If you wanted to see the influence that MTV had on advertising in the mid 80's, this Bubble Yum commercial was a clear example. It looks just like a music video by The Cars with all the colorful 2-D backgrounds and random objects floating by in the foreground. For some reason this "Magic Taxi" makes me think of the Neutrinos from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, cruising around in their flying Corvette.

Confession time, I hate bubble gum. I was glad when I heard that Rowdy Roddy Piper was all out of it in They Live, because blowing bubbles grosses me out and makes me gag. That being said, I feel like bubble gum was such signature imagery for teenagers in 80's pop culture that I can't dismiss the concept entirely. I always imagined every cute girl I saw from 1986-1988 had a pack of Bubble Yum in her purse. Still, why couldn't pretzel sticks have been the choice of a new generation?

Juicy Fruit

Now chewing gum, that I can get behind, especially when the theme song is so catchy. Juicy Fruit was never my gum of choice (I usually just stole my sister's cinnamon Dentyne) but that jingle is another 80's ear worm that never left my mental playlist. Add to that the imagery of hip college students taking part in exciting outdoor sports and the thrilling advertising kept the brand alive in my heart.

In this particular example the group is out for a ski trip, which seemed to be the default activity for the yuppie youth of the 80's. How many sitcom scenarios can you remember where the goal was to earn money for a ski trip, getting caught on a snowy road after sneaking out for a ski trip or wacky physical comedy with skis and poles? It was a national obsession! Of course in the 90's it switched to EXTREME snowboarding, but brightly colored snow suits were so much more memorable.

Kool-Aid

This commercial really shows off the "everything but the kitchen sink" attitude advertisers used to get children's attention back in the day. You get a man in a gorilla suits showing off his Kool-Aid guts, Claymation Kool-Aid men bouncing around a kitchen table and the big guy even lets a little girl steal his wall crashing "Oh Yeah" routine. The classic imagery of drawing the Kool-Aid Man face with the condensation on a glass pitcher really hits the nostalgia button. I remember the day I decided to try it for myself and put my Mom through the ringer. 

First of all, I was adamant that the pitcher had to be the same shape as the one on the commercial, which led to several minutes of digging through our cupboards. Then I kept demanding, "More ice!" as the condensation wasn't forming fast enough in my impatient young mind. When I finally carved the face in the thin layer of water with my finger I was saddened to find that Kool-Aid man's features were barely visible and quickly faded away. Ah well, at least I tried.

Oreos Disneyland Sweepstakes

Commercials from Nabisco were always a big tease to me, since the only way I ever got to enjoy store bought cookies was when I visited a friend's house after school. But this particular ad has a special place in my heart because it led to the one and only time my Mom agreed to let Oreos into our house. I convinced her that it wasn't so much about the chocolate cookies with questionable cream filling, but our chance to win big from The Walt Disney Company.

I specifically remember the excitement of twisting the top off of that fake Oreo game piece and the subsequent disappointment when "The Mouse" failed to fulfill my fantasy of a free trip to Disneyland. Looking back now, I find it very interesting that the animated Mickey model they used is based on the Electronic Talking Mickey Mouse toy (Disney's answer to Teddy Ruxpin) and that the doll even appears in the commercial to show off the mugs or watches all the "losers" could receive as a consolation prize. Talk about synergy!

That's it for this look back at the best retro TV commercials. Which of these ads do you remember? You can subscribe to my YouTube page here for many, many more of these 80's time capsules. You can also follow me on Twitter @hojukoolander where I regularly tweet out an announcement of the latest batch of retro videos from my archives.