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| I'm here to make the world white! |
Well, I can't speak about most of them because I have no idea what machinations twist and turn in corporate marketing departments. But Mr. Clean? Yeah, I've got his number.
A bald, tshirt-clad white guy? Nazi. There, I said it. The other "N" word. Or a white supremacist. Or a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. It doesn't really matter, does it? I guess in 1957, no one had a problem with skinheads cleaning their house. But in today's continued politically-correct climate, a Nazi spokesperson is simply unacceptable. So I understand why he's not on TV so much anymore.
Come to think of it, didn't the Jolly Green Giant hang out with a little boy named Sprout? A grown – and we're talking grown – man hanging out with a kid. Freshly canned and frozen food for thought...
So. Are there any other advertising miscreants that give you pause? (For example, they probably wouldn't let Mr. Whipple squeeze the Charmin ever-so-creepily on TV anymore either. Now we get to watch bears wipe their furry little bear-butts.)
....I grew up with that advertisement, mr, clean, actually, and I am so surprised by the association: I can understand it of course, never thought of it that way...
ReplyDeleteMe either @sorei. I guess he kinda looks like it, but I like Mr. Clean. He always seemed cool to me. :)
DeleteI was always more frustrated with the fact that back then it was always the women that had to clean up obviously ;)
Delete@sorei: Yes! I don't know whether it was the same in Germany, but here, housewives always cleaned the house in a dress, heels and pearls. And they always had dinner ready and a drink waiting when hubby came home. Thank goodness times have changed!
DeleteYes, thank goodness times have changed! Now I expect Steven to have the house cleaned, dinner ready, and drink ready for me. ;-) Not really.
DeleteSadly, there are still stereotypical things out there. For example, Steven and I were looking at trashcans online and a sidebar said it would be a good "gift for her." Um, OK. Sexist much?
@Steven & Christy
Deleteyes it was the same here in germany (or is, somehow, times have changed and haven't)
I always wondered why a man could know more about cleaning - if thy never do - than a woman, who obviously has to do it.
@Christy: a trashcan? Could it be it is a gift for her to put non-cleaning partners into? ;)
LOL! I like that sorei! :-)
DeleteLMAO about the trash can thing @sorei! Funny! :)
DeleteMr. Clean looks more militant, middle-aged gay, with his toned, spray-tanned bod, tight tee, earring and chrome dome who lives in South Beach. Speaking of white vs. brown, have you noticed that white foods are bad for you? White sugar, white flour, white potatoes. They're now the culprit of America's obesity epidemic. So you can relax my brown brutha-white is no longer the clean we need to strive for. Also Mr. Whipple was so NOT creepy-I totally preferred his doofus fetish for something to squeeze cuz he ain't gettn it back home over the bear butt ad that grosses me out.
ReplyDeleteLMAO @Fun E! I think you're right about Mr. Clean. Wait a minute. Let me go through a family photo album. I think he dated my uncle!
DeleteLOL! Too funny @Shay!
DeleteLMAO @Fun E!
DeleteI agree about Mr. Clean @Fun E. What we don't see is the Speedo he's wearing.
DeleteI'm glad I can't see the Speedo!
Delete@Fun E: LMFAO! Well said! :D You're right about white foods. And black foods are probably...um... Are there any black foods? LOL! Mr. Whipple did get jacked if the replacement they could find for him was a couple of animated bears doing...that. ;-p
Delete@Shay: Sounds like you have an interesting family! LOL! (Nice to see you again, girl!)
@Michelle: Or his other piercings. Or tats!
You don't know the half of it about my family @Steven. Interesting doesn't cut it. They're very unique, but I love them all. :)
Delete@Shay: Hey, interesting is good. Interesting is our friend. Interesting is the mortal foe and ultimate victor over Dull.
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ReplyDeleteWondering what you deleted. LOL!
DeleteLOL! I just split up my comment and reposted. It wouldn't let me just edit it.
DeleteYou deleted one in @Christy's blog butt didn't put anything else back in. How come?
Delete@Tammy I didn't have time to put another comment on and I had my reasons for deleting it. Hope that makes sense. :)
DeleteOK. It makes sense. :)
DeleteI hate the Burger King King. I keep waiting for him to show up in my nightmares. He's your classic stalker/serial killer.
ReplyDeleteThe one that I think is shady is Ronald McDonald. Yep. Need to watch out for that guy. He dresses like a clown and hangs out at a fast food joint in order to surround himself with little kids. Something's wrong there.
I just noticed I can reply to what somebody posted! Cool! Thanks @Steven!
DeleteYeah @Kirani Cole, something's up with Ronald. I remember commercials where he was encouraging kids to follow him. Where exactly were they going? Huh?
Even on Wikipedia Ronald McDonald is creepy.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McDonald
@All: I didn't actually do anything to the comments. I think Blogger decided to "improve" the comment functionality. It's pretty cool except that the comments are kinda small.
DeleteRonald McDonald. Yeesh. As if clowns aren't creepy enough already! The giant Kool-Aid...thing breaking thru walls chasing kids always scared me a little as a kid. Come to think of it, he (he?) still scares me a little...
Oh yeah! The King and Ronald are both creepy.
DeleteLMAO! I never thought about the giant Kool-Aid guy scaring kids! I'm still laughing about that one @Steven! What was up with breaking through walls and chasing kids? How'd that make us want to drink Kool-Aid? "You'll drink it or else!"
@Sarah: And it just occurred to me – our alternative, as kids, to the marauding Kool-Aid giant was getting hit by the Hawaiian Punch guy/thing. "How'd you like a nice Hawaiian punch?" Um, not really.
DeleteBring Mr. Whipple back because the bears are just gross. And if you remember, Mr. Whipple was on "don't squeeze the Charmin" patrol. Of course as soon as the women who were squeezing it left he squeezed it too, but he was wasn't creepy.
ReplyDeleteI think the creepiest ever is Burger King's King. He's a 10 on the creepy scale. All he has to do is stand there and the creep factor kicks in, but he takes it to another level. He stalks people by standing outside their bedroom windows, then he shows up in bed with them! Ack! Next they'll show him standing over them with an ax in one hand and a BK Broiler in the other.
The King is definitely an ax murderer. I'm afraid of him!
DeleteThe Burger King king reminds of that Duracell family about, I don't know, 15 years ago? Does anybody remember them? They were kind of plasticky and almost-human, but not quite. I think that's why King bugs me. His face...doesn't...move. He just grins all the time regardless of the creepy mayhem he's engaged in. I still like Whoppers, but I don't want to eat with him. Ever.
DeleteNever saw the Duracell family. I'll have to look them up.
DeleteLMAO about the King! It is creepy that his face doesn't move! I'm afraid he'd try to eat me instead of the burgers.
Now @Steven, you need to make it so we can edit our comments and not have to totally delete them to make a change. :-) One thing though. The font is really small now. Can you make it bigger? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt's really small on my screen too. Needs to be much bigger. But I like the reply thing! Nice add!
DeleteIt's small here too. Needs to be at least a point size bigger or more.
DeleteI need to wait for my Tech Person (Christy) to come online so she can help me figure out whether I have any control over editing or font size. It looks like I can edit my own comments (there's a little pencil-like icon next to my name) but I don't know if anyone else can edit. Hopefully, this is something Blogger is working on and will refine in time.
DeleteYay for @Steven's tech person, @Christy! It looks like you guys fixed it and made the font bigger. I can read it now. Much better. Thanks!
DeleteI still can't edit my comments, but maybe you can't do anything about that.
@Shay: Yeah, I was stymied til Christy and I got together and she helped me 'fix' things. (She's much more technically adept when it comes to this shi--, er stuff. *lol*)
DeleteI don't think editing comments is possible like it is on G+. I thought I'd be able to because of that little gray circle with the pencil in it next to my name, but I think that just means I'm the head blogger dude.
You and @Christy are cute! I like your new stuff on here.
DeleteThanks for fixing it @Steven and @Christy! It's much better now.
DeleteI'd like to see some of the funny ones come back. If they brought back old commercials I'd actually stop fast forwarding and watch them.
ReplyDeleteThey can get rid of the Progressive lady. She's so annoying! I'll never buy insurance from them because of her.
You don't like Flo? Me either. She's annoying. :)
DeleteDown with Flo!
DeleteI wonder if the actress playing Flo (a comedienne from the LA comedy troupe "The Groundlings") knows how universally reviled she is? I mean, does anybody watch those commercials and think, "Gosh! That's funny!" I don't think so. And I wouldn't wanna be on the road with anyone who thinks so."Let's crash! Maybe we'll meet Flo!" Brrr...
DeleteAre hubby and I the only ones who think there was probably something going on with Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Bean, Rastus the Cook from Cream of Wheat, and maybe Colonel Sanders from KFC (he may be from Kentucky, but we think he's got it going on with those 11 herbs and spices)? Come on. Admit it. You've thought of it too. :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the original commercials for Bounty paper towels. The ones with Nancy Walker as Rosie the waitress. I think that would be awesome. I'd watch them.
And what about Chester Cheetah. Mr. "It ain't easy being cheesy." Is he still around spreading sleaze? Hubby and I kind of liked him.
LMAO! Of course they all had one big rotating love thing going on, and yeah the Colonel was involved. He was a spicy dude.
DeleteLOL! Chester Cheetah always kind of creeped me out.
I didn't know the Cream of Wheat dude had a name. Cool! I think Chef Boyardee was probably involved too. He's Italian after all. He could totally handle Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth. And then there's Betty Crocker. She may have looked kind of stuffy, but I'll bet she was sneaking off with the Colonel and Uncle Bean on different days.
Delete@Michelle: I'm with @Denise - I had no idea the Cream of Wheat dude had a name! (Christy and I call Cream of Wheat 'COW' because it's quicker to text. Why did I just tell you this? No idea.)
DeleteColonel Sanders probably owned Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima and Rastus! LOL!
Don't even get me started on Chester. I had to work with him once at Frito-Lay. Gawd. And now I might be working with "Charlie Cheetah", his cousin by marriage. I'm beginning to hate cheetahs.
COW! LMAO! I'll have a bowl of COW please. LOL! That just sounds so funny. But it's really cute.
DeleteLMAO about Colonel Sanders owning UB, AJ, and Rastus! Doesn't mean he didn't have something going on with AJ. :)
You worked with Chester the sleazy cheetah? Cool! It ain't easy being sleazy, I mean cheesy! :)
@Shay: Christy and I were joking last night about The Colonel - "Yo woman! Get me some pancakes and COW, now!" (There's a how-now-brown-cow joke in there somewhere...)
DeleteI'm in advertising and design, and I worked at Frito-Lay, home of Chester. And no, it wasn't easy being sleaz--er, chee--er...I wasn't easy. lol!
It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!
ReplyDeleteBring her back. Oh wait. I think she's dead. And I'm not sure they even make Chiffon margarine anymore. Oh well. I always liked those commercials. They cracked me up when I was a kid.
LOL! Mother Nature kinda scared me too. She and Clara Peller ("Where's the beef?") are probably hanging out in Advertising Heaven with Nancy Walker, Mr. Whipple and the Maytag Repairman.
DeleteThat Where's the Beef lady always scared me too! Ack! Her voice!
DeleteI like the Mother Nature lady and Chiffon Magerine too! LOL! I remember seeing those commercials when I watched my soaps.
DeleteI can't you remembered that Mother Nature was for Chiffon! I didn't even remember it was for margarine, let alone the brand! LOL! She still scares me. Like she's the head of a wiccan or something. Brrr... LOL!
Delete@Tammy: That was actually supposed to say, "I can't believe you remembered...". Proofreading. Sigh. ;-)
DeleteI just wanted to say Welcome to @Kirani Cole and @Fun E! (Follow me, Ev!)
ReplyDeletePoor Mr. Clean. He's been judged by his looks. Shame. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI miss the old ads. Maybe I'm just longing for some of my youth. I'd love to see em again.
The old ads are fun to see now. I like to go to YouTube and watch them sometimes @Don.
DeleteI got caught up on YouTube crack last night. (I call YouTube 'crack' because it's addictive. You watch one vid and then they show thumbs of half a dozen more. Crack.) I think I'd stop fast-forwarding past so many ads if they ran some of the old ones from back in the day. Can you imagine if you were watching a show and an old, black and white ad for something came on? All grainy and fuzzy? You'd totally stop and watch it! Madge "Your hands are soaking it" from Palmolive? Those old Lite beer commercials with the retired athletes? Yeah, you're right @Don, I'd be all over that!
DeleteYouTube is crack!
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ReplyDeleteI couldn't stand the Where's the Beef lady. I always thought she was really rude.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about anyone else, but I always felt sorry for the Trix rabbit. The poor rabbit never got to eat any cereal. The greedy kids would never practice their good manners and share with the rabbit. lol It did however, make me want to buy the cereal just in case the rabbit happened to come to my house I'd share with him, so I guess it did it's job LOL Poor rabbit.
I also agree about Mr. Clean. I never thought of him as creepy or a Nazi. I always thought he was gay LOL (a man promoting cleaning? come on...totally gay!! What man actually LIKES cleaning???)
Thanks, Steven, for taking me down memory lane! :)
(sorry about comment above from Quazimal. I didn't realize my computer was signed in under my husband's account!! lol)
I always felt sorry for the Trix rabbit too. The kids were so rude..."Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids!" Sigh. I would have shared with him.
Delete@Brenda: OMG! I totally felt for the rabbit! He never got a single mouthful of fruity Trix. I always felt for Shaggy on Scooby Doo, too. He and Scooby would make these massive sub sandwiches and just...as...he...was...about to...take...a...bite...something would happen and he wouldn't get to! And you just know a toker like Shaggy always had the munchies. (Nice to see you, B. ;-))
Delete@Brenda: One more thing. The "Where's the beef?" lady was old. Very old. Old people say things. That's just what they do. lol!
DeleteOkay, not to get off on too much of a tangent here, but... Apparently there's some debate about Mrs. Butterworth. I say she's white and I never had any doubt about it. But Christy thought she was black. And a lot of people on the web thought/think so too.
ReplyDeleteWhat say you? ;-)
LOL! I can't believe you outed me about Mrs. Butterworth. ;-)
DeleteI thoguht she was black.
Delete@Tammy: Her skin and her guts (bottle and syrup) are brown, but she's a white chick! LOL!
DeleteOK. Esplaina to me why brown outside and brown inside = white chick. I don't get it. ;-)
DeleteYeah! I always thought she was black too. @Christy is right. If she's white, how come everything is brown? LOL!
DeleteLMAO at the way @Christy wrote it! :)
LMAO! Ain't no way that chick is white! She's a sista! Face it. ;)
Delete@Christy: I tried and tried, but I couldn't come up with a good esplaination about why Mrs. B. is brown on brown and yet still white. But she is!!! I stick-a to my guns!
Delete@Denise and @Shay: I got it: She's tan. That's her secret. And besides, competing black syrups? In the 50s and 60s? Aunt Jemima vs. Mrs. Butterworth Smackdown? Puh-leeze! (Although, if Mrs. B. was black, at least Uncle Ben and the Cream of Wheat brotha wouldn't have to keep fighting over Aunt Jemima.)
LMAO! She's not white! She can't be white! You're wrong @Steven! LOL!
DeleteAlthough I guess she could be mixed. If she wants to deny her brown heritage, then that's her business, but what a shame. ;)
Give us proof @Steven! LOL! :)
Delete@Sarah: Back in the day, they used to say black people that let others think they were white were "passing". Like Lena Horne. She "passed" for white because it allowed her to perform in white clubs and stuff. So Mrs. B. is definitely passing! LOL!
Delete@Tammy: Okay, how 'bout this: in the commercials, her voice was an actress named Mary Kay Bergman (thank you Wikipedia!). She was Jewish! So unless she pulled a Sammy Davis, Jr., Mrs. B. wasn't just white, she was Jewish! LOL! (Or at least, she passed for Jewish. *lol*)
That's it. That's all the proof I got. ;-p
One of our family favorites was always finicky Morris the Cat. I loved watching him turn his nose up at everything except 9 Lives. Any cat that was picky about his food was a cat after my own heart because I was rather picky about food too.
ReplyDeleteI hated the nagging Meow Mix cats. OMG! Really? I decided if I ever had a cat that meowed that song for food, I'd have to find it another home. Or maybe sell it because it could meow a song.
I miss Joe (He's lying) Isuzu. Confession time. He may have been lying in every commercial, but I had a crush on him. Wait a minute. My ex-husband lied a lot. Hmmm...
And then there's Madge and Palmolive. I grew up thinking I'd go get a manicure someday and the lady would soak my hand in Palmolive. Seriously. Fortunately by the time I went for my first manicure, I knew household cleaning products weren't part of the package.
The Ty-D-Bol Man always freaked me out. I was afraid to look inside toilets because I just knew that creepy guy was in there floating in his boat. For a while, I didn't want to go in the middle of the night because I just knew he'd say something in the dark. Scary!
Then there's good old Charlie the Tuna. Oh Starkist, why wasn't he good enough? I loved those commercials, and recently saw a new one where they feature a collage of the old ones before thanking Charlie. True story - when I was a kid we had a dog named Charlie. One day we couldn't find him and searched everywhere. When we finally located him, it was near some fishing gear. Somehow he had been hooked in his lip. Charlie was finally caught! Just not Charlie the Tuna.
I could go on, but I don't think Blogger will let me. Great topic, baby! ♥
@Christy: You had a dog get a fish hook stuck in his lip? Awwww! Poor fella! :-( But LOL! at Charlie finally getting nabbed. Course...if Charlie ever did get caught, he'd be done. Eaten. I always thought it was a little twisted to see happy turkeys at Thanksgiving. "Eat me! Eat me! Let me make your holiday special!" Fish and fowl with a death wish.
DeleteI totally forgot about the Ty-D-Bol man! I always thought he looked so sharp in his smart blazer, turtleneck and nautical cap. It never really occurred to me how strange it was to have a man in a dinghy in my toilet tank. The anxiety over getting accidentally flushed must have been tremendous.
LOL! Joe Isuzu! That was funny. :)
DeleteI hated those Meow Mix cats too. I'd run through the house yelling make it stop with my hands over my ears.
Your poor little dog! But it is funny. :)
We had a cat that looked just like Morris! I loved those commercials! He was my favorite on the commercials. :)
DeleteThat Ty-D-Bol guy was kinda creepy! But yeah he did look sharp in his little new money yaughting outfit. Too funny!
And don't feel bad @Christy. I had a crush on Joe Isuzu too. Wait a minute. I fell for a guy who lies too. Maybe you're on to something. ;)
"...new money yachting outfit." LMFAO!!! That was really good, Sarah. And wouldn't it be nice if all the people that lied to us had a caption running across their chest saying, "He's/She's lying"? LOL! Life would be so much easier.
DeleteAnybody but me remember Josephine the plumber? She sold Comet cleaner and I liked her alot!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Dippity Do? I just liked saying it so I used to buy it and use but I like the commercials too.
@Tammy: Josephine? She doesn't even sound vaguely familiar! (I thought I remembered her for a second, but I was thinking of Rosie the Riveter. lol!)
DeleteWas Dippity Do "A little dab'll do ya"?
I think I remember Josephine, but I didn't remember she sold Comet. I sort of remember Dippity-Do too. Good memory, @Tammy! :-)
DeleteLOL! Rosie and Josephine aren't the same person @STeven! LOL! @Christy thanks! I guess you and me are the only ones who remember Josephine and Dippity Do.
DeleteLMAO! Great post @Steven! You know who was always iffy? Tony the Tiger. "They're Grrrrreat!" Why's he so up on Frosted Flakes? What's really frosting those flakes? Tigers are supposed to like meat, not cereal. It makes me wonder.
ReplyDeleteLMAO! I never thought about a carnivorous tiger on a sugar high! I guess that's along the lines of rabbits and toucans eating fruit-flavored cereal.
DeleteI also kinda wonder if Snap, Crackle and Pop know the Keebler elves...