Now I pulled this commercial up both the iconic commercial itself, and for the YouTube commentary.  Obviously I had to screen out a lot of the “typical YouTube comments” (and those who’ve seen a lot of YouTube comments know what I’m talking about).

• “Hey, why did you break the screen?! Steve Jobs was about to announce a new product!” -randomusername6 (1 week ago)
• “kind of ironic isnt it???? thank God for jailbreaking” - elbertproductions (1 day ago)
• “It’s sorta ironic now right… Apple’s like Napoleon from Animal Farm huh.” -jianghaolie 1 day ago
• “And now APPLE has turned into BigBrother with its monopolistic practices and heavy-handed bullying of its suppliers. Ironic…” - IceBreaker1881

There’s so many layers of irony being applied here that we could probably build “Cybertron” out of it.

Now, there’s a number of very interesting things going on here:

Champion of Recycling!

Move over, Captain Planet!  Captain Action even has an insignia similar to the recycling symbol.  As the last video was rather for a recent (Feb 2011) promo, he’s a recycled idea.  In his own time, he was a toy that could be recycled.  Heck, Captain Action (and GI Joe to a lesser extent) was basically the original “expansion pack” toy, much like many video games.

Super-Heroes Are Mostly Branding!

If all it takes to transform Batman into Superman into The Phantom into Flash Gordon is to change the clothes, it just goes to show you that super-heroes are mostly branding and accessories.

Captain Action:  The Toy with Apps!

Anyone else wonder if they might as well just sell him like an iPad and then let people buy their kid the “apps” they want?  As most popular characters really are just branding, just pick up different heads, clothes and accessories.  With a universal base product it’d be easy to produce various other parts that would be perfectly compatible.  Sell the base doll super-cheap and rake in profits with the add-ons.  Then release Captain Action 2 next year with a few extras (more articulation, sound chips) and repeat.

It’s surprising how something so old can be so modern, isn’t it?

If you note in the commercial, they’re essentially testosterone-friendly Barbie dolls.  Instead of ‘clothes and accessories’, G.I. Joe has “equipment” but those kids are still playing dress-up with their dollies.  Hasbro even coined the term ‘action figure’ to further differentiate their toy line.  The series went through several changes, but ultimately went back to their roots with the 12 inch line.

G.I. Joe is really notable for Hasbro’s marketing job — they got cartoons, movies, celebrity tie-ins (American football player Refrigerator Perry, professional wrestler “Sergeant Slaughter” and a few others) and they even did a crossover with Capcom’s Streetfighter.

Some of the later commercials are amusing for the wrong reasons.

Still, no matter how macho they try to make the line, boys are still be playing with dolls.  Now you know –  and knowing is half the battle!

Two points of interest:

• Blockbuster appears to be on the way to disappearing like Little Caeser’s other fictional ‘neighbours’
• Current technology allows businesses to ‘team up’ easier than ever… so why aren’t they?

For example:

• Buy pizza, tweet who you bought it from, get a Netflix goodie.
• Buy a pizza, check-in via Gowalla or Foursquare and get a special offer from nearby locations
• Post your intent to buy a pizza, and let Little Caeser’s and their partners team up to create the ultimate deal:  “Buy 2 pizzas, Netflix will give you a 25% off coupon, LaBatt’s will give you 10% off a six-pack and a nearby Shopper’s Drugmart will give you a Pepto Bismal/Tums combo for 15% off”

Just because you’re a local business doesn’t mean you’ve got the qualifications to speak to your customers however… at least not in a commercial.

A series of train wrecks brought to us via revision3:

When you’re a local business, you really can’t compete on a pure price basis.  Unless you’ve been around awhile, you’re not an established brand.  You need to be seen as trustworthy, and providing something to consumers that they just can’t get at a big-brand.

While producing commercials like these certainly make a small business stand out from the big corporate players, the only trait they demonstrate is a lack of sound judgment.

Social media like YouTube has levelled the playing field when it comes to being seen.  So yes, everyone has their own newspaper, television station and radio.  But being able to broadcast doesn’t make one any more qualified to do so than owning a screwdriver makes one an electrical engineer.

(Thanks to pepsiforever for posting it to YouTube)

Now I only wanted to focus on two things:

• One — Commercials really haven’t changed much.  Sure, the old one has weaker audio/video and an obvious skip when showing the peanuts, but it’s really no worse or forgettable than many modern commercials are.  If anything, it’s more memorable because it’s so bad.  (Worked for Menthos)
• Two –  The commercial also bears a remarkable resemblance to what a modern video hobbyist might create — cheesie, kinda weird, and has a sort of kitsch charm.

What’s the take-away?  Nobody remembers a “safe” ad.  I’m pretty sure that Snickers commercial was considered “safe” for its time, and the only reason why it sticks out now is because it’s laughably bad.

There are several parallels between this and modern attempts by brands to use social media.  Regardless of what you think about making Jell-O with veggies (even though they probably taste good it’s really weird), the brand was trying to get creative.  My focus however, is the attempt to popularize “National Jell-O Week”.

When a brand tries to spearhead a movement, it’s very much like when they attempt to create viral videos — even when it sort of works, it feels fake and usually it never catches on.  Sort of like how Cliff from “Cheers” tried to get people to use a nickname he created for himself.  Just doesn’t work.

The attempt here would only be successful if enough people were already putting veggies in their Jell-O, or if a small group of hardcore gelatin fans decided that there should be a “National Jell-O Week”.

The real missing ingredient from these attempts is “What’s in it for me?”.  When holidays or events are organized naturally, they’re successful because everyone who participates gets something of value from the experience, even if it’s just a feeling of goodwill.  The only one who’d benefit from “National Jell-O Week” would be Jell-O.  The same principals apply to any social marketing — unless the participants get something out of it (entertainment, a feeling of doing good, etc) it’s not going to be successful.

racegirlbriar posted one, and it’s just as good now as it was then:

Wouldn’t mind seeing some of these ads of the past going for another run today.