Beech Tree News Network

“Try it.  You’ll like it”.  You’ve surely heard that all your life.  Where did that originate? This catchphrase that my dad says to me all the time for food I don’t think I’d like came from a 1971 Alka-Seltzer commercial.  The tag phrase took on a life of its own.  It helped get the commercial elected to the Clio Awards Classic Hall of Fame.  

One year after that triumphant commercial, the Wells-Rich and Greene advertising agency struck gold once again with “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”.  The line came to writer Howie Cohen after, you guessed it, overindulging at a dinner party.  I felt like that after pigging out on those little Schwan’s mini-pizzas a few weeks ago.

I wasn’t familiar with the 1970 Calgon “Ancient Chinese Secret” commercial.  The secret was that Cal-Gone(Calcium Gone) got your clothes 30% cleaner when added to your regular detergent.  I was more familiar, as I’m sure most are, with their “Calgone, take me away” tagline.  Apparently, softer bathwater took away the sress of the day and your life.  Who knew?

An American Express ad from 1978 introduced us to the classic line “don’t leave home without it”.  The phrase was coined in 1975 as “don’t leave home without them”.  “Them” referred to American Express Traveler’s Checks.  The warning was delivered by actor Karl Malden, who co-starred as a  hard boiled homicide detective on Streets Of San Francisco at the time.  Eventually, American Express altered the campaign to promote their credit card.

The 1976 Rolaids commercial with the tag “how do you spell relief? R-O-L-A-I-D-S” was so clever that practically everyone used it(and some still do).  Stand-up comics from that era definitely picked up on it.  I’ve saved the most memorable(for me, anyway) for last.  I had no idea that retired manicurist turned actor Clara Peller was hard of hearing.  That’s why, for those who remember the old Wendy’s ad, she  basically bellowed her line out like she were mad.  I also didn’t know that she violated her non-compete clause when, a year after filming the Wendy’s commercial, she did a Prego pasta sauce ad saying she “finally found it”(the beef).  Wendy’s terminated her contract.  If you’d like to see any of these classic commercials, click the link below.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/56711/11-advertising-slogans-became-catch...