Ads Nauseam Trivia Quiz

Answer: AT&T

Who remembers Ma Bell? Well, in the last century, Bell Telephone (1877-1984) had an image as an uncaring monopoly so they hired the old, established advertising firm of N.W. Ayer to help soften the perception. In April 1979, they began a print and TV campaign using Marshall McLuhan's tagline "Reach out and touch someone".

In the 1987 AT&T commercial, you can see all the actors happily using the 'new' push-button 'touch' phones. It all seems so ancient now.

Answer: Bounty

For twenty years Nancy Walker played Rosie, a waitress at a New Jersey diner. So what, you ask? Rosie would illustrate how Bounty paper towels were the "quicker picker upper" for the messes created by some of the slobs who frequented the diner. It quickly became a well-known catchphrase. Presumably, it helped boost sales of the product. If the name Nancy Walker seems familiar to you, she also played Ida, Rhoda Morganstern's mother, and the housekeeper, Mildred, on "McMillan & Wife".

Answer: Coca-Cola

The soft drink Coca-Cola (Coke) has been making commercials since 1886, many of them noteworthy and memorable. The very first said simply "Drink Coca-Cola and enjoy it", but that was before the advent of big advertising firms. In 1929, the company came out with "the pause that refreshes"; much later the 'pause' turned to 'paws' with the cute polar bear commercial.

It was 1941 when we were told "Coca-Cola is Coke!". In 1963 "Things go better with Coke" and, finally in 1969 "It's the real thing". Two of my favorites were the ad with Mean Joe Greene and the 'kid', and the song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".

Answer: Crest

Yeah, like kids really ran home after the dentist to tell their mothers "Look Ma, no cavities"; but in 1959, the ad firm of Benton and Bowles used Norman Rockwell-like pictures of kids and that slogan in print ads for Life and The Saturday Evening Post to sell Crest toothpaste.

The Proctor and Gamble product was, at the time, third in the great toothpaste race, right after Gleem and Colgate Dental Cream. And who could ever forget the active ingredient 'Fluoristan'?

Answer: Esso

"Put a tiger in your tank" became one of the most well-known ad campaigns in history. The slogan was created in the newspapers in 1959 to help boost sales for Esso gasoline, which later became Exxon and then morphed into Exxon Mobile. The 'tiger' (whose name was "Freddy") was to show the performance boost you would get by using this product. In 1965, the average cost of a gallon of Regular cost 31 cents. "Happy Motoring!"
I wonder if Freddy is related to Tony the Tiger; they look suspiciously similar.

Answer: Lay's

In 1932, Herman Lay opened a snack food business in Ohio. In 1944, the company, now called 'Lay Lay's Lingo Company, was the first snack food manufacturer to purchase television commercials; Bert Lahr ('the cowardly lion') was the celebrity spokesperson.

In 1961, the organization merged with Frito to form Frito-Lay, Inc., and shortly thereafter introduced their famous slogan "Betcha can't eat just one", which is not only a culinary fact but a scientific one as well. In 1965, Frito-Lay merged with the the Pepsi-Cola Company to create PepsiCo, Inc.

Answer: L'Oreal

It doesn't seem likely that an advertising slogan could help fuel a social revolution, but L'Oreal's slogan did just that. The time was 1973 and 'feminism' was in its infancy. L'Oreal used the advertising firm of McCann Erickson, who just happened to have hired a woman as a copywriter (think "Mad Men" a decade earlier). Only a woman would think to create the phrase "because I'm worth it" for a cosmetic product; a product from the point of view of a woman! It has, since, taken on a much larger meaning and sentiment as a celebration of women. "You go, girl!"

Answer: Nike

In the fitness world, there are few slogans as recognizable as Nike's "Just Do It". And how many slogans can be credited with saving a company from going under? Yes, in the winter of 1987 Nike was in the midst of the biggest sales slump in its history, having just laid off 20% of its workers.

At the time, Nike targeted elite athletes, i.e., men involved in competitive sports, while alienating most of its potential customer base. They decided to widen their target market and, in 1988, "Just Do It" was born. Over the next ten years, Nike's sales increased by a remarkable one thousand per cent!

Answer: Timex

Ah, back we go to the 1950s and John Cameron Swayze, a TV journalist and game show panelist who became the spokesperson for Timex watches; in those days, anchormen were permitted to do commercials. He was responsible for delivering the famous line "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking". Swayze would put the watch through various 'torture tests' to prove that, no matter what you did to the watch, it would keep on working.

In one live commercial, the watch was hooked up to a motor boat propeller to show it was waterproof and shockproof - but it disengaged from the propeller and fell into the water. However, when the camera zoomed in, the watch was still going!

Answer: United

"Fly the friendly skies of United" is certainly an iconic tagline. Developed in 1965 by Leo Burnett, the slogan was used continuously until 1996 when United left the agency. During that time, i.e., in 1987, United began using an orchestra to play Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" as a background theme.