Most commercials air like ships in the night, at least to me. I suppose I don’t watch a whole lot of television, but after almost 30 years of being intermittently in front of the tube, I remember maybe a handful of advertisements. The rest air for a time and then are gone, vanished into the ether of the airwaves as if they never existed.
Most of the commercials I can quickly recall are funny ads for beer. Don’t ask me what it is, but beer commercials tend to be some of the funniest and most memorable ones around. I remember watching bearded men who dressed up in drag for free Bud Light, the fellow who’d say “Yes I am” when asked if he was anyone in exchange for more of the same brew. Yes, whatever person or team that Bud Light has had writing its commercials probably deserves a mansion or ay least a diamond-studded iPad stand. But one of my favorite commercials of all-time wasn’t funny at all and did better to illustrate its brand.
Imagine a 3D chessboard. This was the scene for a 60-second spot that aired in the early 1990s, depicting various actors doing battle on a chessboard. I remember the first time or two that I watched that ad wondering what it was for. Of all things, it was a commercial for, as it said at the end, “The few, the proud, the Marines.” It made them look like warriors.
