Commercial Jingles of the 80s and 90s: A Xennial Revisit

Does your favorite commercial jingle singer sound just like a cat? 

Do you find cinnamon gum romantic?

If you've ever attempted fast-talking about little model cars, you might be a Xennial. And we are too. 

Dani and Katie take a deep dive into the iconic commercials from our Xennial childhoods, exploring the catchy jingles, memorable catchphrases, and advertising campaigns that became cultural phenomena. 

This episode was made possible by the following sources:

Wendys.com (Where's the Beef? lore)

Remind Magazine (Where's the Beef?)

Meow Mix About

CBC Radio (Meow Mix and the CIA)

Wikipedia (Grey Poupon)

Vox.com (Grey Poupon in hip-hop culture)

Wikipedia (Micro-Machines)

Wikipedia (Big Red)

Wikipedia (Your Brain on Drugs)

Wikipedia (Kit Kat)

Great Big Story on YouTube (Story behind Kit Kat jingle)

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Transcript

Classic Commercial Catchphrases

Speaker 1 0:01

Do you remember fancy British guys passing mustard to each other out of a car window ?

Speaker 2 0:06

Do you remember senior citizens insulting the size of your hamburger patties ?

Speaker 1 0:12

It's not your hamburger . Oh , that's okay , we're going to keep going .

Speaker 2 0:15

Well , or do you want to do it again ?

Speaker 1 0:16

Okay , we can do it again .

Speaker 2 0:17

Let's do it again I was like what ? That's not the commercial . I'm obviously very offended of them saying that to me .

Speaker 1 0:24

Me personally . Hey , try again . Do you remember fancy British guys passing mustard to each other out of a car ?

Speaker 2 0:31

window . Do you remember senior citizens insulting the size of hamburger patties ?

Speaker 1 0:36

If you can recall the use of eggs to get kids to say no to drugs , then you might be a Xenial and we are too Hi everyone .

Speaker 2 0:44

I'm Dani and we are too Hi everyone , I'm Dani and I'm Katie , and welcome to Generation In Between , a Xennial podcast where we revisit , remember and sometimes relearn all kinds of things from being 80s kids and 90s teens . Yes , yes .

Speaker 1 0:56

And today we are going to take a trip down the nostalgic TV land again , but this time we're going to chat about not TV shows or cartoons , we are chatting commercials .

Speaker 2 1:09

This is exciting .

Speaker 1 1:10

Which is funny because I watched lots of TV when I was a kid , so sitting down trying to figure out like some iconic TV commercials was really hard .

Speaker 2 1:21

Because there were so many .

Speaker 1 1:22

Well , yeah , commercials was really hard Because there were so many . Well , yeah , and I feel like the 80s was like such a great time for commercial jingles and slogans , but you didn't watch a lot of TV in the 80s .

Speaker 2 1:34

I didn't . And just so listeners know , dani researched all of this . She did all the work , so I don't even know what she has on her list . In fact , I'm putting my script away right now because I already read what I need to treat and I did it right , by the way .

Speaker 1 1:48

Well , I'm so proud of you .

Speaker 2 1:49

Well , sort of . There's one little blooper at the beginning , but other than that I did it right . But what's interesting is that the commercials I remember and I'm sure some of these are on your list were very catchy , like the ones I did see . I remember being in like first or second grade and my dad banned singing commercials at the dinner table . Your what my dad said , made a rule .

Speaker 1 2:12

I was like I thought you were saying your dad's band Awesome I was like your dad's band would come to your dinner table .

Speaker 2 2:20

Also , your dad was in a band . Wait , wait , no , no , so that's a very specific thing .

Speaker 1 2:26

So he banned you from singing commercials at the table . Yeah well , everyone .

Speaker 2 2:29

But it was a rule for me ? Yes , but that's how catchy some of these were . Like I wouldn't even sing real songs , I would just sing jingles and then , if you remember , on Full House .

Speaker 1 2:39

that was Joey and Jesse's job was to write commercial jingles I know , and it's weird because commercials I feel like we're starting to have them a little bit more again , but for a few years there and we didn't really have them because streaming was the thing , but now they have them in the streaming they do . They just have to get more creative now but like if I see that fucking ozempic ad one more time or whatever it is , yeah , whatever that , whatever that weight loss injection is . Is that the one where ?

Speaker 2 3:04

they have like the cover of this is me , yes , yeah , which is like the antithesis of that . I am so over medicine commercials in general , yes . Like just in general .

Speaker 1 3:15

Yeah , but anyways , there were some banger commercial jingles . So not every , not every commercial we're going to chat about , so basically . So here's what I did for this episode we're going to do commercial trivia , ooh Itch . So since I did all the research , I'm going to Boop .

Speaker 1 3:33

I forgot to turn my phone off . But it's fine , I'm going to quiz you . There will be some singing , don't stress everyone . Good , there will be some singing by Danny . Well , I don't know , you might join me , oh , okay , and then there'll be some other like just questions about it . And I had to stop myself because I kept going on and on and on with this research .

Speaker 2 3:54

It had to be just such a rabbit hole .

Speaker 1 3:59

So what I did was I thought of a couple that I remembered , I asked people and then I got on the interwebs and was like iconic commercials from the 80s and a lot of the ones I thought of already had .

Speaker 2 4:07

They were already there so , um , anyway .

Speaker 1 4:09

So we're gonna see . I think you'll probably , because some of these had staying power , so I think you'll know probably all of them .

Speaker 2 4:15

I feel like the three from the intro . I definitely know right , but you probably picked the most iconic ones for the intro right . There may be some on there that are a little more obscure , who knows ? Yeah , well , we're gonna just see we're gonna find out , okay .

Speaker 1 4:28

Okay , are you ready ? I'm ready . Okay , guys , and y'all can play along too . This is just gonna be a well , if danny can . Sorry , danny is having a rough morning everyone . If you're watching us on youtube , you will see I look um like I'm tired because I am , uh say , did you say you were irritated and awake , I was , I .

Speaker 2 4:46

we were talking about . I was like how was your night ? Or something she goes . I was irritated and awake , yeah , and I was like . Ooh , that's a bad combination .

Speaker 1 4:51

I usually at least throw on some tinted moisturizer so my skin doesn't look raggedy . And I forgot . So , we have all the middle-aged , uneven skin tone that blesses us all . Uneven skin tone that blesses us all . Okay , are we ready ? Yep , which fast food chain used little old ladies to sell more hamburgers and what was their ?

Speaker 2 5:09

catchphrase Okay , it was Wendy's yeah it was Wendy's and it's . Where's the beef ? Yes ?

Speaker 1 5:14

Okay .

Speaker 2 5:14

I remember that one , I remember them with and they really went all in on the little old lady like stereotypes . Oh yeah Is that really what like older people looked like in the eighties , or did they kind of trope that up ? I'm sure I don't know .

Speaker 1 5:27

That was part of my research . But I mean , yeah , my grandma looked like that . All right , you know , my grandma had we used to call it her football helmet hair . She would like get a curl and press like every couple weeks . You know what I'm talking about .

Speaker 2 5:38

Like that .

Speaker 1 5:38

And we would tease her so hard and that was kind of the vibe .

Speaker 2 5:42

Yeah , how many ? I mean , maybe we'll get into this . I can see one in my head . I think there were three , three , okay .

Speaker 1 5:48

But there was one that said where's the ? Beef , and that's who we're going to talk about a little bit . I have some trivia Cool . So her name was Clara Peller and she became kind of an overnight sensation and the year was 1984 when the first where's the beef commercial came out . So if y'all haven't seen the commercial and I highly recommend you going on YouTube and looking up all these commercials everyone if you haven't seen them , we do have a lot of younger listeners .

Speaker 2 6:14

Some of them are really good . If you haven't seen them , they're good from and by good I don't mean like they're the most creative genius things ever made , but I mean like they'll make you , you smile . Oh , you're definitely cultural stamps .

Speaker 1 6:26

Oh yeah , and you'll at least know what we're talking about , that that for any other purpose , just go look . So anyway , so in the commercial there's , I think , three ladies and she inspects like this giant , fluffy hamburger bun . Like the hamburger bun is very big and fluffy and they're talking about it , but when they take the top off it's a little tiny hamburger patty in the big giant bun and she says where's the beef ? Kind of just like that , kind of like that . And the reason they made this commercial

Where's the Beef: Clara Peller's Legacy

Speaker 1 6:55

is because they were trying to showcase that other fast food places had big buns . They didn't have a lot of meat . Wendy's was the opposite and if you remember and Wendy's still does this their hamburger patties is square and their buns are circles . So you always have meat in every bite , right , right and like outside the bun a little bit , so it like hangs over .

Speaker 1 7:14

So yeah , that was like their whole shtick . So the funny thing is that commercial and that tagline became so popular . Wendy's had a 31% boost in their annual revenue . What that's crazy , right .

Speaker 2 7:27

Because they were already , I would imagine at that time , pretty popular . Yeah , because I feel like the big ones around that time . Now we have so many more options , but they would have been like McDonald's , burger King and Wendy's yeah , those were the fast food places growing up , and maybe Taco Bell at some point , but this was 1984 .

Speaker 1 7:44

So they may not have been until this . Wow Right , think about it , because you were only two . 31% is huge , huge Dang . They also came out with like a merch line , which nowadays is so normal , but that didn't happen a lot for like fast food chains back in the early days . So if you look on eBay you can find old like where's the beef shirts and stuff . So that seems like something Patrick would have . I need to ask him .

Speaker 2 8:10

I bet he does , or he knows where to find one .

Speaker 1 8:13

I know , guys , I'm going to get my life together one day .

Speaker 2 8:17

She's scrolling . I'm trying to , she's still scrolling . Okay , now .

Speaker 1 8:19

I got it Having a laptop . Remember that time we tried to do research live on air and it was so bad .

Speaker 2 8:25

Is that one still even live Can people ?

Speaker 1 8:27

listen to that one . I think we took that down .

Speaker 2 8:28

Oh wait , I don't think we ever posted it .

Speaker 1 8:30

Okay , that's probably good guys . Yeah , that's what it was , Be glad we were like this is so bad , we cannot . Okay , so I'm going this . So she was actually born in Russia and she immigrated with her parents to the U ? S when she was five . Um , she spent most of her adult life in Chicago . Yay , yay , uh . But by the time she was 28 , she was a divorced mom of two and she was working as a manicurist and a beautician in Chicago . So she actually lived in the Belmont hotel .

Speaker 2 9:02

That is cool , right , that's really cool On Chicago's north side .

Speaker 1 9:06

But one day they were filming a TV commercial at a nearby barbershop and the producer his name is Joel Siedelmeyer I don't know , y'all know me and here's how it's spelled S-E-D-E-L-M-A-I-E-R . How do you say that ? Siedelme ? D-e-l-m-a-i-e-r . How do you say that ? Ittlemeyer ? Okay , I was close . So anyway , he was doing this shoot at a barbershop and they needed a manicurist in the commercial and he hadn't thought to hire one . So he kind of just so he sent his assistant , like go find a manicurist , like who's working ? And they found her shop was over there . They found her , they hired her and they loved her , her , and they loved her . And this was a quote he said . It said she instantly charmed him with that great smile , that look in her eye and her unbelievable voice , and the first thing she said to him was how you doing honey ? Oh , my God , I love that . So then after that commercial , he used her whenever he could for any commercial campaign after that . But it was when him and writer Cliff Freeman had their Wendy's commercial that put her on the map .

Speaker 2 10:06

And did they film that in Chicago too , like I mean , if he kept tiring her , he must be local to Chicago , I would imagine .

Speaker 1 10:12

I don't know .

Speaker 2 10:12

Because you're probably not flying .

Speaker 1 10:13

Irrelevant to the story and I don't know .

Speaker 2 10:15

I'm like thinking of the logistics .

Speaker 1 10:16

I'm like this is always so funny when I do research because Katie will ask me , like these detailed questions . I'm like I don't know .

Speaker 2 10:23

I mean , I probably wouldn't know either if I had researched it . You might , I don't know . Well , that's true .

Speaker 1 10:29

Anyway . So she was part of . This is good . This is where it gets a little wonky . So she was part of the Where's the Beef marketing campaign . So it wasn't just one commercial . There was like a bunch of themgo Plus spaghetti sauce and what she said in that commercial was that she had at last found what she was looking for . I left a word out . Oh , she had at last in the commercial . She's holding this Prego Plus because it had extra meat in it . And so she said I finally found what I'm looking for . As a throwback joke to saying where's the beef ? Wendy's did not like that .

Speaker 2 11:07

Yeah , I mean , it's a different brand . And she didn't directly say I finally got the beef I've been looking for .

Speaker 1 11:13

Yes , so Wendy's was not amused and they actually said Clara can find the beef only in one place and that is Wendy's . Give me a break . So she lost her . Where's the Beef gig after that , I mean ? But it didn't mean the end of her fame , so don't fret for Clara . She went on to make lots of other TV and media appearances and then she died in 1987 of congestive heart failure .

Speaker 2 11:34

So , so , only three years , jeez . So how old was she ? Was she really an older lady ?

Speaker 1 11:40

Yeah , she was an older lady when she did all these commercials , even as the manicurist or was that Okay ?

Speaker 2 11:44

Okay , interesting . So I guess the inspirational point for us is any else and you younger folks is like anything can happen at any point in your life . Heck , yeah , even the very end of it . You may not know . It's the end in her case . Wow , well , I'm happy for her . Yeah , that's kind of weird .

Speaker 1 12:00

Wendy's was like , so I mean , well , cause you think about it , though I mean you can't when you have such a big ad campaign , and I mean this was the early eighties , so it's probably before you had to sign , like , and they didn't know that the uh , some little commercial was going to be . So big .

Speaker 2 12:14

No , they didn't .

Speaker 1 12:15

So you probably wouldn't sign like a no competitor clause in your contract , You're right .

Speaker 2 12:20

You probably I mean nowadays , you would .

Speaker 1 12:22

Now for sure .

Speaker 2 12:23

The second , they hire you for something . You sign all the things , but like yeah .

Speaker 2 12:27

And I mean Prego was a spaghetti sauce , so it's not really like , it's not like she went to McDonald's , right , yeah , but I mean I get it , brands are and maybe they just felt like no one's a commodity , but maybe they thought of it like she's kind of ours , I think of flow from progressive . Yeah , obviously she can't go do like a state farm commercial , but let's say she was on a pizza hut commercial and made some sort of reference or looked like she looks in the progressive ads . Right , would be like progressive . Probably would be like what the hell flow like ? What the fuck are you doing ?

Speaker 2 12:58

but you know she makes a lot . She makes like over a million dollars a year for that campaign and she's been doing it for over a decade now .

Speaker 1 13:04

Man , all it takes is one lucky break , so she wouldn't go do a Pizza Hut ad .

Speaker 2 13:08

Why would you and I'm sure they've got her at this point signed to the degree , but this was a different time too , yeah , so anyway .

Speaker 1 13:16

So that's all I got . That's the little fun little journey with . Where's the Beef ? Let's go , clara . Okay , so now I'm going to sing you a jingle . Yay , I can't wait .

Speaker 2 13:27

I like readjusted myself . I'm staring right at her .

Speaker 1 13:30

This has had some fun little things too . So it actually came out in 1974 . Really yeah . I thought it came out in the 80s . It's definitely been in the zeitgeist of pop culture , commercial history , forever . It was written and composed by Tom McFall of the Lucas McFall Jingle House . That just is fun . That's so great . Do they still have jingle houses ?

Speaker 2 13:55

I don't know , I mean if Jesse and Joey could do it , but that was the late 80s , early 90s .

Speaker 1 14:00

Yeah . So anyway , they hired a jingle singer named Linda November .

Speaker 2 14:04

Okay , everything in this is amazing .

Speaker 1 14:06

I know I know , Wait it gets better and there's more . Oh God , she actually became the voice of cats everywhere with her instantly catchy performance , replicated by me just now . Yes , all these years later . And it went along with their slogan from Meow Mix that was Tastes so good . Cats ask

Meow Mix Jingle and CIA Interrogation

Speaker 1 14:25

for it . By name , cute , which is so smart to me .

Speaker 2 14:28

Yeah , it's like every time your cat's meowing they're asking for this food .

Speaker 1 14:32

Right . So the ad agency actually had an idea to create a jingle and film cats eating the food the cat food , All right . Well , while they were filming the cats eating , one of them choked a little bit on a hairball and when the agency viewed the footage back , it looked like the cat was actually singing .

Speaker 2 14:51

My .

Speaker 1 14:51

God . So a cat getting a hairball is how they actually got the idea , because you remember in the commercial the cat's mouths were like . That's how they got the idea .

Speaker 2 15:02

But how did they get the cats to do it ?

Speaker 1 15:04

Well , that's when they realized they can make it look like the cats were singing by using a little animation trick . Cool , so that's how they got the idea . They didn't actually make the cats have hairballs every time .

Speaker 2 15:15

So it was inspired by a hairball situation , but then they animated it .

Speaker 1 15:18

Yeah , then they figured it was a simple little animation trick , cool Um . Linda November watched the footage and then she lip synced to the cat's mouth movements while singing . Well , they lip sync .

Speaker 2 15:29

Sorry , I said that wrong . She like aligned it with what they were doing . Yeah , yeah , yeah , okay , okay . Is that not hilarious ?

Speaker 1 15:35

I love that , and I mean I would love a name like Linda November it's so good . So that's kind of how that commercial came about , and people sang it for over 20 years because it didn't retire till 1996 . So 1974 to 1996 .

Speaker 2 15:51

Yeah .

Speaker 1 15:51

It was used in their commercials because it I mean it worked . But here's something really weird . You'll love this part . According to declassified reports , the CIA has used this song Okay , and here's why they have used music as part of its interrogation program . Oh my God , yeah , you know where I'm going with this I do .

Speaker 1 16:11

So they would have certain music that would be played in a loop for hours on end to wear prisoners down or to induce sleep deprivation . My God , so they chose . They try to choose songs that are like either very offensive or incredibly annoying . Guess which one the Meow Mix jingle .

Speaker 1 16:30

I'm not offended by it , so I would say the very annoying yeah , but it was interesting because it says the list of songs also included heavy metal and rap and I'm like , well , that's . It doesn't mean like death metal , metal maybe , like where they're like probably really loud and even even the rap stuff .

Speaker 2 16:49

If it's like angry rap , maybe like if you , if you're listening to it for a long time .

Speaker 1 16:53

Well , don't play me . No rap , rap music . If you're trying to interrogate me because I'll just give me hype , you'll be like , yeah , I'll be dancing around the room .

Speaker 2 16:59

I ain't telling you nothing . I wonder what else is on that annoying list I .

Speaker 1 17:02

I don't know , I almost looked it up but I was like no focus .

Speaker 2 17:05

I was just wondering because we just talked about Disney if Small World would be on that , maybe all the dolls . Now , that would get me the doll one singing over and over . I bet there's some children's songs on there . But , Meow Mix was at the top of the list .

Speaker 1 17:24

That's so over , and I'm sure it's like in , because there's , that's it . That's all it does is goes meow , meow , meow , meow , meow , meow , meow , meow , meow , like that's it .

Speaker 2 17:31

That's it that . Wow . Well , linda November , your country salutes you . Thank you for your service .

Speaker 1 17:37

Can I tell you a funny story about cats and torture ?

Speaker 2 17:40

As long as it's actually funny , because that doesn't sound very funny . No , no , no , no .

Speaker 1 17:46

The reason that I just thought of this because I was just telling this story to somebody the other day because we were talking oh , it's Terry , that's who I was talking to . We were talking about favorite musicals and I don't like a lot of old musicals , you know this , yeah , but you know I do love Cats . Cats , the musical everyone , drew Lloyd Webber , look it up . And I said it's so funny because when my kids were small and I may have told this on here before and we would be like driving wherever , because we've lived a lot of small towns where we had to drive far places to get to civilization If they were being bad and loud or fighting in the car , I would be like y'all better stop . Or I'm putting on the cat soundtrack . And they wouldn't . And I would . And they'd be like , well , I'm like , that's it . We're going to the Jellicle ball , this is coming . And I would and they'd be like , well , please don't sing . And I'm like , well , if it's on , I'm singing .

Speaker 1 18:34

And I can think of one particular time where we lived in Missouri and we were driving home . It was like a 45 minute drive and they were . They had been awful all day . You know , when kids are small and they're just like on a tangent , and I was like oh , not only are we , we're listening to CD too , cause if y'all know that's in two CDs . The first CD is a lot more lively , one is not bums you out a little .

Speaker 1 18:58

Yeah .

Speaker 2 18:59

Second the second CD .

Speaker 1 19:00

I said memory reprise is coming .

Speaker 2 19:02

No , so that was more of a story of torturing children with the use of the cat soundtrack .

Speaker 1 19:09

Yeah , and they'd be like please do not , please do not do Rum Tum .

Speaker 2 19:12

Tugger , that's where they draw the line , no more .

Speaker 1 19:16

All right guys .

Speaker 2 19:17

Oh , that's really funny .

Speaker 1 19:18

All right , so now you're going to finish this phrase Okay , okay , and you're going to get it . It's going to be easy . And then tell me the product it's advertising Ready ? I'm ready . What did me ? Do you have any ?

Speaker 2 19:28

gray coupon . I went gray , it's like are we in Spain now ?

Speaker 1 19:37

That was weird . That's my fancy R . I only bring that out for the fancy .

Speaker 2 19:39

I know British people rolled their R's .

Speaker 1 19:41

But hey , you know they probably do . I can't wait to watch that back . Okay , yes , great coupon this is . I don't really know if this history is very interesting . I mean it's mustard , but here we go .

Speaker 2 19:52

Sorry guys , it's mustard . It's not very interesting . I mean look it was such a cat , god damn it what was the movie , what was the word I said ?

Speaker 1 20:02

what was the movie ? What was the word I was going to say ? It was in like movies , like it was parodied forever , like a cultural phenomenon . There we go .

Speaker 2 20:09

Cultural phenomenon , my dad who wouldn't let me sing jingles . Now that's not sung . I remember him saying this phrase a lot Like at the time it was popular . Just randomly , oh yeah .

Speaker 1 20:29

Like in his little accent , and we'd be like , okay , did he roll his R's ? Maybe that's where I got it , but probably no . I mean , I can remember when I was a teenager and we'd be driving around , you know , just driving up and down the streets , and we would go get to a red light , yeah , we would do the whole miming of the window , you know , rolling it down . And we would do that and say to another car I'm sure , and they were like shirt and they were like everyone everywhere .

Speaker 1 20:45

Everywhere did that , especially teenagers . No , it was just me . So let me explain this commercial to y'all who may not know it . Okay , well , let me give you the background first and then it'll make sense . So up until the 1980s , gray poupon ads were only in print . Okay , there's , they didn't have commercials and they were only in like magazines , like food and wine and like cosmo and vogue . They were kind of like this upper end product , but they had a commercial air in 1981 . So it also was a baby .

Speaker 1 21:13

In the 80s , and this is what happened . There was an aristocratic English gentleman and he's actually being chauffeured around some random countryside and another car pulls up alongside them , them and he rolls down the back window and a second man asks them pardon me , would you have any gray poupon ? And the first man courteously responds you remember what he says , but of course I remember . And then he hands him the jar of mustard out the window . Okay , and they did that repeatedly in all kind of different circumstances , but it ran for several years and then it had all these variations , but it didn't retire again until 97 . So like a 16 year run for that one , yeah , and they had , I mean they kept upgrading and doing different stuff and doing different takes on it .

Speaker 2 21:55

Yeah .

Speaker 1 21:56

And the interesting thing was , this campaign actually helped solidify gray coupon status as a product

Pardon Me: Grey Poupon's Cultural Impact

Speaker 1 22:02

associated with the wealthy Right .

Speaker 2 22:04

Because it's a wrist of cats , right , well , sid , cats , oh a wrist of cats , you're the cat brain , passing it through the windows to each other .

Speaker 1 22:12

Yeah , In 1992 , a Poupon actually had a strong correlation between a person's income level and whether or not they use great Poupon . So it was mostly upper middle class people that use it and I don't know . I guess I'm trying to remember the price point . I should have looked that up on how much it costs .

Speaker 2 22:31

I feel like at least now , let's see this . We're way later now , it's not that ?

Speaker 1 22:35

much . I mean we . We used to have it in my house and we were not upper middle class , we , I think just because it was .

Speaker 2 22:42

I feel like condiments were simpler right ?

Speaker 1 22:45

Well , now you can buy like , like now you can buy , like Walmart , dijon mustard , right , sure , but you back then you didn't have as many options , no , and if you like Dijon mustard , then you got to get you some Grey Poupon , that's true , and it makes you fancy .

Speaker 2 22:59

And it is good , and it is good . Yeah , it's quite delicious , delicious .

Speaker 1 23:03

Do you know what I remember as a kid ? I remember eating frozen egg rolls with grapefruit pie . I mean , I would cook them but they were not like .

Speaker 2 23:10

It took me a second .

Speaker 1 23:10

Well , because you know that sounds good though I know , because you know when you go to Chinese restaurants and you get that spicy mustard .

Speaker 2 23:15

Yes .

Speaker 1 23:23

Oh , I love it so that and I was like , screech , stop , my brain is like , but here's the thing they did revamp the ads in 2013 .

Speaker 2 23:32

For a one-time 30-second spot during the Academy Awards Okay , but they revamped it , so it wasn't the original ad , and I'm going to tell you what it was Sounds good .

Speaker 1 23:41

So the ad was an action movie spoof where the driver who took the gray coupon from the other person he doesn't give it back , he just tears off and then is chased down by the original owner . So there's like this big car chase Okay , it was chased down by the original owners . There's like this big car chase Okay , it was supposed to look like a scene from like a big action movie with like explosions and all the things . Okay . So that was like a one-time shot and they haven't done it since .

Speaker 2 24:06

So they really don't do like TV or like streaming ads anymore .

Speaker 1 24:10

No .

Speaker 2 24:11

Okay .

Speaker 1 24:12

But this was such an interesting crazy thing that I found and I actually asked my husband about it . From 1992 to 2016 , grey Poupon references popped up in hip hop songs nearly every year .

Speaker 2 24:27

Really .

Speaker 1 24:28

Yeah . And so I was like Troy , can you think of any songs like old school , like hip hop , that had Grey Poupon in the lyrics ? And he was like , oh yeah , there was a jay-z song and there's a kanye song . And sure enough , he was right , because he has like a good memory with lyrics . Yeah , not complete opposite of my brain with music lyrics .

Speaker 2 24:47

I feel like nelly had it in the song too . Basically , anytime they're talking about being fancy , right it comes up and that's what it said .

Speaker 1 24:55

It said it became the condiment of choice for rappers who wanted an easy rhyme . That also illustrated the idea of status luxury in class . Like I said , kanye had it , jay-z eminem had a reference .

Speaker 2 25:08

Oh , you're saying I'm like no I , I , I I'm trying to think what song it is , but really , are you an eminem ? Fan .

Speaker 1 25:13

I love eminem what I guess we haven't talked about this before , fun fact about katie ? Yeah , I do not . Are you an Eminem fan ? I love him and what ? I guess we haven't talked about this before . Fun fact about Katie ? Yeah , I do not . Are you ? Do you have a crush on him ? Yeah , probably I could tell , I think it's the way you said yeah , I love Eminem .

Speaker 2 25:26

It's not just that , but I know he's misunderstood . Another episode made me for him .

Speaker 1 25:32

He probably , probably needs one . I will say the one thing about troy loves eminem as well he loves him and my , my kids actually have a crush on him too .

Speaker 2 25:39

He might , I don't know .

Speaker 1 25:40

We have to ask him the one thing I do , like that eminem did , was that movie eight mile . Oh , it's so good . He was a pretty good actor .

Speaker 2 25:47

I mean , it was just being himself yeah , but he did a good job in them , but some people , even if you told them to act like themselves while you're being filmed as soon as the camera would not deliver Totally .

Speaker 1 25:56

So yeah , Anyway . So there's your fun gray coupon fact I love it .

Speaker 2 26:00

I love it . Now I got to go find the Eminem gray coupon reference . I'll do that later .

Speaker 1 26:03

Okay , we'll circle back , yeah don't worry . All right . Now , this is another question .

Speaker 2 26:07

Okay , so looking at my notes , I can't see it . I know , I know . I know , I see yellow .

Speaker 1 26:14

Okay , good .

Speaker 2 26:15

That is all I see . I took my glasses off because we're filming . I cannot see anything but color . Okay , perfect . So when I was complimenting that you looked great , oh , that's . I was like I look so tired . I was like you look fine and I'm like I literally can't see . You Don't are not here for our appearance , thank god .

Speaker 1 26:37

That's why they literally be telling us to throw pies . Please cover your fucking face . Hey , we look cute when we take the time to do it . Okay , but we do not have time selectively cute yeah , that's what I go with for myself .

Speaker 2 26:46

Oh , I like that .

Speaker 1 26:47

I'm capable of it I mean , we just don't have the time every day , everybody . Okay , we don't . All . Right , here's your question . What 1980s toy advertising campaign is known for its energetic ass-talking spokesperson ? Ka Motormouth John , whose name is

Micro Machines and Fast-Talking Fame

Speaker 1 27:04

really John Moschitta Jr . It's a toy . Is it Hot Wheels ? It's Micro Machine .

Speaker 2 27:09

Micro Machine .

Speaker 1 27:10

Okay , I know how to do with cars .

Speaker 2 27:11

Yeah , and you can see it now . Okay , yep , I hear , I hear his voice yep , yep , um , john moshita .

Speaker 1 27:18

Can we talk about how fun that last name is ? I'm probably saying it really wrong . All my italian friends out there are like danny yeah it is together it is fun , so I'm sorry if it's how , how , how else would that be said ? It's m-o-s-c-h-i-t-t-a m Moschetta .

Speaker 2 27:34

Moschetta .

Speaker 1 27:35

Moschetta .

Speaker 2 27:36

Maybe oh , that was the worst Italian accent . She maybe Moschetta .

Speaker 1 27:40

That's again . It's like Spanish .

Speaker 2 27:42

There's no R in it , so I can't roll . Who showed up today ? I don't know .

Speaker 1 27:50

We're really good actors , everybody . Just so you know , anyway , all right . So here's the thing . Just so you know , anyway , all right . So here's the thing . There was a commercial that came out . Honestly , that's what he did . He just talked really fast about the micro machines . They're really tiny little cars . They weren't just cars , they were like vehicles , but they were really small , so they were smaller than Hot Wheels . That was their hook . Does your brother have these ? Yeah ?

Speaker 2 28:09

Yeah , and they had like the play sets , yeah , and you could get like it was almost a little briefcase , uh-huh , and you can unfold it With little compartments and so you could like stack them in there .

Speaker 1 28:17

Yep . So these commercials actually helped Micro Machines become like a must-have toy for kids back in the 80s , because they wanted to highlight their small size . They had really good detail , even though they were tiny , and potential for imaginative play . It also wanted to emphasize the ability to build a large collection of the toys , like hot wheels , because there's so many different ones . They wanted them , to collect them , to trade them , to raise them , and so the commercials featured pitches , basically in John's trademark speedy style , who he kind of reminds me of , like an auctioneer . Yeah , if you've never seen these commercials , you know what I'm talking about .

Speaker 2 28:55

That is what it's like , yeah .

Speaker 1 28:57

It's kind of what it's like , and every commercial ended with the slogan If it doesn't say micro machines , it's not the real thing .

Speaker 2 29:03

Huh , I don't remember that I do .

Speaker 1 29:05

As soon as I read it I was like , oh yeah , and he would say it fast , I'm not going to do it .

Speaker 2 29:09

Did they have a lot of competitors ?

Speaker 1 29:12

Well , hot Wheels , that's their slogan , I mean yeah , and I mean and there's always , like you know .

Speaker 2 29:17

I mean , I thought it was Hot Wheels , so I get that . But now that you reminded me the difference , I can see the different vehicles and remember that they were different things and why they were different .

Speaker 1 29:26

Right , so I'll tell you a little bit about John Machida Jr , Machida Katie he's Italian .

Speaker 2 29:33

That actually might be that actually worked . I think that time the first time I did it no , but I've had time to perfect it .

Speaker 1 29:39

Maybe we should just not , we'll stop , we'll stop , we'll stop everybody . This guy , john , this guy , this guy Motormouth John , we can just call him that . So he actually , at the time , was in the Guinness Book of World time . Wow , he articulated 586 words a minute . Jeez , and my husband thinks I talk a lot . That's a lot , yeah Right . His record , though , was passed in 90 by a man named Steve Woodmore , who spoke 637 words a minute .

Speaker 1 30:10

That's a lot more words . And then again in 95 , it was passed by Sean Shannon , who spoke 655 words in a minute . Jeez .

Speaker 2 30:20

How and like ? How do you ? I mean , I'm sure there's a way they judge it , but I'm just thinking that fast . How can you even verify that actual words are being said ? And that is you ask me the hardest questions all the time , Like my face goes .

Speaker 1 30:35

I don't know . This is rhetorical .

Speaker 2 30:37

Okay , this is not like no , I don't know either . This is just like how do you even nowadays you could record it and slow it down and like verify it . But I just feel like back then , how would you even know that they're not just going la , la , la , la la the whole time ?

Speaker 1 30:50

that fast . Can you imagine if we called Guinness and we we're like hey , come measure us , and we're just like exactly .

Speaker 2 30:56

I mean , that's what it would sound like . Well , we did it , and I wonder if they 800 count it or yeah , like what would you say ? Because well , you probably practice I'm sure that's true before your official timing or whatever .

Speaker 1 31:11

You probably practice a bunch so if you were going to be a world record speed talker , what would you say in your minute ?

Speaker 2 31:16

I would probably like have I'd find a poem with short words , maybe a really long poem , apparently a 700 word poem . That's smart .

Speaker 1 31:23

So you're so smart , cause I'm sitting here like what , where would you even ? Yeah , because then you get more words , Something that's already written . Make sure it's like really short or wait what if you just go A , a , a , a , a A .

Speaker 2 31:32

Yeah , that's what I mean . Like , is that a word ? That is a word . Hello , it is .

Speaker 1 31:37

A-N . A-n .

Speaker 2 31:38

You would want stuff that's like open mouthed I'm sure they have rules Not like things that have glottal stops .

Speaker 1 31:43

Smart Like you wouldn't want G's , you wouldn't want D's , yeah , yeah , yeah , you wouldn't want R .

Speaker 2 31:51

I'm not actually going to try to challenge this record , so we can just move on .

Speaker 1 31:56

All right . So he actually became famous from another commercial , though before Micro Machines , even though that's where a lot of us know him from , and when I looked it up I did remember this commercial . So you'll have to tell me if you do . He was in a commercial for FedEx in the early 80s . He plays a fast-talking executive named Jim Spleen , and the producer of that commercial , interestingly enough , was the same one who did the Where's the Beef commercials . Oh , so look at that . Look at that . Yeah , he was in the FedEx . I mean he's talking fast , trying to get . The point of the commercial was that they get stuff there faster obviously .

Speaker 1 32:27

So he was talking , talking , talking , trying to blah , blah blah . Anyway , he was actually in over 750 TV and radio commercials over the years . He advertised for companies like Minute Rice , tiger Games , which is video games , burger King , several airlines and a lot of TV network stations too . So you probably recognize him if you look him up is my point , but also Micro Machines . The toy had a cameo in a Xennial Christmas classic movie . Do you remember what it is ?

Speaker 2 32:58

Yes , what is it ? Home Alone ? Yay , it took me a second but Home Alone .

Speaker 1 33:02

Yeah , the micro-machines is what he puts on the stairs . Okay , okay , it was one of his booby traps . Well , they were at the bottom of the stairs because they'd step on them and fall Slide .

Speaker 2 33:12

yeah .

Speaker 1 33:13

Yeah , I was like oh yeah , I forgot those were micro machines . I was just thinking they were hot wheels , but no , they were tiny .

Speaker 2 33:19

They were little , which would make it even more . It's almost like stepping on a Lego , but they had wheels , yeah .

Speaker 1 33:23

Scary . Remember we talked about um happy meal . Toys with all the wheels .

Speaker 2 33:26

Yes , that's another way to thwart . I don't know why I'm attempting it , but yeah , just use your Happy Meal toys .

Speaker 1 33:35

All right , you're going to finish a jingle now , because we're done with Micro Machines .

Speaker 2 33:39

We're done . Bye , micro Machines .

Speaker 1 33:42

Okay , ready , I'm going to sing part of it and then you're going to finish it .

Speaker 2 33:45

I'm going to close my eyes anyway , okay . Well , you can't see , I cannot , I don't know you're closing your eyes for a All right , here we go .

Speaker 1 33:53

So kiss a little longer , stay close a little longer .

Speaker 2 33:56

Hold tight a little longer , longer with Big Red . Oh I hate Big Red , but I like that .

Speaker 1 34:02

I know I threw it in on purpose , because she hates cinnamon guys .

Speaker 2 34:05

And you guys know well unless you're new that I love gum . I know she does , but I hate .

Speaker 1 34:10

Big Red , and I have to applaud you . You are not a chomper when you chew gum . I can be . Oh well , you're very good about being cognizant about it around me .

Speaker 2 34:17

You know how people wear different masks for , like people they're around . I chew gum differently depending on the social situation .

Speaker 1 34:24

Yeah , me too .

Speaker 2 34:24

So if I'm just like working at my computer , I can hear myself chomping , but if I'm like around others , it's like I know how to turn it on and off . Well , I appreciate it , because you know I would murder your face .

Speaker 1 34:36

I know you would . I know you would . Also , I am a horrible . Okay , if you ever noticed , I don't chew gum for long periods of time . I have TMJ and also I have dental work that I get stuck in . Oh , even like even sugar-free , yeah , which is why I chomp it , cause I have to take big bites , pop it out . So I'll just chew it for like a little bit and then like maybe a couple minutes and then I take it out and it drives my family crazy and they're like you are such a hypocrite because you chomp away and I'm like , yeah , but I have medical reasons . I mean you do , and then I know it , like I know it , so I take it out , but anyway , okay . So Big Red , I know you hate Big Red , but you remember the commercial I do . So in the late seventies . We're going to get into some gum drama .

Speaker 2 35:17

Oh , okay , yeah you ready .

Speaker 1 35:18

I'm here for the gum drama , all right , I mean not really gum drama , but all right , in the late seventies Big Red was only weakly perceived as a cinnamon gum compared to Dentine . Really , yeah , I know Dentine was the leader in the national market at the time of cinnamon gum , of cinnamon gum . Yep , it was the advertising agency that had Big Red . They identified two problems that many cinnamon gum chewers faced when chewing dentine Would you like to know what it is ? And that they were gonna use Wrigley's was gonna use to kind of exploit Big Red's stuff . You ready , I'm ready . First , dentine did not keep a chewer's breath fresh for long . Okay , that was the first one . And second , it was too small .

Speaker 2 35:58

Yeah .

Speaker 1 35:59

Right , Because they were like little bitty rectangles , remember . So that was what they wanted to capitalize on when they started this new marketing campaign . Because they were like we're going to be the number one cinnamon gum , Damn it .

Speaker 1 36:11

Katie hates cinnamon so much , so much I ordered you a cinnamon cake for your birthday , thank you , I hate cinnamon so much , so much I ordered you a cinnamon cake for your birthday , thank you , just kidding , just joking . So in 1979 , so almost the 80s Big Red kind of repositioned their marketing to emphasize long lasting fresh breath , okay , hence the jingle that you just heard . The kiss a little longer campaign yes , that's what it's officially called Was born and the commercials kind of just became iconic in the eighties and basically it literally is people kissing all over the place .

Speaker 2 36:40

Yeah , I guess I hadn't thought about this one for a long time . I mean , that is what it is .

Speaker 1 36:44

All it is is people making out and like various situations , such as honeymoons . Okay , All right Makes sense Roller skating , fishing boats , car races and then football games . There was lots more , but these are just some that I looked up . I was like , oh , I remember the one where there's a cheerleader and then the guys in the marching band you remember that one , Yep ? And they won't stop making out and they have to go to the game .

Speaker 2 37:09

I remember that now oh my gosh Anyway .

Speaker 1 37:12

But by 1997 , guess what it worked , guys ? Because big red was the number one cinnamon gum .

Speaker 2 37:20

Due to this campaign that dentine yeah , well , I mean dentine first of all . That's just not a great name . I mean , my grandma chewed dentine . Yeah , and you're right , and the little pieces . I feel like if I ever chewed dentine , it was maybe once , and then I was like this , I don't even like this I know and this is horrible this is terrible my grandma would always have dentine and nicorette gum , just toggle between the two .

Speaker 1 37:42

She did really really , because she had a partial okay and so it didn't stick and there wasn't a lot of sugar-free options there wasn't no okay , so anyway . So it remained the champion for many years of cinnamon gum . Uh , it had distinct market growth for 15 years . Dang , that's a long time , um . And the song was also used um , on the radio , um and on tv until

Your Brain on Drugs Campaign

Speaker 1 38:04

1998 .

Speaker 2 38:05

Wow , it's a long time . These jingles , these iconic ones , I guess what I love about it is like if it's working , keep it . I think now , especially nowadays , we have to just always keep one-upping ourselves even if we don't need to . I feel like I don't one-up myself enough . You're like now , I feel bad .

Speaker 1 38:26

As you're saying that I'm like I need to one-up something Piva definitely does I feel like the older I get , the more , the more I'm like this . I'm here for a good time , not a long time and I just we've talked about this before like your forties are when you start just not giving a fuck anymore , Right , I mean I do , I care about myself and then take care of myself , but you know what I mean .

Speaker 2 38:47

You care about important things , yeah . All the petty things kind of fade away , right .

Speaker 1 38:52

Yeah , I agree with that , and yes , I am here for a good time , which we're going to talk about a long time when we get oh , of course I'm a vampire , so that's when we get to Dawson's . Today we're talking about Michelle Williams new show , because I finished it and we have to talk about it .

Speaker 1 39:07

So now y'all need to go . Oh , you're going to love it . Now y'all need to go listen to our Dawson's episode . We really do , I know , so don't miss out on that . All right , here we only got a couple more , so question this is a question one . What commercial was part of a large scale anti-narcotics campaign by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and involved using eggs ? So what's the question ? What was the slogan ? Well , it was the commercial . Yeah , the slogan . Okay , so do I describe it ? The commercial ? It's basically one catchphrase . I want to see if you know what the catchphrase was .

Speaker 1 39:40

This is your brain on drugs . Yes , okay , that was the name of the campaign .

Speaker 2 39:44

And it was like the egg .

Speaker 1 39:45

This is your brain or no , I'll tell you . Okay , so here it is Okay .

Speaker 1 39:49

So they actually had multiple versions of this commercial . The first one that came out , the first 32nd version of an ad , had a man in a kitchen . It was very simple . This commercial was very simple . He holds up an egg yes , an egg , guys and he says this is your brain . Then he motions to a frying pan . That's like cooking on a , like heating up on a stove , and he says this is drugs . Then he cracks the egg into the frying pan where it starts cooking and he says this is your brain on drugs . Then he looks right into the camera and he goes any questions .

Speaker 1 40:21

I forgot about any questions , any questions . Yeah , that's yeah . And then a voiceover says sponsored by the partnership for a drug-free America Okay . So there's also , though , 10 second and 15 second versions . Now I don't know if you remember these , but they simply show a closeup of the egg dropping . Then it's a voiceover saying okay , last time , this is drugs , this is your brain on drugs , any questions ? And then that's the 15 second , the 10 seconds just says this is drugs , this is your brain on drugs , any questions ? Okay , now I remember these commercials playing all the time on Saturday mornings . Oh , I bet , yeah , yes .

Speaker 2 40:56

Yeah , I mean , if you think about it , yes , of course you want like adults and maybe like teenagers to see this , but really like you want kids , who probably haven't been exposed to drugs yet , to see it , because you want that foundational belief to set in so that when they are in those situations , this commercial or whatever they've heard about drugs as a young person , kind of click .

Speaker 1 41:19

Yeah , I mean , and I feel like the imagery was pretty powerful , I think so . We still remember it now .

Speaker 2 41:24

I mean , I can see it . It's like a cast iron skillet , right yeah , and sometimes those simple .

Speaker 1 41:29

We've talked about this . The simple imagery is what sticks with you and it hits closer to home . But there was some . I have some , some fun little facts . Are you ready ? Okay , there was some drama here . The American egg board was kind of pissed about the PSA because public service announcement sorry , public service PSA . They claimed that eggs were being correlated with the unhealthiness of drug use and they worried that young children might misinterpret the TV message and believe that eggs themselves for harmful .

Speaker 2 42:03

I mean that's a stretch . No , I just thought that was funny .

Speaker 1 42:08

I mean whatever , I guess it depends how young you are . I mean , they're talking like it's a metaphorical commercial .

Speaker 2 42:14

So if you're three or four , you might think they're saying eggs are literally drugs . I guess . But I feel like you would probably get over that pretty quickly .

Speaker 1 42:25

Well , there was actually a second version of this in 1997 . Do you know who was in it ? I have no idea . Rachel Lee Cook , Really . We just talked about her on Dawson's Creek , yeah , and I forgot about this one until I read it . So they redid it in 97 . Rachel Lee Cook is in it . If y'all know who she is . She was like all over the movies of the teen movies all the time . So she holds up . So that's different .

Speaker 1 42:49

And this is what happens . She holds up the egg and she says this is your brain . Then she holds up a frying pan it is not on the stove in this one and she says that this is heroin , Okay , Not drugs . Very specific . She then puts the egg on the counter and says this is what happens to your brain after snorting heroin , which I didn't know . You snorted heroin , I thought you shot a parent , but I don't know . What do I know . And she starts smashing the egg . But then she says wait , it's not over yet . And she starts smashing everything in the kitchen and she starts yelling this is what your family goes through and your friends and your money and your job and your self-respect . And she goes on and on and on , fucks up the kitchen and she ends . And then she ends with in your life . Then she said , looks at the on the count and the camera and says any questions ?

Speaker 2 43:34

So they went hard yeah , so you don't remember that one says any questions .

Speaker 1 43:39

So they went hard . Yeah , so you don't remember that one , I don't remember that one . And she like drops the pan before she looks in the camera . So she like it was like dang yeah she brought it , I'm going to have to look that one up .

Speaker 2 43:47

I mean , I like that one because it's a little more nuanced , or a lot more nuanced , but how it shows , how it's just not just your brain , how drugs has this overarching effect on everything . But then , going back to what you said about the simple imagery , like I guess there's benefits to both approaches .

Speaker 1 44:03

So there were , there were some criticisms with both of these campaigns , the first one and the revamped . Do you want to guess what it was ?

Speaker 2 44:11

I would guess the first one was probably it was just too simple , yes , and it maybe didn't provide enough context to really help anyone Correct ? And then the second one , I don't actually know , okay , well , well , it's kind of the same .

Speaker 1 44:24

I mean there were some criticisms saying it , just it overly , it oversimplified the issues . It kind of does yeah , it does . And then it also kind of like negatively stigmatize drug users and addiction , because I , I mean , I have several family members who are recovering addicts and it's , it's not that simple , like right .

Speaker 1 44:44

There's a lot of other issues there , so they actually did a third PSA in 2016 . Wow , ok , and it's kind of it's not really an exact remake , it's kind of a loose remake and that kind of they wanted to kind of address that . It's not a simple issue , and this one I need to read the details because I don't remember this one at all . So it shows an egg in a human hand , no face , and it says this is your brain , alongside a frying pan and it says this is drugs . Then the egg is cracked and fried in the pan and it says this is your brain on drugs , any questions ? But then they show scenes of teens in it and they're like yeah , I do have questions , and it's a bunch of teens asking different questions .

Speaker 2 45:25

I remember this .

Speaker 1 45:26

And it's stuff like prescription drugs aren't as bad as street drugs . Right , weed's legal though , isn't it ? Drinking is worse than smoking weed , isn't it ? Why is heroin so addictive ? And they're just saying all these questions . So it's like yeah , actually we do have questions , like you ask us if we have any questions .

Speaker 2 45:41

Yes , and then the camera goes off .

Speaker 1 45:48

Yeah , I love that because it probably is questions people have , yeah , and so then at the very end the narrator comes back and it says mom , dad , or it says they're going to ask , so be ready . So their website . Then it had their website info , had resources for parents or guardians and teens about these kinds of questions and things .

Speaker 2 46:02

So I feel like they listened . Yeah , I mean 2016 , a lot later .

Speaker 1 46:07

Took a while .

Speaker 2 46:07

However , they have the advantage at that point of being able to send you to a website or whatever which you could have done before 2016 as well , but not in the original ad . You couldn't have .

Speaker 1 46:18

Right , and I think that's important , especially knowing that . And they weren't just like get ready , they're going to have questions . They were like here , here's some resources . I like that and they actually , so their website was set up with all that and they actually changed their name from Partnership for a Drug-Free America to be more specific , to be Partnership for Drug-Free Kids . Okay , so I had to throw this one in here because it was very iconic and I thought it was very good to see that they kind of the evolution of it , the evolution and this one .

Speaker 2 46:47

You know , no shade on Meow Mix or Big Red . This one matters a lot . Yeah , you know , like and I will say like I think it did help me foundationally know drugs were bad , even though that's a very simplified way to say that Right , but but I like that they kind of have expanded and and kind of normalized that like it's okay to have questions . Yes , right , this whole and this is a whole other can of worms we don't need to open right now the whole just say no situation and dare and all that , that's another

Speaker 2 47:15

episode for another day , but that as I became an adult and became a parent that's kind of the thing that bothered me the most was the oversimplification . Yeah , because you can tell little kids that . But once they start to kind of see , once they have critical thinking , critical thinking yeah Then it's almost like they don't . They might throw that completely out the window because they're like well , that was a bunch of crap instead of this like nuanced approach , which is really what we need . But anyway , right now that ?

Speaker 1 47:41

another story for another day , all right . Well , now we're going to have some more fun , ok , good , ok , we're done with serious , no more . You ready to finish a jingle ? I'm ready . Ok , give me a break . Give me a break , break me off a piece

Kit Kat and Calgon Commercials

Speaker 1 47:53

of that Kit Kat bar . Yes , and she took it down , you got to take it down , you have to . Okay , this was a fun one , because this jingle was actually never supposed to exist .

Speaker 2 48:03

Really .

Speaker 1 48:04

Yeah . So a guy named Michael Levine wrote this jingle as a second option when he was approached to write this jingle in the first place for Kit Kat Okay , 1986 . And I saw an interview with him on a little like video clip and he explained this whole thing . He said you have to present an advertising client with something they could buy and then also something they could throw away , so you have the thing you really want them to take and then just like a throwaway option . Okay , so this was his throwaway option . The ad agency tested the two songs with like focus groups or whatever . The give me a break jingle was way more popular than the other one , wow , yep . And he really liked the other one . He was really wanting that one . That was like what he really wanted . So I just thought that was funny , like it's the jingle that was never supposed to happen .

Speaker 2 48:49

And now it's like an iconic iconic yeah .

Speaker 1 48:52

He was like this is a piece of shit . Here they're like we love it .

Speaker 2 48:55

That's what we were looking for .

Speaker 1 48:56

That's exactly it , so I just have . That was pretty much the only fun fact , but I did find some other fun facts about KitKat . Do you know the filling is part of it is crushed up KitKat . What do you mean ? So you know , in a KitKat it's like layers . Yeah , Some of the filling that's in there , it's just other KitKat bars crushed up Like whole .

Speaker 2 49:15

KitKat bars crushed up . Yes , no , I didn't know that .

Speaker 1 49:17

Funny .

Speaker 2 49:17

Yeah , I like that .

Speaker 1 49:18

Um , that was just a random fact I found . Also , the jingle was cited in a study by a University of Cincinnati researcher as one of the top 10 earworms of all time .

Speaker 1 49:28

Oh yeah , believe it . I believe it Because , after I did this research , I could not stop singing it Like it was , because , of course , I had looked up all the commercials , because I wanted to watch them before I talked about them . But I do have some downers . On KitKat , yeah , but I didn't know , but I have to throw it in because I found it and I was like , well , I can't pretend like this doesn't exist . So in March 2010 , kitkat was actually targeted for a boycott by Greenpeace . Yeah , for using palm oil , which they claimed resulted in destruction of forest habitats for orangutans in Indonesia . Oh , no , I know . No , no . So Greenpeace made a YouTube video and it went viral and it actually made a difference because Nestle announced a partnership with the Forest Trust to establish responsible sourcing guidelines and they wanted to make sure they did not continue the problems that they were instigating . Well , that's good . So they wanted to make sure they did not continue the problems that they were instigating .

Speaker 1 50:20

So they aim to achieve a fully sustainable method of palm oil harvesting by 2015 . 58% of the palm oil they purchased in 2017 was certified responsibly sourced and by 2023 , the figure was a hundred percent . So , yeah , and 90% , or it said the figure was a hundred percent , with 96% being deforestation free . So I'm not really sure what is . Oh , okay , the palm oil . I was like , wait , what did I write that ? Okay . But then , oh , I know , this year , wes Poppin , how do I say that ? P A P U A N Poppin , okay . Indigenous people called for a boycott of Kit Kat again and other brands for alleged ecocide in their territory , so I'm wondering if they just moved everything over , yeah .

Speaker 1 51:05

Dang . So anyway , you may want to look into that a little more guys before you each get Kat . Okay , all right , so that's now . I have a downer , but in a funny way , and I've I've mentioned this one time on the podcast before , so we'll see . If you remember , this is my very last one and I had to throw it in because you'll see why . You ready ? This is a Danny question . You ready ?

Speaker 2 51:24

I'm going to ask you this but it's about me , it's about you . Yeah , okay , what ?

Speaker 1 51:28

1980s commercial slogan scared the shit out of me as a small child .

Speaker 2 51:34

It's so stupid . As soon as you tell me .

Speaker 1 51:37

I know you'll know as soon as I say it . Yeah , it was for for a brand commercial . Okay , it wasn't a song , it was just a slogan that they said in a commercial .

Speaker 2 51:47

I was scared the shit out of me . I can't remember Calgon , take me away .

Speaker 1 51:50

What First do you remember those commercials ? Is it cologne ?

Speaker 2 51:54

No , calgon is bath products . Okay . Well , yeah , sorry , okay yeah .

Speaker 1 51:57

Okay , do you remember ? Do you remember it ? I remember those . Yes , so there is .

Speaker 1 52:02

In 1978 , calgon came out with a series of commercials depicting women experiencing like a hectic or stressful day . So they have like a business woman who's like she would like get overwhelmed with like her boss or work or kids , and they have like a housewife who's like like they're at the end of their rope . Okay , as we all have those days and they get so overwhelmed they go can take me away , and then they show her like in this bathtub with a box of Calgon bath soap and it's like basically , um , the idea was kind of promote that Calgon's bath products were a means of escaping in daily life and getting pampering and relaxation in your normal life . Okay , but for some reason , when baby Danny who was I mean , I was little because it was 1978 . So it was like the early eighties I was like a toddler when I heard that I was thinking like somebody was coming to take that woman and take her ass away and I swear my mom will still tell you like I would start crying as soon as I heard it .

Speaker 2 53:00

Oh my god , is that not hilarious ? Yeah , because like that's the last thing from a scary , but again , when you're a small toddler preschool kid .

Speaker 1 53:10

You can't think in that , like you know , critical thinking way of like . Anyway , yeah , but so that was just a funny little and also .

Speaker 1 53:18

Here's another fun fact that I never knew about Calgon , because they still have tons of bath products out . The name is actually derived from the phrase calcium gone because they , when they created Calgon the product was originally used for cleaning and then and then bathing so they wanted to say there's no calcium in their product , so they called it Calgon . Is that not funny ? I like it . I just thought it was some made up word , but it had a purpose .

Speaker 2 53:42

It has a purpose .

Speaker 1 53:43

Yeah .

Speaker 2 53:44

Okay , that's it . That's my last bit of trivia .

Speaker 1 53:46

I love it I can't .

Speaker 2 53:47

I'm trying to think , if I , if we use any Calgon products in our house , I'll have to look up what they manufacture these days .

Speaker 1 53:53

Again . We have so many options and in the 80s you didn't have a lot , you know , and we didn't have all like the natural stuff we have now . Everything was chemicals .

Speaker 2 54:04

But not calcium .

Speaker 1 54:05

Not calcium , don't worry about calcium .

Speaker 2 54:07

You know all the other things , yes .

Speaker 1 54:09

Please don't send me stuff with Calgon . Take me away on it . Y'all be scaring me . Oh , we need to correct something . Yeah , something . Yeah , because this came up . I saw Lindsay last night , so in our NeverEnding Story episode I made a whoopsie . If y'all can believe it , I messed something up . I know I was talking about somebody being a voice actor on the Simpsons and I incorrectly said Frank Azaria . Three people now have texted me or Katie in the past week or two that it's Hank Azaria . My bad , everyone which you know , I do know that , but it wasn't typed up on your paper .

Speaker 2 54:44

We were just off the cuff chatting , which is fine , but anyway , thank you to everyone . Hank , it's .

Speaker 1 54:48

Hank Azaria .

Speaker 2 54:49

We know We've been properly scolded .

Speaker 1 54:51

So our friend Lindsay texted us . She's like , by the way , and I'm like , yeah , I know you're the third one . She's like I'm sorry , I'm like no , no , no , no , no , I'm not saying that like I'm pissed , no Like , correct me because we need it . Oh my gosh .

Speaker 2 55:01

We don't .

Speaker 1 55:01

We're the only people who mess with this podcast , besides Katie's husband , and he doesn't listen to it .

Speaker 2 55:06

No , he doesn't know . He would have corrected that I know , I know a call guys . Katie has an exciting call in a few minutes , hey all right , I had to get back up there because I was still stuck . I was like my voice is going to stay down here all day .

Speaker 1 55:27

Get me out of here .

Speaker 2 55:28

All right , so just one question each .

Speaker 1 55:29

Yeah , all right , we're doing trivia

Commercial Trivia and Episode Wrap-up

Speaker 1 55:31

guys .

Speaker 2 55:31

First one , we do trivia . At the end we have an 80s box and a 90s box . Today I've got the 90s and Dani has the 80s , so you should go first .

Speaker 1 55:42

Oh my God , this one's so good and I love this so much . Which one of these stars from the 80s did not have an aerobic workout video ? Oh God , are you ready ? Jane Fonda , angela Lansbury , arnold Schwarzenegger and Betty White I think we've had this one before . We have .

Speaker 2 55:53

No , I'm almost positive . Are you serious ? Yeah , I don't remember this Shocker . The thing is , I don't know if I remember the answer . I think it's Betty White .

Speaker 1 56:00

Yeah , you're right .

Speaker 2 56:01

Yeah , I think we've had this one .

Speaker 1 56:03

Angela Lansbury workout .

Speaker 2 56:04

What I'll have to check it out .

Speaker 1 56:06

Murder . She wrote Just kidding we're going to do jumping jacks .

Speaker 2 56:09

I kind of need to find that now .

Speaker 1 56:11

I know .

Speaker 2 56:11

I need to find it . Okay , all get the answer to score .

Speaker 1 56:18

Okay .

Speaker 2 56:18

Number of NSYNC members minus the number of Backstreet Boys oh my God , number of NSYNC .

Speaker 1 56:27

I thought there was only four . It must be five and four . So one , it's five and five Zero .

Speaker 2 56:33

I was like that's a trick question . So , NSYNC is what Justin Timberlake .

Speaker 1 56:37

JC .

Speaker 2 56:37

JC .

Speaker 1 56:39

Joey Fatone was like that's a trick question , I think is what , justin ?

Speaker 2 56:41

timberlake , jc . Jc . Joey fatone . Joey fat one . That's joey fat one . Yeah , he's not bad . Um , no , he's not . That's just how his name is written lance bass . And then why can't I think of his name ? I can see him in my head . Who's that ? Chris kirkpatrick . That's it , chris kirkpatrick . So that's the in sync ax street boys is howie howie . Is it howie ? Howard ? What ? There are not two .

Speaker 1 56:58

Howies .

Speaker 2 56:58

No , it's .

Speaker 1 56:59

Kevin Howie and Kevin Howie .

Speaker 2 57:01

Yeah , okay , howie Kevin , there's two Howies . I'm almost positive . I think you're right . So , howie , howie Kevin , Wait , wait , wait , wait , aj Brian and .

Speaker 1 57:08

Brian and Nick . There's an AJ right , there's not two Howies . It's Howie who lives here and we need to get him on the show somehow .

Speaker 2 57:18

I know we're getting him on the show .

Speaker 1 57:20

It's Howie , aj , kevin , brian , no , yeah , yes , and Nick , okay , like two Howies . But then I was questioning myself because you were so set .

Speaker 2 57:31

Well , when we turn off the camera , we'll double check . No , that , that's right . That is right . Are we sure there's a Brian ? Yes , he's the one who had heart surgery . Okay , you know , yeah , I do . Okay , yeah , all right , good , wow , all right , everyone .

Speaker 2 57:44

Well , make sure that you are not only sending us our corrections , but reviewing us , yes , and sharing us on social media and following us on social media and telling your friends all about us . And if you want more fun , we have some after show episodes a lot of them over on Patreon yeah . And if you're a paid Apple subscriber , you get those too . Nice , yeah , so sounds good . We'll see you guys back on for Dawson's Creek yeah , bye , bye .