AdViews vintage TV commercial archive: So Good it Hurts
March 30, 2011 4:25 PM Subscribe
AdViews: A Digital Archive of 8,700+ Vintage Television Commercials (1950s-1970s) at Internet Archive. So good it hurts.
Any ad archive lacking the WTF excellence of the late-nite Enchirito Boys is sorely lacking.
posted by mwhybark at 4:35 PM on March 30, 2011
posted by mwhybark at 4:35 PM on March 30, 2011
I could as well be the kid wearing the jersey in this Pop Rocks CM from 1979.
posted by mokuba at 4:36 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by mokuba at 4:36 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, not sorely lacking. Pretty good, even. I mean for something associated with Duke. Really, that university has come a long way.
posted by mwhybark at 4:38 PM on March 30, 2011
posted by mwhybark at 4:38 PM on March 30, 2011
Ah, by now I should know better than to try to po face it. There's a ton of amusement here, waitin' to be had.
posted by mwhybark at 4:41 PM on March 30, 2011
posted by mwhybark at 4:41 PM on March 30, 2011
I'm soaking in this.
posted by jonmc at 4:41 PM on March 30, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 4:41 PM on March 30, 2011 [4 favorites]
That Canada Dry commercial can't decide if it's targeting a) "sophisticated adults at the grown-ups party" or b) "crazy drunks at the sex orgy."
Of course, from what I have been led to believe about adult North American life in the '60s and '70s, a) would often lead to b).
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:42 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
Of course, from what I have been led to believe about adult North American life in the '60s and '70s, a) would often lead to b).
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:42 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
Man. Commercials for sugary cereal and candy bars. Where have you gone, Saturday morning cartoons? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
posted by penduluum at 4:46 PM on March 30, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by penduluum at 4:46 PM on March 30, 2011 [3 favorites]
Wonderful resource, thanks. This red carpet trickery is pretty special. I wonder how they managed it?
posted by unliteral at 4:55 PM on March 30, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by unliteral at 4:55 PM on March 30, 2011 [5 favorites]
A part of me really misses the days when incest was hinted at in cereal commercials.
I miss Pink Panther Flakes too, just so you don't think I'm a total freak.
posted by jeremias at 5:12 PM on March 30, 2011
I miss Pink Panther Flakes too, just so you don't think I'm a total freak.
posted by jeremias at 5:12 PM on March 30, 2011
Man. Commercials for sugary cereal and candy bars.
Pure sugar.
posted by stbalbach at 6:31 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Pure sugar.
posted by stbalbach at 6:31 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
unliteral: "Wonderful resource, thanks. This red carpet trickery is pretty special. I wonder how they managed it?"
Hah, we had one of those beasts in bright canary yellow. I don't remember a red carpet ride but it was an f-ing huge car.
posted by octothorpe at 6:32 PM on March 30, 2011
Hah, we had one of those beasts in bright canary yellow. I don't remember a red carpet ride but it was an f-ing huge car.
posted by octothorpe at 6:32 PM on March 30, 2011
All I care about is that "dawn of time" wristwatch TV spot from approx 1971 inspired by the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Where is it?
posted by ovvl at 6:38 PM on March 30, 2011
posted by ovvl at 6:38 PM on March 30, 2011
By the power of Greyskull!
I love the Internet Archives like it was a person. A person who gives me amazing things every day.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:39 PM on March 30, 2011
I love the Internet Archives like it was a person. A person who gives me amazing things every day.
posted by louche mustachio at 6:39 PM on March 30, 2011
I'll be watching these while I'm waiting for Mad Men to return. Hopefully I won't get through all of them before that happens.
posted by crossoverman at 7:03 PM on March 30, 2011
posted by crossoverman at 7:03 PM on March 30, 2011
My god, the quality of the video! This is fantastic.
I'm pretty sure that you have Metafilter's very own avgeeks to thank for this.
posted by NoMich at 7:13 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure that you have Metafilter's very own avgeeks to thank for this.
posted by NoMich at 7:13 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
My first semester of history grad school, I had a conversation with one of my officemates about the pleasures and drawbacks of specializing in certain types of history, or certain eras of history. My officemate, a medievalist, pointed out that her field contains a lot of awesome topics: the Black Death, feudalism, illuminated manuscripts, anchorites, and on and on. However, you're lucky to find three, maybe four really relevant sources for whatever topic it is you end up doing your research on. So you have to be really creative, but, at the same time, the limits of your source base can make it easier to structure your research. I, on the other hand, do contemporary U.S. history, which has it own problems: people don't really think it's "history" yet, it's easier to draw direct lines between bad decisions in the recent past and depressing situations now. At the same time, there are a lot of highlights (civil rights! feminism! outstanding 1970s pants and interior design!)
But. The sources....the sources available are essentially overwhelming at times. There's bound volumes of Life magazine to go through, and tons of government documents (the expanding power of the state = the expanding square footage of materials in depository libraries), and then there could be TV shows or movies that could be relevant to your project, and, also you might want to do some oral histories -- those people could still be alive! Your research essentially never ends.
This is all just to say that -- my god, this is an amazing collection. But, at the same time, the sheer number of awesome clips to go through here....it just makes me want to curl up into a ball, while drinking a beer.
posted by heurtebise at 7:18 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
But. The sources....the sources available are essentially overwhelming at times. There's bound volumes of Life magazine to go through, and tons of government documents (the expanding power of the state = the expanding square footage of materials in depository libraries), and then there could be TV shows or movies that could be relevant to your project, and, also you might want to do some oral histories -- those people could still be alive! Your research essentially never ends.
This is all just to say that -- my god, this is an amazing collection. But, at the same time, the sheer number of awesome clips to go through here....it just makes me want to curl up into a ball, while drinking a beer.
posted by heurtebise at 7:18 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Exactly, heurtebise, one must specialize, even here.
Now that you've claimed beer, I'm off to find another drink.
posted by notyou at 7:57 PM on March 30, 2011
Now that you've claimed beer, I'm off to find another drink.
posted by notyou at 7:57 PM on March 30, 2011
My god, the quality of the video!
Worth repeating. I hadn't bothered at first, but when I went back to view them in highest MP4 quality, they are less like grainy remote artifacts from the past, there's a more immediate sense of being in the period.
posted by stbalbach at 8:13 PM on March 30, 2011
Worth repeating. I hadn't bothered at first, but when I went back to view them in highest MP4 quality, they are less like grainy remote artifacts from the past, there's a more immediate sense of being in the period.
posted by stbalbach at 8:13 PM on March 30, 2011
Cool! Ferris Bueller's Dad!
Been watching old car commercials, too. AMC is this surreal blend of old and modern. The whole collection is sublime.
posted by Xoebe at 8:36 PM on March 30, 2011
Been watching old car commercials, too. AMC is this surreal blend of old and modern. The whole collection is sublime.
posted by Xoebe at 8:36 PM on March 30, 2011
A HAH! I knew that was how it worked.
Now if only I could suppress that little voice
in my head.
posted by quazichimp at 9:27 PM on March 30, 2011
Now if only I could suppress that little voice
in my head.
posted by quazichimp at 9:27 PM on March 30, 2011
I wonder if, back when the TV was still new technology, the people making commercials thought we'd all sit around 40-60 years in the future, enjoying their commercials and feeling nostalgic for them and for products that, in some cases, no longer even exist.
posted by IndigoRain at 1:58 AM on March 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by IndigoRain at 1:58 AM on March 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'll be watching these while I'm waiting for Mad Men to return.
That's exactly what I thought of when I was watching these ads. I can almost picture Don Draper and team pitching these ideas to clients.
posted by 00dimitri00 at 4:47 AM on March 31, 2011
That's exactly what I thought of when I was watching these ads. I can almost picture Don Draper and team pitching these ideas to clients.
posted by 00dimitri00 at 4:47 AM on March 31, 2011
quazichimp, why is the cough drop grey? Even if they were actually that color, you'd think the ad exec would pick something more appetizing.
posted by you're a kitty! at 7:21 AM on March 31, 2011
posted by you're a kitty! at 7:21 AM on March 31, 2011
It's scary that I can remember some of these jingles despite not having seen these commercials in 30-35 years.
posted by Gev at 10:31 AM on March 31, 2011
posted by Gev at 10:31 AM on March 31, 2011
I'll just drop this here: From inside the Henson Archives, a YouTube collection of classic clips, commercials and experimental works, including La Choy Chow Mein "Sad Bride" (she's sad because she doesn't know how to cook), twoa commercial for Frito-Lay's "Munchos" and General Foods Canada snack products "Wheels, Flutes and Crowns" (both featuring Cookie Monster before Sesame Street), and a few more oldies.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:38 AM on April 1, 2011
posted by filthy light thief at 9:38 AM on April 1, 2011
« Older My Health Doesn't Depend on What I Believe about... | ...your brain power might help bring a killer to... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
*Pre-made frozen whipped cream "Coolwhip" first introduced.
*Decaffinated coffee introduced.
*Morning in America, perhaps most influential commercial ever.
posted by stbalbach at 4:28 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]