Not a Parody or "Your Name Here"

[chuck]

I watch Noir Alley on TCM, usually the Sunday Morning rebroadcast. The film was pretty good but the filler material between the end of Noir Alley and the next main film was this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVZ2A-HD8bg

It's so bad, it's hilarious. Much better than most of SNL or anything Monty Python did.

[rogruth]

Chuck,
I saw that one also and wondered if it was serious. I still don't know.

[chuck]

It was made in 1960 and it was "serious". They were just trying to showcase their ability/efficiency in rendering a "serviceable" corporate movie from a generic script and stock footage to save time and money. Some of the clumsy humor was intentional and it was aimed at their intended audience, "see we can be funny too".

A lot of the real ads from that time are just as painful to watch

Do you remember:

Anacin ads with the goofy hammer inside your head and lightning bolt discharges?
The tube and circle graphics used for Pepto Bismal?
Ajax: White Knight or the White tornado?
Aerowax bouncing 50 cal machine gun fire off of a jet cockpit to promote their acrylic floor wax?
Hertz customer flying into his rent a car?

These were real ads. You can probably find them on YouTube

BTW, some of the pharma companies are recycling their ads (or at least their jingles) for their products. I find it amusing that they are trying the direct marketing route (i.e. convince the customer to demand their latest/greatest product from their physician). Any pharma product that has to warn me that it could a) cause death, b) lead to a serious condition that could result in death, and/or c) can result in complications that could lead to death is off the table. The condition they are treating better be fatal in and of itself before I would risk it for something like psoriasis or toe nail funngus. BBTW, a lot of these drugs were developed for something completely different and they are now being peddled as a "treatment" for what was originally a side effect.