That time when Toronto had Johnny Cash machines

April 19, 2015 10:38 PM

Retrontario remembers Johnny Cash advertising for Canada Trust, along with several other advertisements from the 80s.
posted by frimble (12 comments total)

One of the classic "Hamilton" jokes is, "Let's go to the African Lion Safari! We'll use you're car."
posted by juiceCake at 11:15 PM on April 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

I do remember that time when the IRS treated Willie Nelson like a Johnny Cash machine.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:27 PM on April 19, 2015

There's an old country song called "I wish that I had Johnny's cash and Charley's pride."
posted by spitbull at 5:38 AM on April 20, 2015

Here it is. Mac Wiseman.
posted by spitbull at 6:05 AM on April 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

My parents banked at Canada Trust. I have very clear memories of this campaign, not just the commercials, but because they had lots of in-branch promotional material up when I'd be with my parents waiting in line.

Kinda related...

Now they sound tired but they don't sound Haggard / They got money but they don't have Cash / They got Junior but they don't have Hank...
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:18 AM on April 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

There was a CT beside the hockey arena I played in when I was a kid, and I remember seeing a life-size Johnny Cash cutout standing beside the ATM in the lobby.

I was recently at an event that Retrontario helped organize and which included the Money Machine commercial. When Cash strolled into the frame someone in the crowd gasped "Oh my God, really?" Yes, young 'uns...not everything Johnny Cash did was cool.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:04 AM on April 20, 2015

I remember the Cash cutouts, but I don't think they were life size. Maybe 75% scale. (5'1" me went into a lot of Canada trust branches with my 6'3" boyfriend, so I had plenty of chances to compare scale.)
posted by maudlin at 9:27 AM on April 20, 2015

OMG Retrontario is a rabbit hole....aaaaaand, we Metafiltered it already!

I wanted to see if they had the Rad Man radio spot with the funky music...
posted by biscotti at 9:53 AM on April 20, 2015

"Life's too short to walk the line"

Man, that takes me right back to my pjs and popcorn waiting for Battlestar Galactica to come on.

My brothers and I too became Canada Trust customers right around then, when they swallowed the Permanent Trust that had our lawn and snow clearing accounts.
posted by bonehead at 10:30 AM on April 20, 2015

I loved that campaign. I was so excited because I had just started university and the johnny cash machines were such a godsend. Since banks all seemed to have those 10-3 banker's hours back then it was always a panic to take out enough money to last the weekend. ATMs changed all that. Why walk the line? Indeed.
posted by biggreenplant at 10:49 AM on April 20, 2015

Despite the Toronto-centric title, this campaign was Canada-wide. I well remember the cutouts and cards here on the west coast.
posted by acroyear at 10:59 AM on April 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wow. I remember the campaign. I had no idea it was considered an urban legend.
posted by Schadenfreudian at 5:23 AM on April 23, 2015