80's Commercials Vol. 536

These commercials aired on ABC on November 10th, 1983
1. WJLA News 7 Promo
2. The Hub Veterans Day Sale
3. Promo for "CHiPs"
4. Closed Captioning Bumper
5. "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" Commercial Bumper (Brought to you by Downy)
6. 7up (With Geoffrey Holder)
7. Extra Strength Tylenol ("Safety Sealed" was in response to the Tylenol murders that happened a year before this)
8. Downy (I hate it when that smug ghost of myself appears and guilts me in to using fabric softener)
9. Cascade (The loud shirt worn by the woman here was considered a "vacation" outfit in '83 and by the late 80's was just normal attire)
10. Promo for "Hardcastle and McCormick" and "For Your Eyes Only"
11. WJLA News 7 Bumper
12. Kentucky Fried Chicken (With Thomas F. Wilson aka Biff from "Back To The Future" at 4:02)
13. Popeye Video Game (The original arcade game was by Nintendo and similar to Donkey Kong. The arcade version actually had pretty detailed sprites, but the closest home version was the port for Colecovision, which is shown here)
14. Promo for "Benson" and "Webster" (I hope Webster's mom laid the smackdown on that lady)
15. "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" Commercial Bumper
16. Promo for "JFK"
17. Exxon
18. Texas Instruments Home Computer (The blonde kid is definitely Kirk Cameron...but the brown haired kid might be Ethan Hawke?)
19. Promo for "The Great Late Movie" ("The Sassy Starhops"? I can't find any reference to this online)
20. Life Cereal (I had no idea they did one with adults lol)
21. Daydreams
22. Kodak Disc
23. Sprite
24. Promo for "The World's Funniest Commercial Goofs" (I wish I could find one of these shows)
25. Panadol
26. Clorox ("Why did you ask me to get more bleach when you already had some?")
27. Promo for "Trauma Center"
28. "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" End Credits

[@jason3fc]

Never get tired of those smooth Ernie Anderson voiceovers.

[@DanZero77]

The reason you couldn't find "The Sassy Starhops" online is because the movie is simply titled "Starhops". It was a very low budget movie from 1978, and WNEW channel 5 in New York (famous for their showing such films) had this as a staple for years!

[@WWJD85]

these videos make my day. i love reading your witty comments in the descriptions @80scommericalvault

[@NLind]

I remember a Trauma Center promo where the VO said “When the beast gets the beauty, Trauma Center gets the call.”

[@ChapBloke]

I love the Popeye arcade game, nothing better than hearing the chiptune rendition of the power up theme.

[@YodaPagoda]

I remember that 7-up started their 'uncola' promotion with Geoffrey Holder, and they released upside-down "Coke" glasses as a result. Later on in the KFC Biscuit promotions, they said "they're just like mom used to make." I mean, they're okay, but my mom made some awesome biscuits! I would have eaten up that show "Trauma Center," as I was an "Emergency" fan as a young kid here. I think it might've been on too late for me to watch, though. Love the Ernie Anderson VOs here! Awesome volume as usual!

[@yusakug]

I find it funny you mention that the Popeye video game was similar to Donkey Kong, as Donkey Kong was originally planned to be a Popeye game. With the live action movie with Robin Williams out at the time, Nintendo was hoping to cash in. But, they couldn't get the rights, so they had to make up their own characters. Thus, Mario and Donkey Kong were born. Obviously, the Popeye people realized their mistake after the game became a smash, so they allowed Nintendo to make a game with the characters afterward.

[@80sCommercialVault]

I'm totally down for playing a ROM hack of SMB with Popeye characters instead

[@reimeiohcreatorforhire]

And the biggest game to come out would've been Super Smash Popeye Bros.

[@BrotherHerbert]

I actually taped that "World's Funniest Commercial Goofs" special when it ran and remember watching it a bunch of times. Unfortunately I must've taped over it since I never came across it in all the tapes I digitized. The theme for "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments" is "High Flyer" by Dick Walter (KPM 238).

[@TTrigg]

For Your Eyes Only-R.I.P Roger Moore Webster-Did she strangle that lady after she told her that..? or at least throw a drink in her face.. Panadol-"The Panadol Discovery"..sounds like a title to one of those old-school adventure films with an all-star cast lol Trauma Center promo-they sure didnt do a good job of stopping that thief..also hopefully that kid didnt fall into that smokestack

[@carloscardona6587]

"gonna get mom with the Ko-dak Disc"

[@tkinc88]

Thanks :)

[@retrometalguy]

I like how that Panadol advert has a cameo of the country that I'm from (United Kingdom)

[@josephsanti6219]

WJLA guy looks like Eric's dad from Tim & Eric.

[@80sEric]

ABC was forced to air shows like "World's Funniest..."and "Life's Most..." during November of '83 due to the early cancellations of "9 to 5" (3rd season) and "It's Not Easy"- a sitcom starring Ken Howard and Bert Convy which lasted just four episodes.

[@Farzee49]

I love DC uploads! That doesn't look like Ethan Hawke to me at all...but I see what you mean.

[@WWJD85]

the girl in the Downy commercial is really hot

[@BigLeo7205]

What's creepy is she's a grandma now lol