To think it all started with a struggling actor (Tanner Novlan, The Bold & The Beautiful) who couldn't remember a simple line.
Seven years later, "Liberty Biberty" has been given life in the form of a fuzzy yellow puppet with a crown on its head.
The puppet debuted earlier this month, and even shared an ad with the struggling actor.
In my day job, I work for a local insurance agency that represents Liberty Mutual, in addition to several other companies. Someone on reddit mentioned that the struggling actor spots, plus the comedy team of Limu Emu & Doug, are meant to annoy viewers. That's not how you generate business, folks.
I can recall when Liberty Mutual sponsored outdoors shows back in the day. I'd just as soon find some of those vintage spots, since the current mascots grate on my nerves. Liberty Mutual figures that their newest mascot might appeal to, well, you know, kids.
The Bobby Vinton Show had ended its 3 year run. "The Polish Prince", whose half hour variety show had been packaged by Chuck Barris & Chris Bearde, and produced in Canada, returned to the US for a hour long primetime special for CBS right before Thanksgiving of 1978.
"Bobby Vinton's Rock 'n' Rollers", though, was packaged by Sid & Marty Krofft, their first sale to CBS since Far Out Space Nuts three years earlier. Having ceded control of ABC's Donny & Marie to the Osmond family, which moved the series to Utah, the Kroffts decided to create a similar show, but with Vinton at the front, with guests Fabian, Penny Marshall (Laverne & Shirley), Erik Estrada (CHiPs), and a reunion of Our Miss Brooks stars Eve Arden & Gale Gordon. The Kroffts were bent on making Estrada into a song & dance man, as he covered Dion's "The Wanderer", two months after he went ham on the premiere of the Krofft Superstar Hour.
Unfortunately, all we have is a network promo, queued by Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), and narrated by Dick Tufeld (ex-Lost in Space, Hollywood Palace).
If Barris, fresh from The Gong Show, had packaged this, he'd have been tempted to bring along Gene Gene The Dancing Machine.
The makers of Lavazza coffee might've been hoping folks would get confused with this next spot.
Last fall, Steve Carell & John Krazinski (ex-The Office) reunited, joined by a robot named Luigi, to do a series of spots for the product, like this one, which is still in heavy rotation.
The confusion? The beard Carell is sporting makes him look like George Clooney. Ya don't believe me? Scope!
Clooney was doing ads for Nespresso from Nestle, and also doing vodka ads.
While I know people sometimes have to get dentures before they reach "retirement age", Polident, in this 1985 ad, shows how some of Hollywood's seniors use the product.
Featuring Martha Raye, Scatman Crothers (ex-Chico & The Man), Henny Youngman, Yvonne DeCarlo (ex-The Munsters), and Danny Thomas, whose last series, I'm a Big Girl Now, was 5 years earlier.
No truth to the rumor that Youngman & his violin had actually recorded any of the background music......
Vice President Just Dumb Vance was interviewed by conservative garbage dispenser Benny Johnson on Saturday, and, well, he stamped his idiot card by claiming aliens are demons.
"I don't think they're aliens. I think they're demons, anyway, but that's a longer discussion.", Vance told Johnson.
According to reports, Vance wants to go to Area 51, but more pressing matters always get in the way. Well, DUH!!
Oh, if only he knew how stupid he really is.
Seems to me that Vance and his boss, President Pampers, have gotten into Dumb Donald II's secret stash, if you know what I mean. The elder Trump claimed last month that he would direct US agencies to start looking into identifying and releasing government files on aliens & extraterrestrials. Oh, please.
Trying to tie any of this to Christian faith is meant to keep the evangelicals snowblind to reality. It's just another distraction, but if Vance is looking for life on other planets, maybe this helps:
And, then, after this aired in 1987, Miller and its ad agency went back to the well, but without Rodney Dangerfield and friends.
We checked with an expert:
"What we have is proof that our government has forgotten what intelligent life really is."
So true, so you know what Vance is getting:
Considering how many the Trump men have, they can spare one for Vance.
In 1972, Nabisco thought they had a snack to rival Bugles, which was a General Mills product.
54 years later, Bugles is still with us. Korkers, Nabisco's corn snack, isn't.
This ad feels like a sketch lifted from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Patti Deutsch & Edward Herrmann are featured. Depending on when this was filmed, Deutsch had either joined Laugh-In or soon would.
This Diet Pepsi ad starts with a young woman jogging. Notice that she wears a shirt promoting a race sponsored by the soft drink similar to the annual Delightful (formerly Freihofer's) Run For Women in the 518. We'll try to look for more information on the Diet Pepsi running campaign.
For years, Ajax laundry detergent's slogan was that the product was "stronger than dirt".
In 1963, Colgate-Palmolive introduced a live-action mascot for Ajax, a white knight on a matching white horse, whose lance represents the cleaning power of the product.
80's icon Nicholas Colasanto, who was mostly a director during the 60's before Cheers made him a folk hero, appears here. Dick Tufeld is the announcer.
It wasn't enough that ABC had expanded General Hospital & One Life to Live to 45 minutes. By the winter of 1978, both joined All My Children in a hour-long format that would remain to the present, even though General is the only one left.
Ernie Anderson narrates this promo.
This was part of an aggressive, across-the-board marketing strategy that had ABC atop the ratings.
Those of us in the 518 who watched the Super Bowl were treated to a pair of local ads
One of the region's top law firms, Harding Mazzotti, joined forces with the Empire State Youth Orchestra for a very clever bit that had Paul Harding directing the band with a gavel instead of a baton
And, then, WNYT, which carried the game, joined with the Menands PD for this bit with meteorologist Paul Caiano.....
The Menands PD was selected since the station's studios are in the village
With next year's game on ABC, WTEN will be challenged to try to top this gem.
I honestly thought the New England Patriots had come all the way back to being an elite team in the AFC. It took the Seattle Seahawks all of a quarter to prove, nope, not yet.
2nd year QB Drake Maye continued his postseason hibernation until the 4th quarter when he tried to bring New England back, but the Seattle defense had his number. 3 turnovers, including a fatal pick 6 in the 4th quarter. 7 sacks. No, these Patriots looked like the deer-in-the-headlights Pats who were blown out 40 years ago by Chicago. Maybe the motivation in the 4th quarter for New England didn't come from coach Mike Vrabel, but, rather, rookie receiver Kyle Williams, who helped security take down a thrill seeking fan......
When will morons like this one ever learn?
Maye threw the first of his two TD's two plays later, to Mack Hollins. After Rahondre Stevenson's touchdown, the Pats failed with an onside kick, and that was pretty much it. Seattle won its 2nd Super Bowl, 29-13. Running back Kenneth Walker III was named MVP.
For New England, there's always next year.
Reports estimate that Bad Bunny's halftime show, with special surprise guests Ricky Martin and Lady GaGa, drew anywhere between 125-135 million viewers. Compare that to Turning Point USA's alternative show, headlined by has-been rap-rocker Kid Rock, which got more than 4 million views on Turning Point's YouTube channel. Chump change by comparison. President Pampers (Donald Trump) rage watched, and whined about Bad Bunny, and couldn't be bothered to watch the TPUSA show.
And, then, there were the commercials, of course.
Kellogg's called on ageless wonder William Shatner, now past 90, to plug Raisin Bran.
Kellogg's, remember, acquired Pringles from Procter & Gamble a few years back, and signed singer Sabrina Carpenter to do a pretty funny bit with some CGI bringing to life a sentient can of the chips in human form.
Ben Affleck likely produced & directed another star-laden spot for Dunkin', joined this time by Jaleel White (Flip Side, ex-Family Matters), Jason Alexander (ex-Seinfeld), Alfonso Ribiero (America's Funniest Home Videos, ex-Silver Spoons, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Ted Danson, looking like he did in his Cheers days, likely via AI or CGI, Tom Brady (showing again he can't act), Matt Damon, and reunited Friends Jennifer Aniston & Matt LeBlanc. Apparently, LeBlanc also went to the hair dye. Jasmine Guy (ex-A Different World) rounded out the ensemble...
Kurt Russell shilling for Michelob Light, along with past Olympians Chloe Kim and TJ Oshie.
Lay's signed up Bowen Yang, Scarlett Johanssen, & Jon Hamm.
State Farm gained a license to parody Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer", with Danny McBride & Keegan-Michael Key, and a cameo from Jon Bon Jovi.
Everyone has their favorites, of course.
The lesson that conservatives need to learn, yet again, is that Bad Bunny, being from Puerto Rico, is an American citizen, and that their racism is misplaced intentionally. The idiocy of the MAGA crowd is just ridiculous.
Here's an in-show ad from season 1 of Gomer Pyle, USMC:
Gomer (Jim Nabors) gets a package in the mail from Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith, who appears near the end of the ad), which gets the attention of Duke Slater (Ronnie Schell)........
Post, at the time a unit of General Foods, was one of the sponsors of both The Andy Griffith Show & Gomer Pyle, among a fair number of primetime shows across the networks. Too bad Gomer never met Linus The Lionhearted, whose Saturday morning show bowed the same season......
Procter & Gamble doesn't make Prell shampoo anymore---it was sold off to a smaller company---but in the 70's, they used a gimmick where the ads would end with a pearl being dropped into a bottle of the product.
One such example is this item from approximately 1973 with a pre-Mork & Mindy Pam Dawber.
4 1/2 years ago, Jacob Chansley, aka the "Q-Anon Shaman", gained infamy by being part of the January 6 riot on the Capitol.
Today, Chansley, who did his time in prison, has completely gone cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
Chansley filed a lawsuit naming president Trump, Elon Musk, T-Mobile, WB, and a number of other "defendants" for a staggering $40 trillion.
SAY WHAT?
Chansley is claiming a bogus conspiracy is afoot involving the above, and claims he is the rightful president.
IN YOUR DREAMS, FELLA!
Chansley believes that America should be governed by the Bill of Rights & the Constitution, nothing else. Apparently, Trump making a mockery of the Constitution was a bridge too far for Chansley, who has rescinded his support for the World's Oldest Rugrat.
I have little doubt that this lawsuit, like a lot of Trump's, won't go anywhere. Chansley is acting as his own lawyer, but we have to wonder if he actually knows what he's gotten himself into, other than a desperate attempt to keep himself relevant, instead of fading into the woodwork.
To illustrate how bizarre this is, maybe this PSA from the 80's might help....
The biggest quack in Washington isn't even a doctor, but he thinks he's one.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the black sheep of the famous family, is a vaccine skeptic, who's also claimed to have had brain worms, swam in polluted water, and other dubious "accomplishments". The man ain't all there.
But, there he was, earlier this week in Washington, as he & Dr. Mehmet Oz flanked president Trump, who falsely claimed that pregnant women shouldn't be taking acetaminophen, or, to use the brand most associated with the drug, Tylenol, because these dimwits allege it is a cause, unproven, of course, of autism.
Yeah, right, and pigs will fly.
Tylenol's been around for 70 years, and, up until now, there's only been one controversy, and that was back in 1982, when some crackpot tampered with some tablets, leading to people dying from the tainted drug, laced, reportedly, with cyanide. The nut was never caught, but preventive measures were taken to ensure this would never happen again.
To illustrate what Tylenol actually does, we present this mid-80's commercial with actress Susan Sullivan.
Once again, the Trump administration proves that the dimmest bulbs in the country are in Washington.
Toyota's Bundera LandCruiser was released sometime in the 80's as part of its J70 line of LandCruisers. Former WWE world & tag team champion Iron Sheik appears in this 15 second spot, with narration by Gene Okerlund.
Gotta figure this was something the Sheik did in his spare time before returning to WWE in 1991 as Colonel Mustafa.
Former child star Jane Withers came out of retirement to appear in "Giant" with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. 8 years later, Withers created an advertising icon as Josephine the Plumber, shilling for Comet cleanser, at the time a product of Procter & Gamble.
Withers essayed the role of Josephine for 11 years (1963-74) before retiring the character to attend to her mother and her failing health. In this 1973 clip, Jane is joined by Hattie Winston (The Electric Company).
P & G sold Comet a few years later, as they began downsizing their lineup of household products.
