My First Sony

Debuting in 1988, the My First Sony was a line of electronics designed specifically for children. The line also had a heck of a hooky jingle for their commercials.

Included in the in the line were a Walkman, microphone with tape deck, recording tape deck, Boom box, alarm clock, electronic sketch pad, and headset walkie talkies. All of these products were bulky and primarily bright red with yellow & blue. Later editions were primarily red with gray being the secondary color.

Stuff like this made for a great Christmas present and I believe it was either myself or my sister that own the tape deck.

1987 CBS Promo for Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales & Santabear’s High-Flying Adventure

This is CBS promo from 1987 for the beloved Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales and Santabear’s High-Flying Adventure (which was premiering that year).

I can’t recall ever hearing of Santabear but after a quick look at it on YouTube, that’s probably for good reason because it’s very offbeat and has lots of awkward silence. There’s not much in the way of background music. But, when you’ve cast John Malkovich as your Santa Claus, you’re probably going for offbeat & awkward in the first place. I mean, seriously, why was this guy at one point considered a great actor? He’s awful and/or hammy in every performance I’ve ever seen.

Still, had my dad deemed it worthy of being recorded, I have to admit I probably would have grown up loving it. I’m not sure if it’s ever seen a video release or aired any time after 1987.

Oh, and yes, there were be a review of Looney Christmas Tales coming later this month so that’s why I’m not saying much about it.

A Holiday Slice Commercial (1986)

Man, I just finished eating some super salty country ham so I’d kill for an ice cold can of Slice right now.

Until I came across this commercial the other week, I had forgotten all about Slice. Originally, it was Pepsi’s answer to Sprite and 7Up in the 1980s. There’s a disclaimer in the commercial saying Slice is not available in all areas but I never had any problem finding it when I was growing up in Virginia.

Other flavors would eventually arrive such as fruit punch, grape, orange, strawberry and pineapple essentially making making the whole Slice line of soft drinks Pepsi’s answer to Fanta. In 2000, Pepsi replaced lemon-lime Slice with Sierra Mist but in recent years started selling some of the other flavors of Slice exclusively at Wal-Mart (though I don’t recall ever seeing any).

And hey, 10% real juice? Can’t go wrong with that.

Jack Benny & Texaco Fire Chief Gasoline

Wow, you just don’t see any gasoline commercials anymore (I’d just love to see them try to toot their own horn in this day & age of insane gas prices). Certainly we haven’t seen any commercials featuring a name star with an amusing plot line in quite some time. The last (and only, really) fuel commercials I remember when I was growing up are the ones that boasted about how clean and environmentally friendly (?!?) their gasoline is.

These early 1960s commercials, especially the first one, are pretty funny if you’re aware of the cheapskate character Jack Benny has portrayed as “himself” since the 1930s through radio and into television.

Side note: Jack was against doing commercials like these and didn’t want to become a pitchman for products. He didn’t want to belittle himself and be seen as a huckster. It was during this time as his career in entertainment was starting to slow down a bit that his business manager convinced him it was a good financial opportunity though and so he went along with it. Even if he may not have enjoyed the job, I think he did a great job.

It’s a Kentucky Fried Christmas!

Not sure exactly when this commercial came out but I’m guessing mid ’80s. I actually remember this commercial and it’s a testament to the power of marketing because this holiday commercial gives me warm feelings about a fast food joint I’ve never really been much of a fan of (chicken off the bone is slimy & disgusting).

Even if you are as greedy as Scrooge is would you really be that much of a glutton too?