RAD COMMERCIALS VOL. 1: SPOOKY EDITION!
RAD COMMERCIALS VOL. 1: SPOOKY EDITION!
Grimey
Welcome to the first installment of Rad Commercials! In this series, we will examine a selection of our favorite commercials that we felt deserved at least a couple hundred words said about each. And, in honor of the Halloween season, we will be exploring some picks that will be appropriately fitting! Enjoy!
THE PIZZA HEAD SHOW TRICK OR TREAT
(youtube user: froggo frog)
Pizza Head, the live action pizza slice used from 1993 to 1997 to advertise sweet new Pizza Hut promotions, gear and food items. I have always been a huge fan of The Pizza Head Show commercials. While the storyline always follows the same pattern, a cute jingle in the beginning followed by a normal everyday event turning for the worst when he meets Steve the pizza cutter, they've managed to keep me entertained each commercial.
This particular commercial advertises Pizza Huts, at the time, new stuffed crust pizza. This honestly surprises me. They've only been stuffing crust since 95? Crazy. It's practically the first style of pizza I think about when ordering from the hut. In case anyone cares, this is the 6th "episode" from the Pizza Head Show to be aired. One thing I always thought was weird about the Pizza Head Show is that he's always trying to get to Pizza Hut which forces us to believe he's a cannibalistic pizza slice. If those aren't the perfect ingredients for a fucking B horror movie than I don't know what is.
REESES PEANUT BUTTER CUP HALLOWEEN
(youtube user: Church of Halloween)
I searched high and low to get any and all information on this one and to no avail "Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Halloween Commercial" is the best I could find. It'll do.
I'm slightly jealous of this commercial for 2 reasons. 1. I'll never know what it's like to watch horror movies in the 80's fresh off the press in the movie theaters and 2. I'll never get away with eating a jar of peanut butter with a spoon in a movie theater. I can barely muster up the courage to sneak in normal theater treats passed the ticket booth let alone a fucking jar of peanut butter.
1995 PEPSI CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST
(youtube user: ewjxn)
No stranger at all to Casper. As kids, my little brother and I wore our VHS copy down to powder one watch at a time. I could be wrong but I swear I've seen this commercial before the movie on that same tape. I'm probably wrong.
Maybe it's just my affection for ghostly beings fronting unhealthy sugary liquid getting the best of me but this spot takes me back to the old Slimer Ecto Cooler bit. I wouldn't say that Casper was near as cool as Slimer. However, he was obviously in with PepsiCo and also made his way into Pizza Hut as well; something I thought only 4 mutated ninjitsu teenager turtles were capable of.
WHAT, NO DIP? PEPSI - FRITO LAY HALLOWEEN
(youtube user: TheRetroKing)
Another PepsiCo commercial from the best era in time probably ever; the one that had us all quoting Dracula for the better part of a decade.
PepsiCo/Frito Lay were no stranger to Halloween. Between commercials, posters, boxes of pop cans, shirts, advertisements, store displays and standees; PepsiCo/Frito Lay felt like home to the Universal Monsters.
Frank is doing his best for this party, which is already heated up without him as far as I can tell. He even carries this Pepsi truck above his head which easily weighs more than 7k lbs. gross weight just to be asked why he didn't bring any dip. Those vampires can be a real pain in the neck. *budum tis*
1994 PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCH CEREAL
(youtube user: augustv123)
Resembling that old Zombie Miller Light commercial comes this beautifully overplayed Peanut Butter Crunch advertisement. If I remember correctly, they played this fucker WELL after the Halloween season. I'm talking years after. I remember this thing being a regular spot for a very long time and was not upset at all about it.
This one is throwing me through a tizzy. The whole commercial all I can see is these goofy looking things sitting on top of the zombies spoons that sorta resemble Gakoids. I search and searched and searched some more to find absolutely nothing but it wasn't uncommon to get little prizes in cereal boxes through the 90s. I cant imagine they put these mystery spoon toppers in the commercial with absolutely no reason behind it. It remains a mystery for now.
That's all for now, folks! Be sure to tune in for more spooky content! Now, go out and rake up a pile of leaves to lay in. Thanks for reading!