to charity.

Click here on this text to read my New York Post column.

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Joan Ganz Cooney

Joan Ganz Cooney | 11/18/2008 12:00 am

Joan Ganz Cooney's Two Favorite Commercials

Some years ago, Taster’s Choice coffee ran a series of commercials on television that were a continuing story about a man and a woman falling in love. Many people I know followed the story and talked about it when together. As I recall, the series stopped rather abruptly and I never learned what happened to the couple but I also never forgot them. On radio, hands down; Bert and Harry Piel in the 1950s. Alas Piel’s beer was no good so sales shot up when the commercials started and then dropped like a stone.

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Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen | 11/18/2008 12:00 am

Candice Bergen's Favorite Commercial Is for Beer (Video)

I have no memory but my favorite recent commercial is for a beer. Maybe Anheuser-Busch? It is a sassy little piece about a (maybe it’s Budweiser!) draft horse and a Dalmatian dog and the horse is rejected for the lead position pulling the beer wagon and is very down. The Dalmatian puts him into a training schedule and it’s scored to the "Rocky" theme and the next time, our guy is chosen and it is definitely a Bud moment of triumph.

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Marlo Thomas

Marlo Thomas | 11/18/2008 12:00 am

Marlo Thomas's Picks for the Funniest and Meanest Commercials (Video)

Call me a sucker for goofy stuff, but I think those commercials with the E*Trade baby are a riot. I know, I know — putting grown-up voices in babies’ mouths is the oldest trick in the book. But that child is so damn cute — and the voice that comes out of his face is so PERFECT, I howl every time. Phil and I call each other to hurry in the room every time one comes on.


Watch an E*Trade Baby commercial below and laugh with Marlo:

The other one is the famous Lyndon Johnson ad that ran during the 1964 presidential campaign. It was the first famous attack ad, and it was supposed to scare voters into thinking that Johnson’s opponent, Barry Goldwater, was a dangerous man who would lead us into a world war. The commercial showed a little girl picking the petals off a flower and counting them, while, in the background, a voice counted down the launch of a nuclear missile. Then the screen dissolved into the image of a giant mushroom cloud. It was so horrifying that it only aired once on TV — too many people complained about it. But, the real irony is, people today would just shrug at that kind of ad. That’s how bad political advertising has become.

Watch the controversial Lyndon B. Johnson 1964 presidential campaign ad:

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43 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Ginger Bennett
Wow, those are all great commercials! Except for the E-Trade Baby…he creeps me out. We have given up cable tv and you know I think I miss the commercials more than anything. When I was a child I loved the Christmas commercial for a mans electric razor that a cartoon Santa rode like a sled and of course “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz!”
By Ginger Bennett on 11/18/2008 8:26 am
E .
Ginger - agreed 100% Love most of the above mentioned and the Norelco Santa is one of my favorites. The E-Trade baby though … too creepy. I’d like it if there weren’t sexual overtones. The number one commercial that always springs to mind for me is the Keep America Beautiful - crying Native American psa.
By E . on 11/18/2008 9:11 am
Frannie Em
Mmmm? Let me think….. Oh gosh, I can’t remember.
By Frannie Em on 11/18/2008 6:01 pm
Linda Clark
Back in the 70’s, the do not litter campaign where a Native American Indian shed a tear as he saw all of the trash scattered across the land. It’s sad to see that “we” haven’t changed much …………..
By Linda Clark on 11/18/2008 8:55 am
E .
lol Linda … you beat me to it! It takes me forever to post. With all of the melting glaciers, trash in the seas and various other man-made natural disasters (what a paradox) today that commercial comes to mind quite a bit for me. I’m not sure if the Keep America Beautiful campaign still exists (shame on me for that) - but I can’t help but think that an updated version would hit home with the legions of Americans (and others?) that have that commercial imprinted on their psyche.
By E . on 11/18/2008 9:22 am
E .
OK - so I checked … of course Keep America Beautiful still exists - www.kab.org I signed up! Thanks wow and Linda for pointing me, however unintentionally it might have been, down that path.
By E . on 11/18/2008 9:35 am
Linda Clark
E Flynn! ……………. thank you for recalling the name. Keep America Beautiful, I went to the link and signed up as well! You Rock!
By Linda Clark on 11/18/2008 1:39 pm
Serena .
Hi Linda: Long time no see. How are you? The Native American crying is exactly the same commercial I thought of when I first saw today’s question. Here it is from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ozVMxzNAA
By Serena . on 11/18/2008 3:53 pm
Linda Clark
Hi Serena! Thank you for the video link! You, my dear, rock AND roll! Good to hear from you too!
By Linda Clark on 11/18/2008 4:15 pm
phyllis Doyle Pepe
My favorite is the British Gecko on the Geico commercials. I adore this little creature and wish like crazy I could snatch him from the screen and have him as my pet. We could have the most scintillating conversations and I’d give him lots of buttered English muffins which he loves. The Taster’s Choice ads that Joan mentioned are memorable and I thought very clever––––people love stories and this was an on-going saga of sorts in which you were eager to find out the next move between these two very attractive people. I often wondered why they stopped it midstream–––did they? Didn’t they? We’ll never know, but what I wondered is why when you have a good thing going you pull the plug. It is also amazing to me that while some ads are so good most are dreary and unimaginative–– why, in this age of digital magic?
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 11/18/2008 9:11 am
Frannie Em
“Mikey likes it” or the hamburger commercial with the little African American boy Rodney Allen Rippey (?) was that his name? But the Baby E trade commercials are so funny. Have you seen the one where he throws up on the keyboard? One of those projectile thrusts of tummy contents. Yikes. I couldn’t believe they left it in. I guess anything that gets you to remember the commercial is what counts.
By Frannie Em on 11/18/2008 6:09 pm
Jeannot Kensinger
E trade baby freaks me out too. I always loved the “where’s the beef” lady. Also the white cat being treated like royalty for Fancy Feast.
By Jeannot Kensinger on 11/18/2008 9:14 am
Joan Brown
I like the funny holiday one when the couple are sitting in a horse drawn sleigh. Then the man goes to light a cigarette, I think it, at the same time the horse passes gas, and they get blown up. My favortie jingle is my bologna has a first name, it’s O S C A R my bologna has a second name it’s M a y e r, oh I love to eat it e’day and if you ask me here’s what I say, that Oscar Mayer has a way with b o l o g n a.
By Joan Brown on 11/18/2008 9:28 am
Jane Cougar Melonhat
German commercials suck! The only ones that I find smart and funny are the Mercedes Benz commercials. http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=5RDZ-50pM2E http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=HEAFN5TxliI (Translation: Sorry, but I had a breakdown - with the Mercedes? - You have to come up with something better than that) And the absolutely cutest: http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=RRSh5v9UHW4
By Jane Cougar Melonhat on 11/18/2008 9:34 am
Delete This
Melonhat—My most favorite car I ever had was an E-Class MBZ….surprised the Euro commercial is so lame…but I did laugh….was it for a car or a condom? I don’t know. Hamster…very cute….can identify…we had one named Georgette who was always escaping and then would find in a shoe in a closet or something.
By Delete This on 11/18/2008 8:54 pm
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