Question of the Day | 11/17/2008 11:00 pm
What is the most memorable television commercial you ever saw?

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The Staples back to school commercial that uses “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as its soundtrack is one of my all-time favorites. The end shot of the dad sailing by on the shopping car makes me chuckle every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPIIMbG9R4w
Most of the ESPN “This is SportsCenter” ads crack me up as well.
A ten-second spot for VW, from the Seventies. A triumph of minimalism and not a car in sight:
Extreme close-up of two adorable white rabbits nestled together facing the camera. No music. After 2 seconds, an imposing voiceover: “In 1948, there were only two Volkswagens in the United States”. Fade out.
I looked for it on YouTube but didn’t find it.

Favorite or most memorable television commercials:
The first one that came to mind was the “daisy commercial” but I only ever saw it during documentaries or news stories. However, some others that I recall with pleasure and humor and not shock are:
1) The Diet coke commercial with the fantastic guy.
2) Those Ross Department store ads with lots of wonderful looking guys.
3) The original Polaroid camera commercials with James Garner and Mariette Hartley who portrayed a married couple so well that viewers began to think they were married.
4) The Ronald Regan “morning in America” political ad.
5) Any and all of the Budweiser commercials with the clydesdale horses.
6) The original Jack-in-the-Box whopper commercials “hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us”.
This was fun. Thank you wOw.
Yeah…E-Trade…really funny.
The LBJ ad? I’m a Democrat and glad he lost based on that ad alone. Despicable. Demo or GOP I do not like that kind of crap. Too bad, because he and Lady Bird did a lot of good….but c’est la vie. An ad like that deserves to lose.
I still laugh at the wonderful Tabasco ad which shows a mosquito sucking blood from a Tabasco-lovin’ guy, and then the mosquito flies off and explodes in the air….now that’s some “fire!” Very clever.
The hysterical (Swedish? Danish?) condom commercial that’s been viewed so much around the world gets my vote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ
There have been times when the commercials were better than the show. I always get a kick out of the Aflac duck and the early Energizer bunny ones when you didn’t expect him to come wandering through. And I like the M&M commercials. Sometimes a commercial will send me into hysterical laughter and when it’s over, I can’t remember what the product was. Oh, and I loved the little blonde girl who did the grape juice adds.
And then there are the commercials that irritate the life out of me…Mama get real kill is the #1 all time killer.
I always like those Hallmark Commericals, when the mom comes walking down the stairs and her son is standing there home from the service. Tears ya up everytime. Great
The best commercials are those with children. There is one I remember from my childhood for Bayer aspirin and the thought still makes me smile. A little blonde haired boy knocks on a neighbors door and when the lady of the house answers the door he says with a definite lisp, “Can Susie come out and play?” She tells him no because Susie is sick. He says, “Oh, does she hurt and have a temperature?” If memory serves me, she tells him she gave Susie Bayer aspirin and he says, “Oh, that’s what my Mommy gives me.” Anyway, it is soooo sweet. Another one I love but can’t remember the product, Coke maybe, was a little boy running through the grass with about 10 puppies on his heels. He falls down and they crawl all over him, licking him and he is laughing so hard. Adorable. And, finally, a little boy on a Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial (Triton) which can still be see on You tube. So cute. I love kids.
For a humorous commercial the most memorable is: the old lady who demanded, “Where’s the beef” in her hamburger.
For a serious commercial, it’s the American Indian who looks at the land the white man stole from him, which Indians had respected, cared for, & felt a close bond with over many generations—& a tear slowly escapes from his eye at the pain of seeing how the white man ruined, disrespected, & polluted the land—he felt both the Earth’s pain & the shame & waste of how white men live.
It made a very powerful impression on me that lasts to this day.
The coffee commercial where the college son comes home at Christmas and the little sister and he make coffee and Mom comes down the stairs to spot him…makes me cry every time.

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