[identity profile] vee-ecks.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
It sounds familiar, but this is the ad that played constantly when I was a teen, and which my friends and I used to mock constantly, so it's burned into my brain.

It's amazing how successful these kinds of campaigns are, and all for completely useless crap. I saw a *shitload* of Mr. Microphones in real life, back then, all in the same position: discarded under a bed or in a box or the back of a closet, clearly barely used, because as it turns out, shockingly, talking over the radio next to you is kind of retarded.

Same deal with all the "super tools" and whatnot, over the years. People who don't actually work with their hands, regularly, never seem to learn that when it comes to manual labor, the simplest and most direct tech is the best, always. If it's a hammer *and* it does something else, it's not going to be good at either job, and nowhere near as good as just going and buying a freaking hammer. If it does five other things besides hammering, you may as well just burn your money. That thing's going to break the first or second time you try to use it for its primary purpose.

[identity profile] janradder.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
I think my favorite 70's ad was for the "genuine faux diamond."

[identity profile] vee-ecks.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes. Was that the Sparkling Diamelle?

[identity profile] janradder.livejournal.com 2008-07-25 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
That sounds about right. My sister and I would see it advertised on the UHF stations after school and we'd laugh each time.