Commercial Evolution

[Frankn]

Oh, yes being old, you notice the change. I remember when car commercials gave you the info about the item. The vast HP or the high milage. The engine description, the suspension. Most of the technical aspects were presented. Now, I just saw a commercial. It featured a Santa like character with white beard. He walked into a show room. I think they were Chevys. You got a close up of the Chevy grill and the catch words. Chevy Runs Deep. I was sitting there thinking, is that in the mud? You just get meaningless phrases without real meanings. Remember "Change." Frank

 

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[bigscoop]

"Where's the beef" in today's commercials.

 

[RGINN]

Well, it's probably just as well frankn, because I really don't know how to fix much of sh*t on vehicles nowadays. My standard for buyin is if it's a pickup, it's a Chevy, and it's black and the stereo sounds good. Pretty much more how the radio sounds these days. Can't fix much of nothin on them now, so no need for the tech info in the commercials I guess. By the way, a good gauge for settin the gap on the points in the distributor is the thickness of the cardboard backing of a checkbook. Hit or miss, but pretty close, in case you need the info, which I spect nobody even knows what I'm talking about. And thanks to Rex Schmidt, old Mennonite mechanic who just naturally segued from wagons to cars without missin a beat, for givin me that tip many years ago.

 

[FarmerChick]

people used to purchase on informed decisions/info about the product-----now 'eye candy' is what sells.

if ya make it pretty enough, wrap it in a pretty bow, etc. it sells fast.

 

[spartacus53]

RGINN, you made me laugh.. I was just thinking back to the same time, especially gaping spark plugs.. WE had the little gap gauge, but would tap the plug head on the street and use a screwdriver to raise the plug until you got the fit. The brake bar adjuster and all that other good stuff is nothing more than scrap metal now

 

[wayne_sa]

Oh, yes being old, you notice the change. I remember when car commercials gave you the info about the item. The vast HP or the high milage. The engine description, the suspension. Most of the technical aspects were presented. Now, I just saw a commercial. It featured a Santa like character with white beard. He walked into a show room. I think they were Chevys. You got a close up of the Chevy grill and the catch words. Chevy Runs Deep. I was sitting there thinking, is that in the mud? You just get meaningless phrases without real meanings. Remember "Change." Frank

Meaningless phrases... remember Toyota's gem of a slogan? "Toyota; moving forward." Makes me want to rush out and buy 1. Not.

 

[Frankn]

Rginn. Match book cover gaped the points. Now there are no points. I have completely rebuilt engines including one with wet sleeves where I replaced the cylinders also. Today, it's hard to find the engine. Frank

 

[tncreeker]

I miss the smell of "Real" exhaust fumes.
My fav. commercial is the truck thats towing a horse trailor w/horses in it and gets stuck in the mud. Takes the horses out and tows the truck and trailor out. Oh, and "Can you say Hemi"
Best truck I ever had was a Dodge Ram 1996, when I sold it in 2009 it had 289,000 miles on it. Had duels on it and went blablablablabla when it ran,,,man she was strong.
Thats all I have to say about that

 

[Frankn]

Did you notice that the truck that got stuck was 4 wheel drive? Did you also notice that the puddle was the only wet spot on his trip? Frank

 

[tncreeker]

Nope,,,,,I didnt analyze the commercial. That would take the funny away. It wasnt about the truck. It was the thinking that went into the solution.

 

[packerbacker]

"You'll wonder where the yellow went
when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent!.......Now, THAT had meaning!

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

What about the 'Burna shave ones?

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Frankn]

TNcreeker, Thinking? why didn't he just drop it in 4 wheel drive?

REal, Yea they were really strungout. Ever see South of the Border Bill boards?

 

[deepskyal]

Hahaha...I used the matchbook for gauging points...

When I was in highschool back in '71, I took "Media analysis" as a class. One of our projects back then was to survey the student body on what they thought were the best and worst commercials showing at the time.

The best then was the Alka-Seltzer commercial with all the vegetables in the bed with the guy...might have been heartburn....kinda hazy the exact commercial now.

The one that got the most disliked was the "Kotex" commercials. They just hit TV back then and a lot of anger over something so personal being advertised on tv. Eww and yuk were a big response to it...lol. Nobody was ready for it to be public. Just a dirty secret til then.

Now, I watch in amazement and wonder what the heck some of these commercials are trying to sell...

Time have changed

Al

 

[tncreeker]

Yeah yeah, I know how old this is. I just always wanted to tell Franklin what my commercial was about. Its a friggin Viagra ad. I never even paid enough attention to realize it intil much later. I still like it. I also HATE South of the border billboards. Yeah, times have changed on TV as far as ads go. I`m still shocked every now and then by what shows up on the screen. Thats all,,,have a happy day everybody.

 

[ECS]

... Ever see South of the Border Bill boards?

"Pedro sez..."

 

[texasred777]

Yep, at 72 I've seen a lot of those old ones. Some were funny, some were entertaining, some contained some great info. Now, I very seldom watch tv. (Actually about a 3rd of my time is spent here on TNet!)
The vehicles today have too much on them to try to tell the viewers about. So many electronics, so much cheap trim that costs a fortune, and for looks----there have been very few vehicles on the market during the last few years, that I would call decent looking. I don't like the styles. I guess I haven't evolved enough to think of the newer models as 'pretty' or 'eye candy'.
I've repaired a lot of the older models. Until a few years ago, I repaired my own vehicles and very seldom took one to a mechanic. Now, I am just not physically able to do much. I believe the last time I overhauled an engine was in 2005. I had a small Jeep Cherokee with a bad crankshaft and some of the seals in the tranny were leaking. I pulled the tranny to reseal it, and while I had it out, I replaced the crank, and overhauled the engine. Even had to replace all of the seals in the fuel injectors. It was an old 1989 model. Wish I'd kept it. I sold it before leaving Texas in 2007.
Remember the hex wrench to set the points on GM distributors? Turn the wrench clockwise until the engine missed, then back it off a bit. Don't remember how much, maybe half or 3/4 turn? 'Course there were the flexible tools for setting the points instead of the hex wrench. You were supposed to check the dwell after setting the points, but not many did, except professional mechanics.

 

[Nitric]

My first car had points, that's where I learned the match book trick! Because I could never remember to turn the key off when setting the points with the metal gauge.