What In The World Were They Selling? Quiz

Answer: Oil products sold by Texaco

Texas Oil Company (Texaco) was an American oil company. Back in those days, believe it or not, service station attendants actually came out to your car when you pulled up to the pump, checked your fluid levels, offered to clean your windshield, and sometimes offered you a free drinking glass if you filled up your vehicle. All this for around 39 to 55 cents per gallon!
(Depending on the year that you pulled in; as the years went by, the services gradually went away, as did the cheaper oil prices.)

Answer: Noxzema

Gunilla Knutsson made a series of these commercials for Noxzema shaving cream from the mid 60s to the mid 70s.

Answer: Brylcreem

The men's hair dressing, Brylcreem, was made of water, mineral oil and beeswax. It was first manufactured in 1928.

Answer: In your car's engine

Not only did Bardahl deal with "Dirty Sludge", it also addressed other problems with engine performance, like "Blackie Carbon", "Sticky Valves," and "Gummy Rings".

Answer: Serta

Davenie Johanna (Joey) Heatherton got her start in show business as a child in 1959, appearing as an understudy in Broadway's production of "The Sound Of Music". Later that same year she appeared at times on "The Perry Como Show".

During the 1970s she often appeared in ads for both RC Cola; "the one with the mad, mad taste - RC!" and for Serta mattresses. Serta mattress company was founded in 1931.

Answer: Greyhound Lines

"Go Greyhound - And leave the driving to us."
This very simple yet very effective and easily recognizable ad campaign began in 1956 for Greyhound, and it spanned four decades. I suppose the success of the ad campaign could be summed up into seven little words - "If it ain't broke; don't fix it!"

Answer: Pepsi

Pepsi was originally called "Brad's Drink" upon its inception in 1893. In 1898, it underwent its first name change, becoming "Pepsi Cola". Finally, in 1961, it began to be marketed simply as "Pepsi".

Answer: Chevrolet

Chevrolet, a division of General Motors, got its name from one of its founders, Louis Joseph Chevrolet, a Swiss national. His French ancestry is reflected in the name Chevrolet. He and his co-founder William Durant began production of their automobiles in late autumn 1911.

Answer: Alka-Seltzer

Alka-Seltzer, an antacid and pain reliever, was first marketed in 1931. It consists of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), aspirin and waterless citric acid.

The line, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing," was chosen by Newsweek magazine as one of the ten best quotes of the 1970s.

Answer: Palmolive

Jan Miner, who appeared as a manicurist named "Madge", produced over 30 years worth of commercial ads for Palmolive dishwashing liquid for manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive.

Jan died in 2004, but who will ever be able to think of Palmolive without fondly remembering this lady who tirelessly advertised for them?

Answer: Winston

Hard as it is to believe nowadays, our friends from Bedrock puffed away on cigarettes shamelessly and "sold" Winston's to the adults who watched the program. No children were ever targeted as potential new customers.
(What? You don't believe me?)

Answer: Fly The Friendly Skies

United Airlines traces its beginnings all the way back to 1926 in Boise, Idaho. As of 2014, it was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. By the early 2000s, it had become a conglomerate of various other airlines. During the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, two of the planes that the Al-Qaeda terrorists had commandeered were United Airlines planes.

United and Continental airlines merged operations in 2010, coming full circle from their roots. Both Continental and United had evolved from Varney Air Lines, a mail carrier service.

Answer: Cleaning up pollution

As a public service announcement type of advertisement, this commercial attempted to bring awareness to pollution's unsightly and unhealthy effect on the environment.

The ending tagline of the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign ad had a narrator presenting a statement; "People start pollution - people can stop it".

Answer: Jimmy Dean Sausage

Jimmy Dean and his brother Don began selling "pure pork sausage" in 1969. In 1984, the company was sold to Sara Lee Corporation, a division of Hillshire Brands for a whopping $80 million dollars!

Answer: 10, 2 and 4

On the radio during the mid 1940s, Dr. Pepper had a music program called the "10-2-4 Ranch". These numbered bottles continued to be marketed throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

The following blurb could be heard at various intervals during the radio show -

"Energy sags in the long hours between meals. So drink a bite to eat, the icy cold Dr. Pepper. Keep time in mind and drink Dr. Pepper daily at 10, 2, 4 o'clock, or anytime you are hungry or tired."

Answer: Dristan

The ad featured a man suffering from sinus congestion, who was magically whisked away (inside a suitcase) and "flown" in said luggage to what appeared to be a locale in the desert southwest.

Repeatedly throughout the commercial, the narrator made references to "sending your sinuses to Arizona", as Dristan was presented to insinuate relief from the effects of sinus allergies.

Answer: Clairol

Clairol, a division of Proctor and Gamble, wished to portray their home hair coloring kit as so being so professionally accomplished that only a hair stylist would be aware of any difference between home coloring vs. salon coloring.

Answer: Hai-Karate

"Be careful how you use it", was one of the taglines in each of the commercials for this budget-conscious aftershave product. Always some nerdy little guy was suddenly assaulted by great looking women after he had applied Hai-Karate aftershave.

Answer: Sprout

Little Green Sprout, an asparagus tip, was a Jolly Green Giant-in-training and/or a consumer. He was first introduced to the Green Giant marketing campaign in 1973, where he was ostensibly in training to grow up to be a Green Giant himself, but more often than not, he represented the consuming public.

"The Valley of the Jolly Green Giant" is a reference to the area of the Minnesota River Valley.

Answer: Tab

"Tab. What a beautiful drink.
Tab. For beautiful people."

Tab Cola was introduced into the soft drink market by Coca-Cola in 1963.

Answer: Dentyne

"That tingle tells you your breath is fresh - your mouth is clean, all day long; get that just-brushed freshness with Dentyne."

Dentyne chewing gum originally was billed as a product that could be used "To prevent decay, To sweeten the breath, To keep teeth white", as the package read, way back in 1899, even though this cinnamon flavored gum contained sugar.

Answer: Marlboro Country

In ads that ran from the 1950s through the 1970s, Marlboro cigarettes were marketed with a music score by Elmer Bernstein for the 1960 film, "The Magnificent Seven"; a western based on a 1954 Japanese film, "The Seven Samurai".

The ads were deliberately designed to attract the attention of male smokers, since filter-tipped cigarettes were largely perceived to be for women. In nearly all the ads, a cowboy, (or two, or ten) would be seen smoking a cigarette out on the range, either while getting breakfast with coffee, while working rounding up wild horses, or even around an evening campfire.

Answer: Aunt Jemima

Various ads with a similar tune graced the Aunt Jemima line of pancake and waffle products. Aunt Jemima began as a division of Quaker Oats, while the Aunt Jemima trademark dates all the way back to 1893.

Answer: 1951

Way back in 1951, three years after dinosaurs became extinct, well... not really, Tony the Tiger became the spokespers... er, spokes-TIGER for Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes.

The idea was conceived by Eugene Kolkey, an artist who was more or less commissioned to create an image for a new breakfast cereal. Tony has become more sleek over the years and more tiger-like as well. In the original ads, he appeared as a bubble-headed caricature with an almost casual persona as he meekly announced, "They're great", with very little voice inflection.
As Tony evolved, he became more and more visually and verbally sophisticated, to the point that his almost human appearance and his deeper bass voice became totally recognizable by nearly everyone as he shouted out with enthusiasm, "They're GR-R-R-REAT!"

Answer: Life

This commercial began airing in 1972 and ran for over 12 years, making it one of the longest running ads on television. Life cereal, manufactured by Quaker Oats, enjoyed years of raging success with the ad.

Perhaps because of this success, an urban legend grew out of the commercial. Supposedly, little Mikey later died as a result of eating Pop Rocks, a carbonated candy, while drinking a carbonated beverage, causing his stomach to explode. The actor who played Mikey lived into adulthood, and Pop Rocks candy had less carbonation than 1/2 of a can of carbonated beverage. In spite of this, the legend is still often repeated.