"Encyclopædia Britannica" Commercial 1988

Originally recorded on ASN (Nova Scotia) in March, 1988.

[@kev3d]

It''s weird that almost ALL of that stuff on the table, including the Encyclopedia set, now fits on a phone. EXCEPT the cereal. Thus proving we reached peak cereal in 1988.

[@RoadCone411]

My phone doesn’t print.

[@brandondetroitfanmichaels4325]

Get a better phone.

[@brightbite]

If inflation keeps going, they may HAVE to send us virtual "food" through our phones.

[@purefoldnz3070]

all of it would fit on two CD's in 1995 which isnt too far from 88.

[@hogscattle7877]

Funnier thing is that the phone out performs all of it. Either way, people had better attention spans back then along with patience.

[@hariseldon02]

"They got me a computer [...] hardly any of this stuff can help me with my schoolwork". Oh the irony of advancement in technology...

[@BillAnt]

Well, technically the internet's backbone was already operational in the 70's as military and academic "super-highways", but it was painfully slow via dial-up modems. As you've mentioned, it really didn't become popular till the mid 90's. I remember my first "website" I have visited was 1800flowers.com around 1996, via a painfully slow 9,600baud USRobotics modem. It's forever etched in my memory as I was waiting for each line to be drawn on the screen in front of my eyes (each page took about 30- 60 seconds to fully display).... not fun, but hey you've gotta start somewhere. xD

[@rsilvers129]

@@BillAnt I was visiting websites in 1991. I wonder how there could be a five year difference.

[@BillAnt]

@Robert Silvers < Well in the early 90s dial-up BBS'es were still popular (sort of like today's forums), and I didn't hear about the internet till the mid 90's, when AOL (lol), Earthlink, etc were the popular services.

[@Anth230]

@@rsilvers129 That was dial up bulletin boards in 1991....1996 saw what we know as today's internet.

[@rsilvers129]

@@Anth230 In 1986 I was using internet and email. In 1991 I tried the Netscape web browser, which was my first use of the WWW. By 1995 or 1996, I already had an Amazon account.

[@OofusTwillip]

Written, directed, and narrated by Stan Freberg, and featuring his son, Donavan.

[@FrostSe7en]

Who else here was a kid watching cartoons after school in the 1980s and 1990s and remembers seeing this and the 1992 follow-up about 400, 500 times? It worked though, I always wanted a Britannica and finally bought my own as an adult.

[@moschopspaladin5894]

Oh, man, these commercials always made me feel so dumb! I had an Atari computer, didn't live near a library and my set of encyclopedias were from 1945, needless to say I didn't have stellar reports! Now I feel smart because those ancient tomes had nothing about flat earth theory, anti-vaxers and the like!

[@chuckshartz2722]

This was one of my favorite commercials in those days, with the Freedom Rock LP set being my favorite 😄

[@spectrum10]

@@chuckshartz2722 was that LP issued by K-tel?

[@FrugalGamerFlashback]

This just popped into my head after all these years. That's exactly what happened. I used to think this kid was the coolest and my father quite accurately called him a "nerd".

[@sepdawg33]

I remember these commericals like it was yesterday. How the time flies and how i miss those days 😢😢😢

[@QuinnnMallory]

Teachers typically wanted more than one source for research papers, so a trip to the library was still a must.

[@IsmailofeRegime]

Yeah, encyclopedias are meant to tell you the very essentials of a subject as if you know next to nothing about it, and articles could also contain bibliographies so you could look up the books and/or articles for further study and research papers.

[@QuinnnMallory]

@@IsmailofeRegime Yep. Gone are the days of trying to find books on the same subject that most of the kids in school are also doing reports on or hanging around the copy machine in the school library with a pocket full of dimes cranking out copies. Now, kids just ask AI to “write a report on the Reformation in 500 words at a 10th grade level.”

[@MrGconstantine1972]

Welcome to the 21st century!!

[@NJGuy1973]

​@@IsmailofeRegimeYes, just like Wikipedia links to primary sources.

[@trulygodsgrace]

This ad didn't age well and yet it ended splendidly!

[@Lanae8199]

I remember this commercial as a kid during the late 80s. He always reminded of of Michael J. Fox's character Alex P. Keaton on 'The Family Ties."

[@redmustangredmustang]

Just remember those entire sets cost in all around $1400. Unless you were upper middle class and willing to pay that much then it was off to the library for you and the hours of searching the card catlogs and hoping that the book that had your subject contained the right information. That was up until the early 90's when millennials had Micosoft Encarta that gave us most of this information that Britannica would have in these volume sets. Then the internet came along to the masses and slowly and surely wiped out Britannica's dominance.

[@TheArtenez3]

YES WIKIPEDIA. BUT THEN AGAIN MY QUESTION NOW IS HOW ACCURATE THE ONLINE INFORMATION IS ON THE TOPIC TO LOOK UP?

[@amneetthedelicioussandwich8921]

With all of the gear this kid has in his room, the set’s cost makes sense!

[@BillAnt]

Imagine how outdated some of that info is by now. hehe

[@IsmailofeRegime]

@@BillAnt On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few articles are basically superior to their equivalents on Wikipedia. It obviously depends on what the article is about though, e.g. one about the Hundred Years' War is less likely to be dated than one concerning the Soviet Union (and a Britannica volume published in the 1990s is gonna be very different to one published in 1911.)

[@jeffzebert4982]

*"Weird Al" Yankovic:* I edit Wikipedia... (as he vandalizes the Atlantic Records Wikipedia Page with the words "YOU SUCK!" in giant letters) That's from the song "White & Nerdy", by the way. Yes, Wikipedia now dominates over Encyclopaedia Britannica.

[@diesixdie2]

I'm reading through the comments here, and it's clear that most people don't realize that the announcer is the great Stan Freberg, and the young man is his son. Freberg owned an ad agency, and addressed this client by doing a father/son piece.

[@dorcasia109]

They also both did cartoon voices.

[@OofusTwillip]

Stan used Donavan in several commercials, imcluding an animated one for Chupa Chups, when Donavan was about 8.

[@archiveit1]

"I'm typing into my computer how the Encyclopedia Britannica is the key to the information age"

[@matthieufernandez6871]

This guy reminds me of Bruce McCullough from the Kids in the Hall.

[@GypsyFairy85]

He reminds me a bit of Jeffery Dahmer in high school photos.

[@nickgee7291]

That show is pure art ! LAURA!

[@daughters4life55]

The one with a cabbage for a head

[@nathanielseymour8108]

@@nickgee7291 Yep, just what I was thinking.....his Bobby character!

[@nickgee7291]

@@nathanielseymour8108 hahaaa ! So funny that someone commented on my comment and remembered that scene! That was a fun lil tidbit during my day! Good one !

[@dme1016]

Before my 8th birthday in the mid-60's, my parents bought a EB subscription, and one volumn came to our home each month, until we had a complete set. I still remember the feel & the fragrance of, & the information in, those books, which I treasured cover to cover. They were our Google....but took some actual brain power to use, unlike now where any moron can Google or Bing something.

[@rob16248]

...pervert

[@LookItsMrT]

You say that like its a bad thing, nothing wrong with 'morons' being able to easier educate themselves

[@AdrienMelody]

Bruh, a moron can run a Google search, but it still takes intelligence, skill, and effort to identify and integrate good information. In fact, with the unbelievable range of information sources today-many of them untrustworthy-it could be argued that you need /more/ intelligence to learn good information. Google has made research a lot faster, but it hasn’t exactly made it easy.

[@bonehead156]

OLD BOOKS GOOD, NEW TECHNOLOGY BAD

[@dme1016]

@@AdrienMelody Yes it has. I completely disagree, but I see what you're tryna say. Basic Google searches though, are much simpler that using, correctly, an Encyclopedia Britannica.

[@captainm7722]

Boy that is a big ol' spoonful of half of the greatest decade ever. I'm talking about the 80's90's, of course.

[@andrewa2584]

Lol, the 80s... Just looking at this kid makes me want to shout in my best Ogre voice "NEEERRRRDDDSS!!!"

[@okerhrh4139]

Ogre voice hhh so wholesome

[@jimb.7523]

*"NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!"* ~Homer Simpson

[@firesidestep4255]

what if c-a-t really spelled dog?

[@Rych3rInLyf3]

If that kid got a portable discman in 1988, he is one spoiled kid. Wait...the copyright says 1987...shit!

[@phrobozz]

The videocamera too. My parents had one, and they wouldn't even let me leave the house with it.

[@BillAnt]

Just a spoiled brat, even the encyclopedia cost hundreds... he-he

[@commercialbreakdown694]

We agree. Nobody likes this kid. This seemed to be their big qualification for the target demo.

[@IsmailofeRegime]

​@@BillAnt "Hundreds" is an understatement. The whole set cost at least a thousand dollars, which in today's money is more like $3,000, hence why so many families opted to pay in installments.

[@graphicdesigner5188]

Oh man haven't seen these commercials in like so long. I remember watching these on Nickelodeon in the early 90s. This is definitely the one I remember the most even though this came out in 1987.

[@commercialbreakdown694]

We remembered it from Nickelodeon too! What kid would actually ask their parents for a set, after seeing the commercial air?

[@spectrum10]

@@commercialbreakdown694 They used to have encyclopedia displays in supermarkets. They would give you the 'A' volume for free and you would have to pay if you wanted the other volumes of the set.

[@pray4mojo35]

You had me at the free three volume desk reference set.

[@TheMt45]

And you get to keep it!!

[@fdmantube]

He's like a young Lumbergh from Office Space

[@zymaymyn]

One of the CDs he has is Genesis' "Invisible Touch".

[@adamsmashups4839]

They should have bought him Wind & Wuthering,instead.

[@judsonsnell]

Gives him kind of an American Psycho vibe... I can see it.

[@hiker64]

I'm a used bookseller - Those sets complete and in good condition still can be worth hundreds despite their age - The full sets with the bookshelf, even more.

[@DominiqueB]

or you can pick one up at a garage sale for US$10, with a bit of luck. ;-)

[@michaelvictor1401]

Yeah cause the government has rewritten history.

[@mrmoofle]

This kid is the son of comedy legend Stan Freeberg.

[@pakmanmusik]

back when we had to read one paragraph and turn it into a 10 page paper

[@nomadcowatbk]

the library that also needs updating every year

[@artdeco64]

I use to sell Encyclopedia Britannica’s when I was a kid in college. If I remember correctly, we’re going back over thirty years, you got a commission of three hundred plus dollars for every subscription sold; though you were an independent contractor so you had to place a bunch of the dough to the side for taxes. And on your third sale you could trade the commission for a set of your own encyclopedias. I actually wish I had held on to them; but they took up a hell of a lot of room.

[@naynay3710]

I used to get so excited each year when the yearbook would come out and I'd spend hours going through it.

[@marxmaratpaine]

Now the internet makes everyone an instant expert on everthing. It's a better world now.

[@YokozunaNumber1]

Wow, I haven't thought of this nerd in over twenty years, and now I realize that the passage of time does not erase the fact that he was a jerk and a turd, and he always will be.

[@773SleepyHollow]

I just read that he was/is the satirist Stan Freberg's son.

[@OofusTwillip]

His father, Stan Freberg, wrote, produced, and directed the commercials in this campaign. Freberg often used a meta-satirical approach in his commercials. He could get away with it, but, in a teenager, it came off as obnoxiously smarmy.

[@generalzod7959]

He's going to get you for this!

[@sumohick524]

He was a piece of shit for sure

[@alfredocarpaneto5976]

We always said if he came on our street we would beat him up.

[@clintmorgan8231]

i want that computer...that's totally sick!!!

[@chuckshartz2722]

That's similar to the one that Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) played games of ZAXXON in the 4th FridayThe 13th

[@hothmandon]

Back in 2000 I was in middle school in the 6ths grade I was 12 at the time My computer lab teacher said I've been working with computers for 30 something years and a book holds more information than 1,000 web pages and this commercial reminds me of that. Making a small stash of books Superior over a computer and nowadays the computer and internet is winning.

[@miltondew7164]

It's great to see how far technology has come. Superior information from the greatest minds of our time is now only a click away at /r/science But it's also sad to see what is clearly a destined redditor being trapped in the internet dark ages. I'm sure he would have been a valued contributor over at /r/atheism and /r/theredpill

[@jennasummers9118]

He probably is, now.

[@Bluerabbit42]

+Milton Dew Funnily he grew up to be a comedian named Adam Conover and the exact opposite of a reddit neckbeard. He's a cast member at CollegeHumor and has worked with Amy Schumer, neckbeards' favorite "fat dumb feminist skank." He is still proudly annoying, but much funnier about it. This is one of his recent tweets: "If your #MasculinitySoFragile that you care about being perceived as an “alpha male”, you’re a beta male.

[@michaelhaydenbell]

@@Bluerabbit42 The absolute fuck are you talking about??? DONAVAN FREBERG. I can't believe I almost spread this stupid shit to a friend before wisely I fact-checked it.

[@skeetman22]

encyclopedia britannica should be in the encyclopedia

[@donkeydan5996]

Remember this commercial like it was yesterday

[@ImTheBhattman]

If I call do I still get my free book?

[@ImTheBhattman]

Same. One day I will try it.

[@ImTheBhattman]

Will do man!

[@nikolt2000]

vadersdemise do it quicker

[@ImTheBhattman]

nikolt2000 You can't get a free book anymore lol!

[@andrewschultz6608]

I imagine an automated voice points you to archive.org.

[@kalel311superman9]

i remember this commercial , i was in elementary but i never had these books

[@torbenwnielsen11]

Spoiler Alert - the library did close.

[@Johnny_Love_Tree]

Now we have a cell phone that does the same things as those books. 📚

[@NJGuy1973]

And what is the human race doing with their phones?

[@patrixspringer2753]

Sounds like Stan Freberg as the announcer!

[@NJGuy1973]

Yes, and that's his real-life son.

[@OmarAshour]

they don't make commercials as rad as they used to back in the 80s xD

[@ricomcsuave6348]

ROFL!!!!! makes me want to call that number!! xD they used to have one of those encyclopedias at my middle school, and we used it quite often.... then encarta happened xD

[@peterfernandez9670]

Your local library 24/7

[@argentorangeok6224]

At one point in history (the 80s), somebody thought this kid was cool. Cool enough to sell encyclopedias. These commercials sold a ton of them. That means this kid was cool enough to sell encyclopedias to a lot of parents in the 80s. You just know he spent some time inside lockers in high school.

[@Lanae8199]

I remember this commercial as a kid during the late 80s. He always reminded of of Michael J. Fox's character Alex P. Keaton on 'The Family Ties."

[@SamSung-xz7jt]

This was Stan Freberg's son.

[@Lanae8199]

@@SamSung-xz7jt who is Stan Freiburg?

[@SamSung-xz7jt]

@@Lanae8199 was one of the other Looney Tunes voices besides Mel Blanc. Did a bunch of radio and TV.

[@UMAMIMAMU]

Back when Jeffrey Dahmer hawked encyclopedias on television.

[@sumohick524]

He had a good thing going before he discovered brains

[@foxxyloxx]

It was all part of his diabolical scheme to make brains bigger.

[@joannamcpeak7531]

Love it!

[@radioflyer68911]

You probably thought he was going to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, didn't you?

[@nomadcowatbk]

many HS class valedictorians flunk outta college

[@jasonwest5]

he has every thing but a big sceentv and a laserdisk player

[@theodoretrilby916]

Need I say more about how the internet is the superior race? Checkmate theists. ~Theodore Trilby, Ph. d in atheism and stage 4 superatheist

[@jackmomma7481]

He must suffer from chronic constipation since his parents make SURE he's eating plenty of fiber

[@MisterFitShace]

My kids so badly missed out. Guess my getting them a computer was a waste of money :)

[@commercialbreakdown694]

This kid is just as sassy, but not *quite* as discourteous as the kid in the follow-up commercial from 1989. We loved it so much, that we dedicated an entire episode to unpacking the many questionable choices that went into the marketing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIXEi2d-ia-SnK8

[@eemoogee160]

This kid is the son of advertising legend Stan Freberg

[@luminousbanjo]

"and there it is" 😂

[@jlouis4407]

I believe 7 years later the first CD-Rom Encyclopedia came out

[@youtuberemix2526]

why not just use Wikipedia?

[@z3roo0]

1988... Internet...wikipedia... do not compute

[@MrGconstantine1972]

I owned an encyclopedia set, but it wasn't Britannica, it was Colliers

[@nathancox5316]

A computer can't help you with your schoolwork???

[@gzusrock]

Not in 1987, when this commercial came out. About the only thing you could do was type up the report.

[@cyphrinfinity9992]

yeah back then they were little more than typewriters except of course you could correct your mistakes before printing the finished product (report, etc.). No whiteout needed lol.

[@jeffw1267]

+Matthew Davis That's not true. I was using PCs with AutoCAD for my engineering courses.

[@abinashmishra329]

Nathan Cox We didn't have no internet But man I never will forget The way the moonlight shined upon her hair

[@artsveiman7776]

@@abinashmishra329 Ok youre either reaaallly old, or youre talking about your sisters Barbie doll.

[@aavvaallooss2]

Thank you Mr. Dahmer!

[@StimmyMcFlappyHands]

My mom just sent this to me saying that this was her childhood crush lmfao

[@eemoogee160]

Stan Freberg's son. If you never heard of Stan, look him up.

[@AleexV]

I have the 1999 version of these encyclopedias... they will make great firewood when the nukes hit and the nuclear winter starts.

[@TheGodYouWishYouKnew]

Alex McDouchebag You bought an encyclopedia in 1999? They were already outdated by then.

[@CromemcoZ2]

They also have a high radiation shielding factor, so put them against the outside wall of your shelter. :)

[@forestnymphconfessions3596]

My A.D.H.D made me wonder why his jacket looked like someone dumped dirt on his shoulders.

[@OSN-News]

I don't see a neckbeard tho. Downboated. - Aaron Longbottom, moderator of /r/malefashionadvice and /r/beards

[@Bigmbrennan]

You dont have a beard... I am disappointed in you

[@spectrum10]

those were the days when a computer keyboard was shaped like a tank

[@cs292]

They knew it was coming.

[@superman31172]

I remember this, I was a little kid at the time, I wonder what that guy is up to now?

[@cesarjom]

He always looked like a young John Hughes.

[@peterios325]

I remember this commercial! Whatever happened to that guy?

[@Holy_Wraith]

He because a photographer in California

[@seeky907]

I looked like that kid except with brown hair in 1988.

[@chass5438]

Computers were only about $3000 back then with no graphics or internet. Glad it's the newer technology today.

[@michaelhaydenbell]

As opposed to older technology...today? Fuckin what???

[@sanjeevpathak1345]

Adjusted for inflation that's $6700.

[@HBKnowItAll]

This aged well.

[@collinsdarkwa281]

nice

[@wanderlotstravel]

Totally remember this. And dude looks like Dahmer in Monsters.

[@TL....]

00:08 that video camera in 1988 would have been a months salary for regular folks

[@corporalhollywood5392]

Love the Jeffery domer glasses

[@purefoldnz3070]

1:26 He's just disappointed its not on floppy disks. He would have to wait until the CD age in 1995.

[@mysticwolf75]

He looks like a younger version of Paul Reynolds, the guitarist for A Flock of Seagulls.

[@crownfedorus5823]

Hello, Crown Fedorus, lover of peace, redditor, member of the NAACP and National Feminists Association here. I just want to say that the misrepresentation of women and blacks in this video is driven to an extreme extent and should be removed. The video has been flagged and the creator PM'd for request for removal. The amount of pig-filthy disgust on this website ever since 2011 has made me cringe. I also would like the owner of the video to know that I've notified the NAACP headquarters, and due to the racism in the content of this video, they will be requesting the US government to censor this URL from the internet. Thank you for your time. -Crown Fedorus, moderator of r/Feminism, r/NAACP and lover of peace.

[@bbttc_nolalibrary]

That computer is super hot fiyah! Btw, I work in a library sooooo... lawl

[@csurname]

cool Kids in the Hall sketch

[@powerful_czr4234]

How did I get here?

[@budbundy5021]

I wonder if I can still buy this

[@MichaelHansenFUN]

he 17 years old here approx....

[@elklandry]

Is that Ben from Growing Pains?

[@abinashmishra329]

Jeremy Miller was 11 in 1987

[@mcgannahanskyjellyfetti6854]

Donavan Freberg...

[@Chubachus]

where is this kid now?

[@warmaxxx]

he's married with kids and working in an electrical company

[@Chubachus]

warmaxxx are you him?

[@babyboy1971]

I'm right here!

[@3USRNAM3]

Donavan Freberg lol wow its really you. no kidding

[@Chubachus]

Donavan Freberg whoa

[@parkpunk2]

What would the cost have been for the entire set?

[@oldtwinsna8347]

the standard set shown here went for $1400. With inflation adjustment, that's just about $3000 today. Not something a typical family household could afford.

[@KalOrtPor]

That would go along well with his video camera and CD Discman.....He probably had a cell phone and a LaserDisc player hooked up to a 50" rear projection TV.

[@happyjellyfish2008]

Is that the guy from kids in the hall?

[@usun_current5786]

They would never allow a white guy in ad like that nowadays

[@adamberndt4190]

Thats like 40K worth of shit on the desk and thats 80s dollars! What do his parents do for a living!?!? This kid was super spoiled!

[@mikeymartin80]

I’ve always wanted The encyclopedia Britannica. But I had to settle for the knock off the ones that you you buy at the grocery store. I still like it though. No I feel really old this kid is probably what would you say it is late 40s now

[@magneteye]

Is this young Adam from Adam Ruins Everything?

[@vin.handle]

Was that Stan Freberg as narrator?

[@MSTmike3k]

Why does he remind of a character from Kids in the Hall

[@darkclouds09]

LOL The kid has a brand new computer but can't figure out how to use it to help him with his school work? I guess in 1988, the only thing a home computer was good for was playing The Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego.

[@IsmailofeRegime]

Yeah it wasn't till Microsoft debuted Encarta in 1993 that having an encyclopedia on your computer started becoming consumer-friendly, and even then it still wasn't Britannica which was the most prestigious of all the printed encyclopedias.

[@jasonwest5]

they could have a white kid in this ad to day they would have a black guy

[@airborne2767]

Expensive nowadays

[@m.x.2442]

All that denim..haha

[@noneofyourconcern3276]

Sounds like Stan Freberg to me?

[@justletmesigninokthx]

His 'School cloths' and glasses are a bit odd.

[@curtiswalker8388]

App for The Information Age

[@michellemarie1197]

What did that computer do then if he couldn't use the internet?

[@michaelvictor1401]

Spread sheets.

[@timlarson7840]

The Cyclopspedia

[@XFourty7]

Crazy how far we've strayed from then.. Now we have the vastest updating knowledge at our fingertips, yet the marketing, advertisement, and all around use of what we have has gone to unpredictably ignorant opposite end of the spectrum.

[@rocksmountaindirt]

is the narrator Tom Bodette?

[@henrymrx]

Stan Freberg.

[@phantasycrisis]

Henry Marx I think that's Frebergs kid too.