Commercials of the '90s Part 1

From a great Christmas 1993 VHS tape.
On
May 28, 2008
Welcome to Part 1 of a multi-part series of articles that should really get your nostalgia glands tingling. Note: I am not responsible for any nostalgia gland related injuries.

Let's step back in time to Christmas of 1993. I had just turned 4 years old, Santa Claus had parachuted into Carolina Circle Mall, and TBS and ABC aired two Flintstones Christmas specials that I just happened to record.

Imagine my excitement in May of 2007 when I had come across that tape which remained mostly untouched, due to the fact that I idiotically recorded an Author episode on it back in the late '90s.

But I would like to share with you the majority of the tape's commercials with screen shots and commentary. I will also include links to the commercial videos that I have uploaded to Retro Junk. The first few are from the December 5, 1993 TBS airing of "Flintstones Christmas".


The first commercial on the video is for Tonka's Real Power Tool Shop. I find it interesting that they actually had a toy set for kids that would let them operate power tools. Even though I'm sure they were pretty safe, doesn't seem pretty odd for today's standards?


We now abruptly transition to something a little more on the female side called the Cabbage Patch Kids Crimp'n Curl Pony. Apparently, these were stuffed toy ponies that allowed you to do their hair.


Next on the tape is a promo for The Bugs Bunny Show. I miss the days when TBS would show afternoon cartoons, especially Bugs Bunny cartoons. Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5136/


The next commercial is another classic cartoon promo, this time for The Flintstones. I actually remember watching The Flintstones on Sunday mornings back in the early-mid '90s on TBS. Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5135/


And now another Cabbage Patch Kids commercial. These are apparently the same as the Crimp'n Curl Ponies except these are other various animals that you can "crimp'n curl".


Now this one is pretty retro. I remember a lot of girls in my time had that Playskool Dollhouse. Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5139/


Ah yes, Growing Pains. I'm sad to say that I've never seen this show, but I'd be willing to try it if I could find some episodes somewhere to watch.


This commercial is for a game called "Donut Disaster", in which you must stack round foam with holes in them around a stick before the round foam flies off, which makes you lose. Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5137/


If you like feeding puke green aardvarks "plastic snards", then the Snardvark game is for you. In all honesty, this actually looks like a fun and challenging game.

If you were a kid growing up in the '90s, chances are you've owned a Nerf product at one time. This commercial advertises some type of "turret gun" and a football called the "Turbo Two". The part advertising the Turbo Two shows a boy throwing the football from New York City all the way to Los Angeles.


And the last commercial during TBS's airing of Flintstones Christmas is for the Stack-A-Saurus Nex game, which has a similar concept as the Donut Disaster game, except the discs in this game are made of plastic. Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5138/

The Flintstones Christmas Special abruptly ends during the credit roll and suddenly transitions to the original ABC airing of The Flintstones Family Christmas, recorded just a few days later.


The first commercial aired during The Flintstones Family Christmas was for Free Willy & Dennis the Menace on VHS. Sadly, I have only seen the end of Free Willy, however, the Dennis the Menace movie was a very special movie of my childhood, as well as the cartoon series.


This would probably be my favorite commercial on the whole tape. Who doesn't love Bill Cosby? I find this commercial entertaining, especially the end where Santa catches him eating his Jello! Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5141/

Let me tell you something that's truly amazing. Those two 30 second commercials that I just mentioned were the only two commercials during the entire break!


Ah yes, Aladdin. I'm not a big fan of this movie, but it still left a large impression on me because that was the movie I saw during my last day at Pendle Hill School in 2006.


Next on the ol' tape is this Pull-Ups commercial, where even in the early '90s, they still had that cheesy "I'm a Big Kid Now" jingle.


Next up is a commercial for JCPenney. They're a pretty nice store, despite the fact that the closest one to my house is at Four Seasons Mall, the world's worst mall.


This is a great ad promoting the video release of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, one of my all time favorite movies.



Next was a promo for two more ABC Christmas specials, "The Wish That Changed Christmas" and "A Musical Christmas at Walt Disney World". I seem to remember the Walt Disney World special when it aired that year. If memory serves me correctly, they re-aired that special on Christmas Eve in 1993.


And the last commercial on the video is a rather odd commercial for Blockbuster Video. The commercial begins with two boys on Christmas Eve night leaving Santa video games rented from Blockbuster instead of milk and cookies. The boys go to bed and Santa drops by. Santa then proceeds to play Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis. The two boys wake up and hear Santa playing the video game and run into the living room just as Santa is leaving. I'll leave you with one of the boy's reaction.

Commercial: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/5140/

Well, I hope you enjoyed that nostalgic look back at Christmas 1993. I hope that a lot of those commercials brought back some wonderful memories for you all.

Next time, we'll take a look at the commercials aired during WFMY's Crossin' Carolina at the Fair in 1994.
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