Life Lessons
October 18, 2006 10:30 AM   Subscribe

 
That tab commercial made me laugh out loud. Be a "mind STICKER?!" That's just excellent.
posted by dog food sugar at 10:56 AM on October 18, 2006


That Tab commercial was 1960s, I think: the hair, the stripes, the shirtwaist, the unabashed sexism.

But I laughed.
posted by maudlin at 11:07 AM on October 18, 2006


Hey, was that John Hodgman's dad in the Dodge commercial? (Dodgeman?)
posted by maudlin at 11:08 AM on October 18, 2006


My Father-in-law bought a Charger in 1971, I can't wait to show him this ad!
posted by Vindaloo at 11:14 AM on October 18, 2006


You want to be preeeetttyyy (don't you?). You want him to fuuuuuck you (don't you?). Drink Tab!
posted by basicchannel at 11:18 AM on October 18, 2006


Wow, mindsticker. Bizarre. I wonder if that was ever a common phrase.

The charger commercial is pretty damn weird, too. "Buy a Charger! Be an asshole! Attract golddiggers! New, from Dodge!"
posted by Afroblanco at 11:47 AM on October 18, 2006


Drink tab. Or your husband will go home with Janet, that slut from accounting. And you'll be stuck at home with nothing but your 12 pound hairdo and a handful of diet pills.
posted by lumpenprole at 11:51 AM on October 18, 2006


Holy crap that Tab commercial is terrible. I thought the TV commercials of today were excruciating.
posted by loquacious at 12:10 PM on October 18, 2006


My God, that Tab commercial.

Tab's back on the shelves and I think it's pink now. Wonder why they're not using the mindsticker line?
posted by puddinghead at 12:12 PM on October 18, 2006


WOW.
posted by BobFrapples at 12:17 PM on October 18, 2006


I think the Flintstones Winston commercial is even scarier...
posted by jimmythefish at 12:18 PM on October 18, 2006


I thought the TV commercials of today were excruciating.
posted by loquacious at 2:10 PM CST on October 18 [+] [!]


Commercials today are high cinema compared to what they used to be. Old commercials may be funny, kitchy, or otherwise nostalgic, but very few of them were anything approaching "good".

Most commercials today have higher production values than many movies in the 70's.

Commercials are just such an annoyance because they interrupt what you want to be watching to try to aggressively sell you something you probably don't need in 30 seconds.

Taken out of that context, many commercials are downright entertaining.
posted by Ynoxas at 12:24 PM on October 18, 2006


Most commercials today have higher production values than many movies in the 70's.

Higher production values. Apply directly to the budget.
Higher production values. Apply directly to the budget.
Higher production values. Apply directly to the budget.
posted by meehawl at 1:04 PM on October 18, 2006 [3 favorites]


That post was GLORIOUS.
I wish there was a YouTube post like this everyday.
I really appreciate seeing what other people find odd or evocotive from old ads and TV.
Great post.
What a blast.
posted by squidfartz at 1:17 PM on October 18, 2006


Fun post. However, as a former smoker, I fail to see how one particular brand of cigarette would make you feel more "in the country" than another, unless of course horse manure or cow pies were an ingredient. Salem's are menthol, so there is a slight "minty" flavor, but is that something that's really associated with country living?
posted by The Gooch at 1:38 PM on October 18, 2006


squidfartz: my sarcasm meter oscillated wildly on each line of your post.
posted by Ynoxas at 1:38 PM on October 18, 2006


Good lord, mindsticker. And the music? Sounds like quaaludes! Great post.
posted by Space Kitty at 1:48 PM on October 18, 2006


Mindsticker is just a wonderfully awesome word I can't figure out how I want to start using it. Do I pair it with any number of obvious dirty rhymes? Do I just start throwing it into converstations and not explain the cotext and thus enjoy the quizzical stares? Do I register my first sockpuppet? Aaargh! Too much pressure!
posted by Cyrano at 2:02 PM on October 18, 2006


god i love tab - i wish you could get the original formula
posted by vronsky at 2:21 PM on October 18, 2006


Mindsticker just makes me thing of potstickers. And that makes me want to eat potstickers, which is no way to keep my shape in shape. Mindstickers! With peanut sauce.
posted by LeeJay at 2:31 PM on October 18, 2006


Umm... I wasn't being sarcastic at all.
I love stuff like this.

If I may, here are some of my personal favorites...

Easy Off and the anal date

Dessert topping Lunar defense

Remember the names?

Oh Sean, noooo...

Regis? JOEY BISHOP?

Zappy Doodles!

I meant what I said. I loved this post.
I wish more MeFiods would share their idiosincratic clips.

LOVED this post.
posted by squidfartz at 2:46 PM on October 18, 2006


The narrator on the TAB commercial has the same dopey-depressed voice as Gene Wilder... could it... naw...
posted by OverlappingElvis at 3:24 PM on October 18, 2006


squidfarts those are fun! VideoSift has a lot of good (new and old) stuff under their commercial tag.

I personally have a thing for scooter commercials so I'll suggest the Lambrett Twist. Old - but if you haven't seen it it so charming.
posted by dog food sugar at 3:27 PM on October 18, 2006


jimmythefish's Flintstone commercial led me to the first Ronald McDonald ad. Wow.
posted by Coventry at 4:02 PM on October 18, 2006


Good God! That was Willard Scott from the Today show! Wow. I knew he was Ronald as some point, but not the hippieish #1!

Hey, very cool post and follow-ups! I am having the greatest flash-backs right now! Woo Hoo!
posted by snsranch at 4:30 PM on October 18, 2006


I wonder if this was the first time "mindsticker" was used.
posted by bigmusic at 5:19 PM on October 18, 2006


OK, I looked at that Dodge commercial I swear it's John Lithgow as the nerdy guy.

The GLO-COAT shield adsomehow somehow brought me back to when Kennedy was shot, or when I got lost outside the Johnson's Wax pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, but there it is.

Nice all around though and thanks.
posted by nj_subgenius at 5:47 PM on October 18, 2006


At the end of the Lambrett ad, I was really happy that all the people in the commercial got to have their own scooter. They seemed to work so hard for it.

And the Freakies ad made me feel like I was tripping.
posted by Afroblanco at 7:44 PM on October 18, 2006


I wonder if this was the first time "mindsticker" was used.

Your phrasing implies there was a second.
posted by poweredbybeard at 8:56 PM on October 18, 2006


Commercials today are high cinema compared to what they used to be. Old commercials may be funny, kitchy, or otherwise nostalgic, but very few of them were anything approaching "good".

Most commercials today have higher production values than many movies in the 70's.


Indeed. Yesterday's commercials blatantly pandered to our most paranoid, insecure, base and aggressive instincts in transparent attempts to inhere a subconscious connection between saccharine limbic gratification and environmental destruction.

But, dude! Today's commericals simply pander to our most paranoid, insecure, base and aggressive instincts in transparent attempts to inhere a OOOH COLOURS!
posted by poweredbybeard at 9:06 PM on October 18, 2006




And another classic: 1980s Victoria Bitter beer ad.
posted by hot soup girl at 6:49 AM on October 19, 2006


A mind WHATer?
posted by The Deej at 8:13 AM on October 20, 2006


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