Oreo Cookie maze

What's the ad for?

Oreo Cookies
Year
1985

Spotted in

The scoop

Oreo cookies..."Milks Favorite Cookie," but  where does the name come from? Wikipedia says this...

"Oreo comes from the Greek root for appetizing as in orexin or orexigenic (appetite stimulating) or anorexic (loss of appetite). There are many theories pointing to the origin of the name 'Oreo', including derivations from the French word 'Or', meaning gold (as early packaging was gold), or the Greek word 'Oros', meaning mountain or hill (as the original Oreo was mound shaped) or even the Greek word 'Oreo', meaning beautiful or nice. Other theories are that the 're' from cream was 'sandwiched' between the two Os from cookie, or the word 'just seemed like a nice, melodic combination of sounds'. A TV spot for the Got Milk? campaign showed a false etymology where, when at a board meeting to decide the name of the cookie, one of the members is asked for his opinion; the member, who just ate a cookie and does not have any milk to wash it down responds "I don't know," which is heard by the board member as "Oreo."

Superman Action Line

click to enlarge

What's the ad for?

Superman Action Line
Year
1988

Spotted in

The scoop

This ad proves 900 numbers were not only for phone sex lines. In 1988 DC launched the Superman Action line costing a whopping $2 for the first minute and $0.45 for each additional minute...and that's in 1988 dollars. Call 6 times and get a free brass pin. That's at least $12!

So did anyone out there call the Action Line? How much trouble did you get in from your folks? I wonder how successful these 900 numbers were? I wonder if it was anywhere near as successful as the F.I.S.T. phone lines. I guess we'll never know.

Power Lords

What's the ad for?

Power Lords
Year
1983

Spotted in

The scoop
Power Lords were a line of action figures designed by science fiction and fantasy painter Wayne Barlow and released by the model company Revell. Barlow also created character concepts for the third Harry Potter film. I remember a friend of mine having the twisty blue and orange figure shown in the ad above. I never really liked the toy...too creepy for my young self. DC also released a three issue mini-series about the toys too.

DC Superhero Silver Medallions

What's the ad for?

DC Superhero Silver Medallions
Year
1988

Spotted in

The scoop

These silver medallions featuring DC superheroes and villains were released to celebrate Superman's 50th birthday. They were priced at $20 a pop and were 1 oz. .999 Proof-like Pure silver, whatever that means. Anyone out there have one of these?

Heroes World action figures

What's the ad for?

Star Trek and Black Hole action figures
Year
1980

Spotted in

The scoop

This is an ad from Heroes World selling action figures from both Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Black Hole. Heroes World was started by Ivan Snyder while he worked at Cadence, who at the time owned Marvel Comics. The business acted as Marvel's mail-order wing but was purchased by Snyder in 1975 when Marvel wanted to get out of the mail-order business.

The business was very successful and retail locations were also started. Twenty years later Marvel bought the business back from Snyder whom I'm sure made a tidy profit. Read more about Heroes World over here at the Mego Museum website.

Not an ad but...A map of Smallville

Click to enlarge

I found this map as the centerfold in The New Adventures of Superboy (Vol. 2) No. 22. I thought it was kinda of cool and worth sharing. What surprised me was how close Gotham City and Metropolis are to each other.

Top Secret/ S.I. roleplaying game

What's the ad for?

Top Secret/S.I. RPG game
Year
1988

Spotted in

The scoop
A Role-playing game from TSR. This one is about the world of espionage.  

Peter Duncun- "Dropout"

I don't even remember where I scanned this from. I am going to reckon it came from a comic in the late sixties. This was a very successful advertising campaign for ICS. A history of the school can be found here.

More Tengen Games

What's the ad for?

Tengen games for the NES
Year
1988

Spotted in

The scoop
More games from Tengen! Gauntlet was a cool game..."Green Elf needs food - badly!"

Reese's Pieces

What's the ad for?

Reese's Pieces
Year
1985

Spotted in
Action #571, DC comics
The scoop
Can someone say E.T.? This is interesting. Found on the always trustworthy Wikipedia;

"Mars, Incorporated found E.T. so ugly that the company refused to allow M&M's to be used in the film, believing the creature would frighten children. This allowed the Hershey Company the opportunity to market Reese's Pieces."

What a missed opportunity for Mars. Hershey made a killing off of this product placement.

Acclaim's Kid Remote

What's the ad for?

Acclaim video games and accessories
Year
1989

Spotted in

The scoop
Acclaim started out as a video game company, then they bought Valiant Comics...I will never forgive them for killing Valiant.

Endless Quest

What's the ad for?

Endless Quest books
Year
1983

Spotted in

The Scoop

This was TSR's version of the Choose you own adventure (CYOA) books, based on Dungeons and Dragons. The Endless Quest books were longer and more involved then the CYOA series but nonetheless the same principal. As you read the story you turn to different pages based on what you choose the character to do. Several endings are always possible, some leading to your death. I used to love these books as a kid. The Vertigo comic series Unwritten featured a CYOA type story in issue 17. It would be cool if more comics featured this.

Collectible Miniatures

What's the ad for?

Collectible Miniatures
Year
1981

Spotted in

The scoop

You can buy action figures or sets of comic books from Marvel. You would never see an ad selling Marvel, DC and Star Wars figures all from the same seller. I guess this was before such things were controlled. i could be wrong...

ICEE Bear Club

What's the ad for?

ICEE Bear Club
Year
1981

Spotted in

The scoop

A fan club for a slushie? Works for me. Did you know that Canadians consume more slushies per capita then any other country with Winnipeg, Manitoba being crowned the Slurpee capital of the world eleven times in a row. The fan club is still around albeit under a different name (Too cool club). It's free but you get no cool t-shirt or anything.