ANOTHER ASIDE - MY MEMORIES OF TELEVISION COMMERCIALS IN THE 1970s AND 1980s

ACE (HARDWARE STORE)

In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the most popular hardware store of all, competing with another hardware store brand called True-Value Hardware Stores. The most important thing I remember in

the Ace thing was the focus on red in their logo. In the early commercials, there was a focus on the “hardware man”, mainly because most people who are interested in hardware items were men, but then, about 2000, to prevent racial discrimination in the workplace, the commercial changed the phrase from “hardware man” to “hardware folks” in that decade of increased awareness in following political correctness.

BATTLESHIP

The famous phrase, “you sunk my battleship!”, was the common catch phrase I learned from a board game called “Battleship” when I played with Stan.

CONNECT FOUR

Of course, I can remember this Milton-Bradley classic board game, a game which is a cross between checkers, tic-tac-toe, and quincunx. The object of the game was to get four chips in a row of the same colors across, vertically, or diagonally.

IF YOU GOT THE TIME, YOU’VE GOT THE BEER (MILLER BEER)

Well, at that time, I was 2 years old, and it was a spinoff of that commercial in 1977 that I understood when my father loved to drink beer, but I was too young to drink at that time. It was used especially during the 1972 World Series…even though I never had any recollection of it at age 2 until I saw this

commercial on Youtube in 2013.

MEMOREX – THE ELLA FITZGERALD PHENOMENON AND THE SHATTERING GLASS

Scotch had its recording tape in a commercial that featured soul singer, Ray Charles, but Ella Fitzgerald’s wine-glass-breaking feat in the Memorex tape commercial was very memorable. I did not think at first that a wine glass can be broken without being dropped.

MIKEY AND “LIFE”

Well, I felt like a child with that commercial, but I had my eyes on Kellogg’s Corn Flakes instead.

REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE—ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE

Well, this jingle I heard a lot in the 1980s in the Illinois Bell Telephone TV commercials reminded me of the Diana Ross song, “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand”,  but this song was much different than

Diana’s. It was more of a 4/4 rock song than a ¾ pop waltz feel like the former song.

SEVEN-UP AND THE “UNCOLA”

Coming out of the 1970’s bubbles, the bubbles treated 7-Up like champagne. I believe at that point that the “Uncola” was because Coca-Cola was always caramel brown when you pour it into your

favorite cup or mug.

SIMON

The four big buttons of blue, yellow, red, and green, would eventually become the Microsoft logo in the 1990s, but in the 1980s, this challenging mind game had the famous “wrong” buzzer, which reminded me of something out of a cheesy pinball game.

THE LOOP – FM 98

The commercial for that Chicago radio station known as WLUP was popular leading up to Disco Demolition Night of July 12, 1979. The commercial focused about a station that had less talk with no commercials. What I remembered was that the commercial’s visual concept focused on something

like art noir (black and white) to pay homage to some of the heavy metal rockers who focused on the colors black and white in some of their outfits. And there was Lorelei – the Loop Lady – I did not know

what she intended to do in that commercial. But wow…..that’s all I know.

VENTURE

This logo was only black and white lines, slanted. It was supposed to be a big retail store that would precede today’s Walmart.  My father used to go to such a store at 87^th and State St. just near the Dan Ryan Expressway.

VIRGINIA SLIMS

From my autism, I perceived the word “Virginia” as a lovely lady, and “slims” as the word “slams”, wanted me to make the gesture of folding my arms so that my hands are at the sides. I learned too late that it came from a 1971 television commercial for a cigarette brand called Virginia Slims, before

new laws banned cigarette smoking advertisements on TV and radio around the middle of 1971.

WHITE SOX PROMO – NA NA HEY HEY GOOD-BYE

In 1979, what I remember was very scary at the end of the commercial; the scariest thing was seeing the exploding scoreboard doing its explosive stuff and lighting up like a pinball machine gone crazy, as the

voice-over says “The Chicago White Sox…it’s more than a ballgame—come play with us!”

    The first part of the commercial, of  course, featured the iconic rock song used by the White Sox organization in the 1970s when homers were hit, when the starting pitcher of the opposing team leaves the mound, and when the Sox get a victory—of course, “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” by Steam. It was a bit nice that Steam borrowed Jack Brickhouse’s home run call that ended with him saying “Hey Hey” and not end up being sued for this quotation. I didn’t care about the intercutting camera technique that shows shots of White Sox fans in different areas of the ballpark—and away from the ballpark—singing Steam’s well-known song. But the scoreboard I saw---even on TV---really made my heart race, and Isaid to myself “I will never go to another White Sox game.”