I’m a Pepper, but I wish I were a Wiener!

Think back a few years ago. You are wearing your jammies and laying down in front of the TV on a Saturday morning; watching cartoons and arguing with your siblings about what channel to turn to. You have no worries in your life yet because you’re not even old enough to have any real responsibility except for keeping your room clean. Ok, so you might have to take care of the dog and have to be nice to your annoying auntie that gives your cheeks a pinch when she visits, geez I hated that! You remember the theme song of your favorite TV shows, you remember your favorite toy or video game and what else sticks out? You guessed it: TV commercial jingles.

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During a time when there were no internet, social media, or 250+ networks to choose from, there were a few TV stations. As kids, we lived for Saturday mornings! Nothing beat Saturday morning cartoons! We quietly got out of bed and turned down the volume on the knob before turning on the TV so we wouldn’t wake our parents because once they woke up, it meant less TV time and increased boredom.

Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Tom & Jerry and George of the Jungle were the champions of Saturday mornings. To a kid, even their worst re-run was better than the best day at school. These TV friends would all be interrupted by ads targeting children. We tolerated the breaks because it gave us a chance to get some juice or a snack and be back in time to catch the rest of the show. The ads were just as equally enjoyable to a child as the cartoons because they were everything kids liked: soft drinks, toy stores, hot dogs, etc.

What we didn’t know was that we were being exposed to some of the most influential jingles of all time. As always, Coca Cola would top the charts with their ads. Their jingle, “I’d like to Buy the World a Coke,” featured people from all walks of life singing and holding a Coke bottle and as the camera pans out, it shows a larger group shot of people doing the same. I was so jealous of these people because my parents told me that Coke would rot my teeth and burn a hole in my stomach, go figure? Nevertheless, it is rated as the best jingle of all-time. Another classic was the Dr. Pepper commercial which beat out 7-Up’s campaign and nipped at the heals of Coca Cola for a while. The “Wouldn’t You Like to Be a Pepper, Too?” campaign was an instant success. The ad aired at a time when Coke was king and left little room for the competition. Soon after the commercial aired, t-shirts started popping up in stores. Everyone became a Pepper and kids started to ask their parents for Dr. Pepper at restaurants and grocery stores. The catchy jingle made people accept a brand that was not as popular before the airing and is a fine example of how a successful jingle can shift market share to a less popular brand.

But my all time favorite jingle as a child was the Oscar Mayer jingle: “Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener.” It was a simple commercial consisting of children and adults singing the jingle with the famous Oscar Mayer Wiener truck in the background. They nailed it! We all liked hot dogs as kids, we identified with the children singing as some of them were cute even to a kid, and most of all, we all wished we could ride in the Oscar Mayer Wiener truck! Hell, I still want to ride in that thing and I’m in my 40’s. I guess I don’t want to grow up? I still want to be a Toys R Us kid!

Toys R Us had a great jingle that I still sing to this day: “I don’t Wanna Grow Up, I’m a Toys R Us Kid.” I never really knew what it took to be a Toys R Us kid? Did I have to buy something to be a Toys R Us kid or did I have to know that damn giraffe? Nevertheless, that jingle still rings in my head to this day when I drive by a store.

Other favorites of that era were McDonald’s, Alka Seltzer, Band Aid and many more. These ads shaped our youth and awakened us to product awareness. They are still conversation pieces at parties and will still bring back fond memories of our youth. They have stuck with us all these years and will always be mentally identified with the products they advertised. They did the job they were designed to do.

Reference:

Bruno, Ken (2010). Best-Ever Advertising Jingles. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/30/advertising-jingles-coca-cola-cmo-network-jingles.html?boxes=financechannelforbes. [Last Accessed 3/31/13].