Ask any mermaid you happen to see…

Come on – you know the rest: “Ask any mermaid, you happen to see – what’s the best tuna? Chicken of the Sea!” Well, you know the rest if you’re somewhere in my age group and grew up in the U.S.

My husband and I watched with amazement as our almost 2-year-old daughter was singing to the Daisy Sour Cream jingle, “Do, do, do, do, do, do a dollop,” and this prompted us to remember many of the jingles we knew as kids, that for better or worse, still live in the crevices of our brains. And we remembered several:

“Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!” (Alka Seltzer)

“When it says Libby’s, Libby’s, Libby’s on the label, label, label, you will like it, like it, like it on your table, table, table.”

“You deserve a break today…” McDonald’s jingle by Barry Manilow

“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Another by Mr. Manilow

“When you say Bud you’ve said it all…” Budweiser Clydesdale Commercial

“I am stuck on Band-Aid, ’cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me.” Yet another by Barry.

“Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener…”

“I’d like to teach the world to sing…” (Coca-cola)

In remembering these jingles, we also remembered the products, which seems rare today. Often, when someone at our dinner table says they saw a “cool commercial” for something, they can describe the commercial, but can’t remember what product it was supposed to be advertising. The jingle may seem simplistic and often annoying, but you have to admit – they get the point across, especially with name-brand recognition, which is half the battle in advertising.

So for better or for worse, which ones do you remember? And do they write ’em like they used to? Other than the Daisy Sour Cream jingle, no recent jingles came to mind (a few slogans, maybe, but no true jingles).

Of course, many of the jingles I remember may in part be because I was young and still hadn’t killed off too many brain cells yet. Oh well, let me know what you think – afterall, wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?

8 thoughts on “Ask any mermaid you happen to see…

  • Posted on June 11, 2007 at 8:44 pm

    How can you forget the Oscar Mayer theme, “my bologna has a first name…”?

    Some slogans I recall…
    “That’s a spicy meat-a-ball!”
    “I’d walk a mile for a camel”.
    “Sorry rabbit, trix are for kids”
    “Sorry Charlie” (the other tuna one)
    “Let’s get Mikey to eat it, he’ll eat anything”

    Amazing how these get ingrained into our consciousness, and no matter how hard I whack myself in the head they won’t GO AWAY.

    Whack. Whack Whack.

  • Posted on June 11, 2007 at 11:24 pm

    More classics:
    “If it tastes like butter, but it’s not, it’s Chiffon!”
    “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Cheverolet”
    “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” (Almond Joy and Mounds)
    “No single gum double-freshens your breath like Double Mint, Double Mint Gum.”

    I’ll probably think of a dozen more after I post this.

    About the only modern jingle I can think of right now is that horrible one for Pepto Bismol. But who the heck wants to sing a tune that has the word “diarrhea” in it?

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  • Posted on June 24, 2007 at 1:58 am

    My girls know the 770-4-SPARKY song for Mr Sparky electricians. It seems to me that most of the jingles they know are a company’s phone number. More jingles on the radio than TV, I think.

    I have to say, despite my general disdain for the Golden Arches, that “I’m lovin’ it!” is McDonald’s greatest ad campaign in as long as I can remember.

    And on a third hand… I’ve never been one to try to shelter my girls from bad influences too much – I think in today’s world, Marketing, Violence, and Profanity are so pervasive that it’s better to confront them head-on. I love to ask my daughters what they think a commercial is trying to tell them. It’s fun to watch them dissect the commercial and figure out what they’re being programmed to believe…

  • Posted on July 1, 2007 at 11:53 pm

    800 988 2300 empire!

  • Posted on May 8, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    omg whats that i see? a mermaid in the sea. oh! no! its not its the KOOLAID MAN!

  • Posted on September 12, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    McDonalds makes McBurgers, McDonalds makes McFries,
    McDonalds makes McWonderful shakes for kids of every size.
    So wherever you go, whatever you do, we’re different from all the rest.
    Let’s go to McDonalds, it’s the place we love McBest.

    He never asks for seconds of my coffee…

    Come to where the flavor is, come to Marlboro Country.

  • Posted on October 16, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    My man wears English Leather, or he wears nothing at all….

    You can take Salem out of the country, but – you can’t take the country out of Salem!

    We’re American Airlines – something special in the air.

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