by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)
I need a break from this surreal era. My brain must know this, because the last few weeks I’ve found myself humming tunes from the earliest decades of my life. What lurks in the deep recesses of my mind are the commercials from 1960s TV and radio.
The commercials that stuck with me are the ones with catchy jingles. Short, repetitive, often rhyming: these tunes form memory grooves among the jangled wires of my brain.
Ads in the 1960s were a bizarre juxtaposition of morality lessons with the seeds of the next generation’s “no rules” agenda.
There was a radio ad from a financial services firm where a soothing woman’s voice sang, “Never borrow money needlessly, but when you must, borrow from the bank in whom you trust, it’s HFC.” That jingle was a stark contrast from the following decades, when we have been encouraged to borrow not just for needs but for our every want.
Cigarette ads infiltrated radio and TV waves in those days. Winston ran a successful ad claiming “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” Appealing to audiences, including kids, apparently wasn’t a problem, but correct grammar was.
Some months later, an even catchier ad piggybacked on the original: “What do you want? Good grammar or good taste?”
Notwithstanding epidemiological studies as early as the 1940s regarding the dangers of smoking, tobacco companies continued expanding their markets. I recall one directed at women:
“You’ve come a long way, baby, to get where you’ve got to today! You’ve got your own cigarette now, baby. You’ve come a long long way!”
Sixties ads were more open about things that previously weren’t discussed “in polite company.” In the days when coloring one’s hair was something of a secret, Clairol assured us, “Only her hairdresser knows for sure.”
Ads delved deeper into our bathrooms. A pharmaceutical company helped us see how we could achieve more regularity with nightly pills: “Doxidan did it in the PM for a BM in the AM.” This presented an occasion for questions to my parents.
I did understand without explanation a sign at a dog show. It was the first time I’d been to a convention. I was thrilled with the multitude of products for sale, even if my folks thought our dog didn’t need them. The best sign advertised the Super Dooper Pooper Scooper. Their slogan boasted, “Thick or thin it pops right in.”
Food ads were dominated in my memory by sugared cereals, which we were forbidden except on road trips. On vacations we were thrilled to choose the little cereal boxes which you cut open with a knife, poured in milk, and spooned up fast before the waxed paper-lined cardboard got too soggy.
Frosted Flakes were “GRRRReat,” according to Tony the Tiger. I preferred “Sugar Pops are Tops.” Their name, though not the sugary formula, changed to Corn Pops in 1984.
One dish for which I’m not nostalgic is Rice-a-Roni, “The San Francisco Treat.” My great-Aunt Elsie was a lifelong San Franciscan; an eight-year-old during the Great Quake. She was disgusted by that ad, declaring, “We never eat Rice-a-Roni!”
Elsie made coffee with a raw egg, so maybe she wasn’t the best judge. But she also made great Swedish meatballs. I’m determined to replace the silly jingles in my head with memories of those tangy Swedish meatballs.
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.