Television ad downtimes when cable was the big source for entertainment had so much fun with mascots and other distinctive features, bringing back childhood memories of nostalgic joy to people. Nowadays, though, ads are highly forgettable and have no sense of fun as much as they did back then. So where did all this fun go?
The new commercials have indubitably evolved and changed throughout the years and the comparisons are so different from one another with how they have changed. The only problem is that the new commercials SUCK.
They have completely devolved so badly that they added a skip feature because even other companies know no one enjoys them anymore.
Factors such as memorability, entertainment factor and intrigue are all required to become a good ad. The old commercials crushes all of the above, while the new commercials almost never check off all three.
The old had so much depth into the message of what the commercial was trying to promote, throwing in a catchy jingle (who can forget the unforgettable “save big money at Menards” and slogan with an even more famous mascot like Mr. Peanut, the Geico Gecko, the Kool-Aid Man, Mr. Clean, even Ronald McDonald.
The famous Mr. McD. He hasn’t been in any commercials, like, at all. He’s still so popular, yet he hasn’t appeared in an ad for McDonalds since August of this year. That may not seem like a long time, but considering he was in every new commercial every day back then is a big deal. So big that they had him as a bench statue to give comfort to customers (which didn’t work by the way).
The old commercials companies’ mascots were all so fun to use by their respected companies and even more fun with how they promoted their product. The Kool-Aid Man’s famous “OH YEAH!” through the brick wall, or any wall in fact, the Geico Gecko’s nerdiness with his customers, and the M&M’s sticky situation they had to get out of were all so fun to see.
Now take a look at new commercials in modern days; name one single mascot that is actually cool and completely original and has brought fun, please enlighten me. The best thing we got was the addition of the purple M&M voiced by the great Amber Ruffin in the big 2023, but even that isn’t really original and didn’t make anyone want to buy that product more.
Even the color and excitement is lost. Remember when a toy mecha bot fighting an even bigger toy dino would use impact frames and make the product pop with an awesome product? Now, it’s just someone using the product with a co-worker telling them what their product does and it is the most boring thing ever.
So as to not completely shame the new commercials, let’s give them some props. Grubhub commercials have been killing it lately even becoming viral with their animation and currently the most liked “new” commercial to my current understanding. Their rights to the song Soy Yo, by Bomba was a very funny video for food especially.
The most entertaining new commercial undoubtedly is the LiMu Emu & Doug commercial, genuinely the best form of entertainment ever for a break. You don’t even listen to what he’s promoting or what he does, you’re just watching Mr. Emu do his thing in the background.
Their slogan is an absolute masterpiece, the catchy “LiMu Emuuuuuu… and Doug” is so funny and memorable and the only thing I probably won’t mind not being able to skip.
Sprite has been also killing it pulling the classic “Mariah Carrey” run with releasing their seasonal Sprite Cranberry even featuring Lebron James in 2017.
Also props to Burger King for creating their now famous “whopper whopper whopper whopper” commercial making an actual catchy new slogan becoming more popular.
Superbowl ads in general have been carrying new commercials representation and are the only real competition compared to the old commercials. And they are still losing with the memorability factor.
Old commercials are way better than the new commercials. How long will it take for a new commercial to surpass one of the old greats?
