Rating Commercials

[Mom70x7]

I like the commercial for a cell phone company . . .

Dad says, "There are 5 of us, we each get 5 favorites - that's 26 people we can call."

The kids, sitting around, correct the dad: 5x5=25. He says they forgot to carry the 9.

Mom says, "Kids, stay in school."

[Wilma]

I like that one, too.  Took me a little to realize what he had said.  You know, you hear what you expect to hear.

[W. Gray]

I watched a History Channel program on On Demand (no commercials) the other night and it was forty-four minutes long.

That would be sixteen minutes of commercials on regular programming.

As I recall in the 1950s, a thirty minute program was twenty-six minutes long.

That means commercials have doubled for an hour program since then. I suspect there are some programs with more commercial time.

Back then, commercials were one minute in length, many times live, and there was only one product featured in each commercial.

Many times, there was only one sponsor for a program and that sponsor had all the commercial time to itself.

I am wondering if anyone remembers the Westinghouse refrigerator commercials in which Betty Furness was the spokeswoman and did all her commercials live?

One evening, she could not get the refrigerator door open even after several tries. She was visibly flustered but good at her work and never stopped talking about how good a Westinghouse was as she repeatedly tried opening the door.

The program director ordered a zoomed facial close up and she kept yakking. But, you could see the shadows of a stage hand moving around her.

The stage hand got the refrigerator door open, the camera went back to normal, and without skipping a beat she kept right on talking and showing the refrigerator features as though nothing happened.

I recall, about this time, a number of Howard citizens were erecting tall towers with television antennas on the top in order to get a television station signal from Oklahoma and Wichita.

My grandmother's tower was perhaps a story or two higher than their home. It had a short iron pipe sticking out on it at about waist level. The pipe was somehow attached to the antenna through the framework of the tower. When they turned to a different channel on the TV set, they had to run outside, grab the pipe and use it to turn the antenna in the direction of the signal.

[patyrn]

We had a rotor box that sat on top of the TV.  When we set it to a certain direction, it would make the antenna outside move to try to get a signal. Wichita and Tulsa, Oklahoma stations were our best bets.  During stormy weather, reception was usually less than perfect with alot of "snow" on the screen.  We've come a long way in the world of technology, but in the 50s and 60s this was quite a step up in the world of communications.

[Roma Jean Turner]

I loved the one that aired this summer for I believe Frontline or Advantage where the little pup sings
"There ain't no bugs on me,
There ain't no bugs on me,
  There may be bugs on some of you mugs,
But there ain't no bugs on me."

I loved to sing it to my dogs and watch them cock their heads.

[flo]

Roma, I'm with you and Teresa.  Both of those commercials are favorites.  Least favorite is probably that whining caveman and those that after they are done you are still trying to figure out what they were trying to sell.

[Jo McDonald]

ONE OF OUR RANGERS' WILL SING:


THERE AIN'T NO TICKS ON ME
THERE AIN'T NO TICKS ON ME
THERE MAY BE TICKS ON ALL YOU CHICKS
BUT THERE AIN'T NO TICKS ON ME

Would you guess that maybe he likes the pup commercial, also?

[dandymomma]

I like the McDonalds commercial where it shows a young guy looking in the mirror and he's missing an eyebrow and his buddy hands him a McD's bag and says "sorry". Then it shows another guy with a strip of hair missing, and his buddy hands him a bag and says sorry too. The final clip is the buddy saran wrapped to a dining room chair and a bag is in front of him with "sorry" printed on it.

That one just cracks me up.

[jensarlou]

How about radio commercials?  Of course my fav. is the for the Starlight drive-in.  Come on sing with me!!!  The Starlight Drive-in gives you more call 524-2424.  That is one that will probably stick with me forever kind of like the old Alka-Seltzer commercials.

[Wilma]

Gross:  Domino's Oreo Dessert Pizza