Would you walk a mile for a Camel?

Wish I could agree with you, but I think amateurish and downright bad advertising outweighs the good stuff. Oh, there are some decent TV an Web commercials coming out, but I don’t like most of what appears on the Superbowl—it’s flashy but not especially substantive. Of course, there may be a generational bias in what I just said, but as one who was writing advertising in its heyday (VW’s great ad, for example, was Think Small), I think today’s stuff is very weak. Great concepts and taglines of the past like the one you mention have been replaced by CGI and unprofessional spokespeople and actors (some of that has to do with the decline of the talent unions). Writing is poor, too. And in too many commercials, you remember the funny concept but not the product or its attributes. You want to see some GREAT advertising? Look at some of the collections like The Golden Age of Advertising: The 60s.

Austinlad, i will check it out and thanks for the comeback. john

I’ve walked nearly that far to get away from a Camel. I moved 100 miles to get away from a particular Camel smoker.

I really miss commercial jingles. “Whatever it is I think I see, becomes a Tootsie-Roll to me!” “Mr. Clean’s got the muscles to put your mind at ease!” “Hungryyyyy, Hungry Jack. They gobble ‘em up and the plate come back for Hungry Jack.” “When you’ve got Play-Doh, anything goes!”

Now, commercials bug me. I particularly hate the “Golly gee, isn’t my husband stupid?” commercials like this and this

You bet, @john65pennington, I wrote a few pretty good ones myself, although you won’t find them in that book. ;-)

Also… check out books by Jerry Delefamina and George Lois, two of he ad gods of the 60s. They’ll give you some wonderful info about those days on Mad Avenue. And they’re funny. For example, one of them, I can’t remember which, threatened to throw himself out of a skyscraper because the client wouldn’t buy his ad.

I would walk a mile for a Tiramisu.

I DO, literally walk a mile for a Camel.

Seriously, my neighbors down the road have to real Camels, I walk to give them treats!

Personally, I have always favored the Budweiser frogs. I could never agree with the cigarette commercials even when I smoked.

The only commercials that ever swayed me to buy a product were the ones that showed the engineering superity of a product. Of course I like any commercial with pretty girls with few clothes. That why I became engrossed in the Olympic Volley Ball contests. Great spectator sport.

My all time favorite, GENIUS, advertisement was…

ingle ells, ingle ells..
The holidays are not complete without J&B.

An ad for J&B Scotch Whisky.

No. Not even when I smoked.

I wouldn;t walk a mile for a camel.

My favourite adverts have always been the ones for Guinness. They’re often very cinematic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcdDg30VBgo Best ad ever.

The Quizno’s Sponge Monkeys got me to go there. I miss these commercials.

I would.. I remember Marlboro miles. I got alot of the stuff. Suitcases, lighters, flashlights. It was fun to smoke pack then.

I might walk a block for a good hump. Seriously, though, if you don’t get enough commercials through the regular channels, Duke University has made a collection of vintage commercials available via iTunes.

I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love. Grow apple trees, honey bees and snow white turtle doves. I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company…

And I typed that from memory! It’s amazing the stuff you remember if you pick it up at 2 or 3, innit?

@ratboy, good one. And thank you for saving me from saying it. ;-)

@Austinlad is right imo. I don’t know what they’ve just advertised but I remember the tune. I hate commercials now. I would, however, walk a mile for camel meat. Tony Bourdain ate camel and said it was very good; tasted like…..chicken, of course.