Tuesday Throwback: Internet Explorer And Alex Clare’s “Too Close”

Yes, I know it’s Wednesday. Deal with it. Anyway, Internet Explorer is officially dead. If you’re a normal person, you haven’t used Internet Explorer for years. But back in the day, it was the dominant browser, with 95% of market share in 2002. It was downhill from there though, with Firefox and then Google Chrome taking over. Back in 2012, Internet Explorer tried to reverse its fortunes with Internet Explorer 9. With a spiffy and stylish commercial featuring Alex Clare’s song “Too Close”, it certainly was striking. The campaign helped “Too Close” become a worldwide hit, and it peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. But as we’ve seen before, sometimes even great advertising doesn’t help a sagging product. So RIP to Internet Explorer. You were slow and crappy, but for a while, you were part of all of our lives.

Tuesday Throwback: Kmart’s “Ship My Pants”

Kmart has been in the news lately, and you probably know why. Its store in Avenel, NJ recently closed, leaving only three Kmarts in the United States (another one in New Jersey, one in Long Island, NY, and one in Miami). At Kmart’s peak, it had well over 2,000 locations. I remember Kmart well from my childhood, but even then, it seemed like (at least the store we went to) a place on the decline. That store closed in the late ’90s or early 2000s, and it’s been a downward spiral for Kmart since then. If you want a great explainer video about what went wrong, Company Man has you covered.

All of this reminded me of perhaps the last great thing Kmart did: Ship My Pants. The hilarious 2013 commercial was one of the best of the year, a rare combination of an ad where a pun truly worked and that made even uptight people chuckle. But now we get into the prickly question of what makes an ad great. Critics and viewers loved it, but it did nothing really for Kmart, as the downhill spiral just continued. Kmart’s problems were much deeper and couldn’t be solved by a fun ad, but if an ad doesn’t help the business, can it ultimately be called successful? In any case, here it is. Let’s remember the good times of Ship My Pants!

Tuesday Throwback: Hardee’s Says B-Holes Taste Better Than A-Holes

Oh, hey there. I haven’t written one of these Tuesday Throwback posts since September 1st, 2020…so let’s get back to it. Today, Adweek’s David Griner tweeted this Hardee’s ad in response to an ill-advised (though sophomorically amusing) tweet from Pabst Blue Ribbon. The Hardee’s ad for their Biscuit Holes is from 2009, a few years before I started diligently following ads, so I hadn’t seen it. It’s hilarious, and it’s also not at all surprising that it got pulled. Enjoy!

Tuesday Throwback: That Burger King Shaq Pack Commercial

Here’s one that’s been lost to time for me. Either I don’t remember it, or I never saw it in the first place. But today’s Mythical Kitchen episode referenced Burger King’s Shaq Pack, and I remembered that it’s Tuesday. So here we are taking a trip back to 2002. The commercial features a parody of the Shaft theme song (Shaq!) and Shaq wearing a giant trench coat. He dominates and dunks over that playground game, as you’d expect him to. And then he devours a Shaq Pack, which contains a grilled sourdough bacon cheeseburger, crispy fries with free warm cheddar cheese dipping sauce, and a Coca-Cola Classic. Sounds tasty! Isaac Hayes on the VO is a nice touch too.

Tuesday Throwback: That FedEx Commercial With “Bear, Hunter, Ninja”

In college, we sometimes played “Bear, Hunter, Ninja” as a fun alternative to rock paper scissors. Hunter shoots bear, Bear eats ninja, and Ninja kills hunter. I randomly looked it up the other day…and it turns out that game was in a FedEx commercial from 2006. FedEx Ground takes care of most of the warehouse’s work, so they have extra time to play Bear, Hunter, Ninja. Was that game created by the ad? How did I not know this? What’s also interesting is looking at the low resolution of the video. If you look at the comments, they all are impressed by the quality of the video. I guess things have changed since 2006…in YouTube’s infancy.

Tuesday Throwback: Papa Roach Pitches Pepsi Blue

I was just watching a clickbait YouTube video that ranked various varieties of Pepsi. Coming in quite low on the countdown was Pepsi Blue. Pepsi Blue debuted in 2002, and I remember being drawn in by the ads and the striking blue color. I got my dad to buy me some, and the flavor (allegedly berry) was sickly sweet, syrupy and could best be described as “carbonated lollipop spit.” If it was too sweet for a 16-year-old…well, that didn’t bode well. Unsurprisingly, Pepsi Blue was discontinued in 2004. One of the ads that appealed to me at the time was this one featuring Papa Roach. It looks influenced by The Fast and the Furious (the very first one came out the year before), and is pretty much the most early-2000s thing ever. By the way, the song Papa Roach plays is “Time and Time Again.”

Tuesday Throwback: Remember When Compilation CDs Advertised On TV?

When was the last time you bought a CD? Chances are that it’s been a while. For me, it was shortly before I left for college in August 2004. But there was a time when direct-response compilation CDs advertised all over the airwaves. I haven’t seen one of these in about 10 years, though my viewing habits have also changed. For this post, I’ve chosen a few that I remember the best. We’ve got the new-agey Pure Moods, the hyper-current Top 40 NOW series (they still make these and they’re up to NOW 74 in the US), and the poppy alt-rock Buzz.

Tuesday Throwback: Pepsi’s Awful Kendall Jenner Commercial

All of the protests and unrest currently going on reminded me of Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad from 2017. It was a prime example of a #brand completely missing the point and making a mockery of a social movement. I don’t need to go too deeply into detail since you probably remember it, but have you ever seen a “Join the conversation” sign at a protest? After backlash occurred, the ad was quickly removed and Pepsi apologized. It now serves as a case study for brands as what not to do when wading into the murky waters of social consciousness. One small bright spot: If you can separate it from the commercial, the song used (Skip Marley’s “Lions”) is pretty good.

Tuesday Throwback: British Airways And “To Fly To Serve”

The global pandemic has devastated many industries, and airlines have been among the hardest hit. British Airways might cut up to 12,000 jobs, which is more than a quarter of its workforce. But let’s focus on better times, like their stunning advert from 2011 focusing on aviators. Copywriting, voiceover, visuals, and music…everything about this is on-point. It’s the kind of commercial that gives you chills.

Tuesday Throwback: Revlon, Cindy Crawford, And “Move This”

The Internet can be an amazing place. I vaguely remembered a lipstick commercial with Cindy Crawford and a techno-y song. Within a minute, I’d found it on YouTube. It’s a little hard to describe how popular Cindy Crawford was in the ’80s-’90s, but she was huge. The song in these is Technotronic’s incredibly catchy “Move This” (which I always thought was called “Shake That Body”). The song was originally released in 1989, but its usage in this Revlon campaign from 1991-92 led to its rerelease, where it peaked all the way at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.