It was an unusual time for radio ads - some still had the sounds and styles of 60s styles, but some took advantage of the new trends in advertising, adding sarcasm and irony and parody.
Special K had an ad campaign called “The Ball and Chain,” which likened extra weight to carrying around, well, a ball and chain. For a sound effect they used a popping cork. Made no sense. The Ball and Chain is a heavy thing; this sounds like someone popped his cheek with an index finger. There’s a chipper campy singing intro, which probably plays off the success of Bette Midler’s “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” the previous year.
Then there’s the voice of the female character - a tired, whiny New Yorker. The male voice sounds like Paul Frees at first, but I don’t think it is.
Another "Ball and Chain," with two more 70s staples: the ditzy woman, and the cliche "no, but if you hum a few bars." These really, really annoy me.
Special K aims at people who loved the Firesign Theater album "Don't Crush That Dwarf.”
Happy 60s-style ad for Margie's dress shop in Dallas
The ad that tormented every insomniac unpublished author for YEARS
Funky Bud!
Country Bud!
Bouncy, if cluttered, ad for Wyatt's Cafeteria in Dallas
Good Lord, it's just life insurance. Everything that wasn't explicitly rock or Lawrence Welk sounded like this between 1968 - 1975
Got any Tiny Time Pills, Lloyd Bridges?
Suburban savings, where syllables are crammedtogethertomakethemfit
Hey Ma, what's for dinner?
The Spaghetti Store, which sold spaghetti. Listen as some hip upcoming singer completely sells out to The Man
Another breathy choral work devoted to V8
Chances are people who are around back then have forgotten how TV Guide used this strange electronic blurbling sound
Kellogg's tries the Choral approach, and reminds you of the other ads that have a sound effect
