Back in the day you got your family in the car after work on payday and headed to the nearest McDonald’s for a treat. Or maybe you were visited by the Swanson man for your dinner. Or perhaps the only time you got ice cream was from the creepy-toned ice cream truck rolling around the neighbourhood. Your mother got wind of new Kool-aid flavours from women’s mags and the town busybody. Then came television and suddenly, there was food everywhere and we all knew about it and we all wanted it. Advertising moguls used every trick in the book to create ads that tugged at the heart strings and the purse strings. Here are some awesome, unforgettable ads that got you to eat more than you should.
Who can forget Annette Funicello extolling the virtues of Skippy Peanut Butter, or the Kool-Aid Man busting through a wall or those deliciously horrifically unhealthy TMNT pudding pies (I assure you, you did not dream those)? Who bought pudding pops hawked by Bill Cosby or begged for Smurfs cereal or thought Pac-Man Pasta was the absolute gourmet of kidfood? And whose parents got classy with After8 mints and International Foods coffees? And on that subject, who was just dying to see those two goofy adults finally get together over coffee in their long running ad campaign?
Every cartoon in the 80s had a cereal and we all wanted every single box- notwithstanding the awesome prizes that may be found within those cardboard boxes of sugar and synthetic colouring. If you wanted to be a Pepper like Dr. Pepper, took the Pepsi challenge with your school chums, waited anxiously for the 10 minutes McDonalds carried their yearly Shamrock shakes or downed your drink in a Rax Alligator cup, then you just might be an 80s kid. Explore the Yello80s food pages for more tasty memories!
Ready Brek Cereal courtesy 80sNostalgiaDotCom