Decorating Your Commercial Breaks

The holiday season has quite a few traditions, one of which is the annual return of holiday commercials. Certain commercials stick with you for life, for they, like lights outside, remind you that Christmas is almost here. As a child of the 1980s, I’ve posted my Top 5 below the fold:

1. My Brother and I call this one “Skating Ronald.” I remember seeing this one every year of my life until the past two or three. Apparently it debuted Christmas 1983, when I was six. It was updated around 1990 to change the jingle, but otherwise remained unchanged for its run.

2. Peter Comes Home. And wakes up the whole house by brewing coffee. The classic VW Bug and the hair and clothing styles place this one late 1970s/early 1980s.

3. Budweiser Clydesdales. The current version replaces Ed McMahon’s voice with George Clooney’s and pastes Bud’s URL at the bottom, but this ad still appears every holiday season. YouTube says this one comes from 1987.

4. M&M’s Christmas Faint. Here’s a short favorite from the early- to mid-1990s, when CGI was just getting started. An alternate title for this one may be They Do Exist.

5. Holiday Hershey’s Kisses. From 1990. I’ve seen this one already this year.

Bonus: Here’s one from the 2000s that I hope lasts as long as the ones above. No, it’s not “Surprise I got you a $50,000k Lexus,” it’s The Holiday Five-Pack: