Ah, the good ol' days!
Did you know the Flinstones used to hawk cigarettes? TVparty has it, and lots more.
Full disclosure: I was once employed by a major cigarette company, so I actually knew about this one, even though it was before my time. It's always a hoot to see it again, however.
Believe it or not, the ad's biggest criticism at the time was not using cartoon characters to sell smokes, but rather a grammatical transgression. "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" should properly have been "Winston tastes good as a cigarette should," argued the purists.
(Hat tip: Dean)
UPDATE: This is perhaps a bit less shocking when we look back with an adult perspective at some of the stuff we watched in our youth. H.R. Pufnstuf is a case in point.
Comments
I believe RJR actually addressed that issue in a subsequent ad campaign. It went something like "What do you want? Good grammar or good taste?"
Posted by: Anonymous | January 12, 2005 11:13 AM
RJR did indeed do so.
They also adjusted their print ads to show a crossed out 'like' with a hand-drawn 'as' placed next to it.
Posted by: mal | January 12, 2005 05:44 PM
Poor Fred. He can't even smoke on the construction site anymore. Instead, each lunch hour, you can see Fred, Barney, and Broom Hilda huddled together over on the side of the building in the rain, lighting up. Very sad.
Posted by: PE | January 13, 2005 11:53 AM