The 1980s gave us some of the most memorable TV adverts of all time, with jingles that have stuck in our heads for decades – but can you remember all the words?
Life was tough for those who lived through the 80s. There was mass unemployment, social unrest, and just three channels on the television to choose from. At least until Channel 4 started broadcasting in 1982.
And with that limited choice came great dominance for the broadcasters, who had viewers in the palm of their hands, and commanded huge viewing figures. So with those massive numbers, they had advertisers falling over themselves to get their products in front of millions of eyes.
And boy did they deliver, as we were subjected to a decade of brightly coloured ads, with some of the most irritatingly catchy tunes.
It was win-win for the companies as not only did they get to show us their products, but they got to live in our heads for years. So today we have gathered together some of the biggest earworm ads of the 80s. Do you remember them? Do you still catch yourself singing them?
Birds Eye Potato Waffles
Every time, and I mean EVERY time my wife makes these for the kids she will sing this song. To be honest, I’m singing it along with her in my head as been embedded in my mind also. And that just goes to show the power of this campaign, with its faux 1920s Charleston-esque ditty reeling off a list of recipe ideas for your potato snack. It’s the first line that hits you the most, coupled with the delivery of “waaaffles,” close to end of it, which gives it an earworm rating of 7. Beyond that it’s easy to get lost on whether the next line is about beans, burgers of fish fingers. A versatile earworm rating of 8
Birds Eye Steakhouse Grills
Another heavyweight entry from Birds Eye, this time for their Steakhouse Grills. At the beginning of the 80s they must have just sent their marketing execs into a room with a piano and told them not to come out until they’d written a song people will still be singing 40 years later. Unlike their waffles campaign, I know every word to this ad. I hope it’s not just me. Close my eyes, and I can even see the blokes leaning into shot as they deliver their line. I do think they missed a trick by not incorporating waffles into their list of accompaniments though. A strong earworm rating of 8
Cadbury’s Fudge
A finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids an earworm for the next four decades. Especially when it’s sung by a small choir, and accompanied by a penny whistle, based on a folk song. The premise was simple, little lad gets caught up in a high stakes game of conkers, but is distracted by his mum dishing out the sweets to his little sister. Suddenly it all gets too much and the boy makes a dash for his sugary treat, while the bigger boy is left to swing wildly into thin air. While the ad isn’t particularly memorable, the tune that enters the head when you spot one of the little sweets in the Heroes tub gives it an earworm rating of 6.
Shake n’ Vac
This advert doesn’t just come with a catchy tune, it has the dance moves to go with it. Many was the time that young me would grab a tub of my mum’s cheap alternative brand and sprinkle it on the carpet, while doing some weird hip jigging moves and singing the ad’s jingle. And the satisfaction was two-fold for my mum, as she got to watch her youngest child hoover the powder up right in front of her eyes. Possibly while wishing a catchy ad would come out where kids tidy their room while doing the electric boogaloo.. I still do it now to be honest. Earworm rating 9
Get Yourself Seen
This advert comes from the Government’s Public Information Safety collection, which also taught you not to retrieve frisbees from pylons, or muck about with matches. This advert was worth it for the clothing and bikes alone, but it came with a tune that has been hard to budge from the brain my whole adult life. It’s quite a long ditty, as they reel off all the techniques you can employ to let other road users spot you. And yet, somehow, I remember every single beat of the song, right down to the horn at the end. Even writing this, I can hear it looping in my head. Earworm rating 10.
Brooke Bond D
This is a bit of a curveball advert, insofar as it hasn’t haunted my mind for years, but instead laid dormant waiting to come out again. I’m not sure what rabbit hole I was in on YouTube, but the instant I heard and saw this, it all came flooding back in an instant. So I’m putting this out there to see if others remember it as vividly as I do. While the lyrics, may not be committed to memory, every new scene is an “oh yeah, I remember that,” moment. Keep your eyes out for a young Boycie from Only Fools and Horses engaging in some workplace harassment. Earworm rating 6.
Fruit ‘n Fibre
This isn’t the most catchy of tunes, but it is here so we can spend a moment to laugh at a young Ross Kemp starting out his acting career by singing about cereals. Before he was spending time talking to gang members or visiting prisons, Kemp was getting his thespian chops into a bowl of Fruit ‘n Fibre. The ad is bright, it’s colourful, it’s bold, and has a cartoon element to it. While the tune isn’t a banger, I have to admit that when they reach the part where they list of fruit, that’s my earworm. Not a classic, but ha ha Kemp. Earworm rating 4.
How did we do at bringing together the earworms of from the 80s? Have we missed any? Have your say below…
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
