Each episode, Them’s The Breaks takes a random 80s UK TV ad break and see what the ads are trying to do through the lens of modern brand and marketing theory, whether they succeed, what they tell us about the 1980s, and, most importantly, whether, intentionally or otherwise, they can make us laugh. It also looks at the programme the ad breaks feature within and ask, have they targeted this right?
Join your hosts, marketing insights professional Martin, and Jon, a journalist with a career spanning a series of national newspapers, as they look at what was being hawked in the 80s, and how.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Each episode, Them’s The Breaks takes a random 80s UK TV ad break and see what the ads are trying to do through the lens of modern brand and marketing theory, whether they succeed, what they tell us about the 1980s, and, most importantly, whether, intentionally or otherwise, they can make us laugh. It also looks at the programme the ad breaks feature within and ask, have they targeted this right?
Join your hosts, marketing insights professional Martin, and Jon, a journalist with a career spanning a series of national newspapers, as they look at what was being hawked in the 80s, and how.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 4 and we’re in the very crucible of the “crap” 80s: 1986.
It’s late June and it’s early-period Bond. And yet, for an even-then ancient film, this ad break sees us dancing with the big boys, two of the very biggest boys in fact.
So what would make McDonald’s and Coca-Cola come out for this? Could it have something to do with what’s lurking in the shadows of the evening schedules? We won’t give the game away, but Martin’s six year old self is about to experience the opening salvo of a lifetime of sporting disappointment.
So what of the ads? We get a want-away plea from a public service; Polycell puts the Special into SAS; McDonald’s squares the global/ local circle, whilst suggesting that the BBC canteen couldn’t have been up to much; we realise that Windsor has a third dubious institution beyond a royal seat and a school for scoundrels; lastly, we snort caffeinated soda out through our nostrils laughing about what substance must have been travelling in the opposite direction among the cast and crew of our final ad.
Contains the correct amount of swearing.
You can find the ad break in question here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&si=jIrmNAa2Ij9i7Ibf&v=WsBa4o65AgM&feature=youtu.be
Many thanks to The Ashmole Day Collection for releasing this clip into the world.
If you remember any of these ads and want to comment on them, or the show in general, you can find us here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568524318900
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.