Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Another "Just for Fun" Classic Ad



Ah, the seventies- when colors were garish and washed-out, paisley and wide collars were in, and canned dog food ads were scheduled in prime time during "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Fantasy Island."

When men could say things like "Why isn't the dog getting Alpo?" in a mildly threatening, accusatory tone, and not get smacked down by a sharp-tongued, far-more-intelligent female who with an eye roll and a "why do I bother you're so damned stupid" retort that puts the guy back in his place in roughly 1.3 seconds.

When it was perfectly plausible to see allegedly heterosexual men carefully explain how their preferred brand of dog food contains slightly more beef by-product than the Brand X the Silly Little Woman Who Doesn't Know Any Better bought. (Of course, we still have commercials like this today- guys cavorting with their dogs and explain why Beniful With Real Animal Parts is chock full of all the yummy things Daddy's Bestest Friend Weally Weally Loves. Ugh.)

And when commercials could end with Silly Little Woman saying something like "you're so smart!" I mean, can you even IMAGINE hearing a woman say those things in a commercial nowadays? PLEASE!! Men have been downright dangerous/stupid bags of rocks in ads since at least the late-80s! If this commercial was remade today, it would end with the female stepping in to save the dog from being accidentally poisoned, set on fire, or otherwise eliminated by the Big Male Moron whose best intentions leave death and destruction in his wake.

BTW, think this over: No matter how well that dog ate in real life, it's dead now, and has been dead for a long, long time. Also- was this dog really named "Alpo?" Seems odd to me. But then- it WAS the Seventies.

5 comments:

  1. I wanna know why she was wasting money buying the nasty-not-Alpo food if they already had some in the cabinet.

    What a waste of that man's hard-earned money!

    I gotta go now, someone has to do the dishes!

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  2. Well, if we needed a reminder that only the way in which ads stank on ice changed, we've got one. Just between you and me, I'm glad cell phones weren't commonplace back then; I'd have hated to see what seventies ad men would have done to promote them.

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  3. It would have involved perms and strobe lights, no doubt.

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  4. It's all the fault of the Berenstain Bears children's books-- Father Bear is ALWAYS wrong and Mama is ALWAYS right. We've got a whole generation or tow who grew up with them.

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  5. Yeah, in the '70s insulting commercials were equal-opportunity--they insulted women as well as men. My favorite part of this one? That kitchen wallpaper. Was the designer on acid? Why would anyone want to have to look at THAT in their kitchen for years?

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