In one of my recent Flashback Friday posts on classic condiment ads, I mentioned that I could literally go on forever and ever about some of my favorite classic ad campaigns. It’s true too! I’ve had so many ideas come into my head for posts, that I could literally make all of my Friday posts about old commercials. So I decided to split off the ads from my regular Flashback series, and create their own weekly slot. Since Tuesday is one of the least likely days for me to post here, I’ll make that the designated day for posting about old commercials…. I just need a catchy name for it.
Since I got a few requests last time for the classic 1984 “Where’s the Beef?” Wendy’s ad, I’ll let it lead off the new format.
Fluffy buns…
Created to mock the skimpy meat used on the burgers at other fast food joints, Wendy’s hit slogan gold in this commercial featuring three prim and proper old ladies walking up to inspect the burger on the counter. While the first two ladies marvel at the size of the bun, Clara Peller cuts right to the heart of the matter and exclaims the phrase that would make her famous. Just like Edith Fore later, Peller wasn’t front and center in this ad… yet she was the one who uttered the words that got America talking, and she remained famous until she died 3 years after the ad originally aired.
These sesame seeds are murder on my hemorrhoids!
Did you know that this commercial helped bring us the most lopsided Presidential election in US history? It’s true!!! Well… kind of. The Wiki article on the catchphrase will give you a more detailed understanding its political significance, but Walter Mondale used “Where’s the beef?” as a retort to his chief rival in the 1984 Democratic primary Gary Hart when the Senator would rave about his “new ideas”. Mondale was able to disarm Hart’s “new ideas” enough to win the Democratic nomination for President, where he advanced to the Bonus Round to be taken to the woodshed by Ronald Reagan 425-13.
Donna Rice knows where the beef is….
“Where’s the beef?” is such an enduring catchphrase that it is still pretty universally recognized by many people today almost thirty years later. It perfectly sums up our feelings we usually have every time we’re presented with something extravagant and dressed up and hyped… but overall lacking in substance.
How come nobody from Carl’s Jr. or Hardees ever asked this question?
We’ll see you back here next week with yet another skimpy old ad wrapped in a big, fluffy bun!
