Ads of My Youth

I've been reading a new book called, "The Advertised Mind" by Erik Du Plessis. I'm loving it. Right now I'm reading about how memories are created and stored. This made me think back to the first commercials I could remember (as well as a recent screening of The Little Mermaid. Disney had its best years when I was a child!). Surprisingly, the first thing I remembered were songs and jingles! Check out some of these early 90s ads that were running in my oh-so-impressionable-years.

DeBeers and the original silhouette spot ;) So dramatic.


Zest: You're not fully clean unless you're Zest-fully clean. The frame of the dad and the towel is too funny.


Cotton: The fabric of our lives! Soooo clever!


I tried my best to find the Softer Side of Sears commercials. But as you can tell, the above spots were likely tape recorded. Not the easiest to come by! Of course, I can't recall any print ads. I was reading books and Highlights - last time I checked, they don't accept advertising.

But I do remember one outdoor board that was on US-1 and 152nd St in Miami. It was a cigarette ad with a bunch of teenagers on top of a car. They looked like they were having a ball on that car, smoking and subsequently developing lung cancer. I feel like that board never changed. Did they use vinyl in the 80s-90s? 'Cause it was always the same and at one point I remember it being really faded. Oh well, enjoy my blast from the past!