Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Here's a couple Christmas themed spots from 1970. The first is a TV station animation package that local affiliates used to put their logos on. Not sure if these were just time-fillers. The second is a Goodyear record promotion for the Great Songs of Christmas... and you thought they only made tires and blimps.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I don't want to grow up...

With Christmas fast approaching I’ve decided to post some rare toy commercials from my favorite decade, the 70s. To kick things off, how about one of the earliest examples of a Toys R Us commercial. This ad aired in 71-72 timeframe when Toys R Us was owned by Interstate Stores. Interstate, which already owned several other chains (White Front and Topps Department Stores and Children's Bargain Town USA) purchased Toys R Us from founder Charles Lazarus in 1967. During this timeframe, Interstate was expanding its operations aggressively with stores in Washington DC and Baltimore markets. Lazarus remained to run the stores, eventually becoming CEO in the mid-70s, outlasting Interstate’s bankruptcy and re-emergence as Toys R Us, Inc. You can read an excellent summary of the history of Toys R Us over at the Pleasant Family Shopping Center’s blog.