238 Fun Facts About Famous Slogans

Which brand's slogan is 'Just Do It'?

Nike adopted 'Just Do It' in 1988: its ad agency's co-founder, worried that five very different TV spots shared no common thread, wrote one line to pull them together.

The 'Just Do It' line was adapted from whose last words?

A death row inmate's last words, 'Let's do it', spoken by Gary Gilmore before his 1977 execution in Utah, stuck with the slogan's writer; he disliked 'Let's' and changed it to 'Just'.

The first 'Just Do It' advert showed a runner crossing which bridge?

Golden Gate Bridge: Walt Stack, 80 and a fixture of San Francisco running, told viewers he ran 17 miles every morning and joked about how he kept his teeth from chattering in winter.

Which company used the slogan 'Think different' from 1997 to 2002?

Apple ran 'Think different' from 1997 to 2002; the line has been read as a jab at IBM, whose long-standing one-word motto was 'Think'.

Which cable channel was sold in the 1980s with the slogan 'I want my ...'?

MTV was missing from many cable line-ups, so stars such as Mick Jagger told viewers to ring their cable company and ask for it; Sting later sang the slogan on Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing'.

Who narrated the television version of the 'Crazy Ones' advert that Apple actually aired?

Richard Dreyfuss narrated the version Apple aired; a second cut voiced by Steve Jobs himself was recorded, but Jobs chose the Dreyfuss read just before the first broadcast.

Which group ran the 1971 anti-pollution advert that became known as the 'Crying Indian'?

Keep America Beautiful launched it on Earth Day 1971; its star, Iron Eyes Cody, played Native Americans for decades, but a 1996 newspaper report showed his parents were Italian immigrants.

Who paid for the dairy campaign of 1993 that asked a two-word question?

The California Milk Processor Board, funded by the state's milk processors, commissioned 'Got Milk?' in 1993 from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, whose staff at first found the line lazy and ungrammatical.

Which future blockbuster director shot the first 'Got Milk?' commercial?

Michael Bay, later director of Armageddon and Transformers, shot the 1993 'Aaron Burr' spot, in which a history buff with a mouthful of peanut-butter sandwich cannot answer a radio trivia question.

Which line replaced 'Got Milk?' as the national milk slogan in 2014?

'Milk Life' replaced 'Got Milk?' in national advertising in 2014, but the change didn't stick: in 2020 the older line was brought back.

Which chain introduced the catchphrase about a missing patty in 1984?

Wendy's launched 'Where's the beef?' in 1984 to mock rivals' big buns and small patties; within weeks Walter Mondale turned the line on Gary Hart in a Democratic primary debate.

Which actress delivered 'Where's the beef?' in the 1984 'Fluffy Bun' commercial?

Clara Peller, a manicurist turned actress in her eighties, became a celebrity overnight, but the chain dropped her in 1985 after she declared 'I found it!' in a Prego pasta-sauce advert.

Which longer line did the director originally want the 'Fluffy Bun' actress to say?

Director Joe Sedelmaier scripted 'Where is all the beef?', but the actress's emphysema left her unable to manage the longer line, so the shortened 'Where's the beef?' was used.

Which company has sold gems under the slogan 'A Diamond Is Forever' since the 1940s?

De Beers got the line in 1947 from copywriter Frances Gerety, whose agency had been hired to make Americans see a diamond ring as the token of love and commitment.

Which spy novelist adapted the slogan 'A Diamond Is Forever' into the title of a 1956 thriller?

Ian Fleming spotted the line in an advert in American Vogue and turned it into Diamonds Are Forever, his fourth James Bond novel.

Which cereal do Snap, Crackle and Pop advertise?

Rice Krispies' three elves took their names from an early radio advert, which invited listeners to hear the cereal 'merrily snap, crackle and pop in a bowl of milk'.

Which mint was sold through cheerfully corny 1990s adverts as 'The Freshmaker'?

Mentos adverts were so recognisable that Foo Fighters spoofed them in the video for 'Big Me', selling a sweet called Footos as 'The Fresh Fighter'.

What headgear does the cereal mascot Snap wear?

A chef's toque marks Snap; the first elf reached the box in 1933, and an illustrator then added two more, Crackle in a striped sleeping cap and Pop in a drum major's shako.

Which cereal has been sold as the 'Breakfast of Champions'?

Wheaties, the General Mills wheat-flake cereal, has carried the 'Breakfast of Champions' slogan since the 1930s, when it began sponsoring baseball broadcasts and putting athletes on its boxes.

Which sweet promised in a 1949 tagline that it 'melts in your mouth, not in your hand'?

M&M's used the line from 1949; the hard shell is said to trace to sugar-coated chocolates Forrest Mars saw soldiers eating in the Spanish Civil War, which didn't melt in the heat.

Crash-test dummies Vince and Larry starred in US adverts from 1985 urging people to do what?

Buckle their seat belts: under the line 'You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy', the slapstick pair ran until 1999 and became popular enough to get their own action figures.

Which car rental firm turned being number two in its market into the slogan 'We Try Harder', adopted in 1962?

Avis adopted 'We Try Harder' in 1962, when it trailed Hertz and had never made a profit; under the campaign it began making money, and the line lasted fifty years.

Which British department store promised for almost a century that it was 'Never Knowingly Undersold'?

John Lewis took the pledge from its sister store Peter Jones, where it began in 1925; it was dropped in 2022 and brought back in 2024.

Which novelist, then a London advertising copywriter, coined 'Irresistibubble' for Aero chocolate?

Salman Rushdie wrote adverts through the 1970s and even penned the words of a promotional song for a building society; Midnight's Children won him the Booker Prize in 1981.

Where did Maurice Drake say he wrote 'Beanz Meanz Heinz'?

In a pub over two pints: Maurice Drake said the idea of ending 'Beans' with a z came on his second pint at The Victoria in Camden. In 2004 Heinz renamed the product itself Beanz.

Which cigarette brand did Leo Burnett rescue with a cowboy campaign from 1954?

Marlboro had been sold as a women's cigarette; Leo Burnett's cowboys turned it into a masculine brand within months, and the campaign ran for more than four decades.

Which alliterative slogan once pitched Marlboro to women smokers?

'Mild as May' sold Marlboro as a mild, ladylike smoke, and the image stuck: it was known as a women's cigarette for decades.

Tony the Tiger was created in 1952 for which Kellogg's cereal?

Frosted Flakes launched with several animal mascots; within a year the tiger had seen off the others and had the cereal to himself.

Who voiced 'They're gr-r-reat!' for five decades?

Thurl Ravenscroft voiced Tony the Tiger for more than fifty years; he also sang 'You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch' but went uncredited, so many viewers assumed Boris Karloff had sung it.

The Energizer Bunny began life as a parody of which rival's mascot?

Duracell's drumming bunny dated from 1973, but it held no US trademark by 1988, so Energizer launched a parody of its own; the Duracell Bunny now advertises only outside North America.

What does the Energizer Bunny wear?

Sunglasses and flip-flops complete the pink rabbit's look; in his first 1988 spot he marched into a spoof of a rival's drumming-bunny advert, beating a bass drum.

Which chain's slogan 'It's finger lickin' good' was trademarked by its first franchisee, Pete Harman?

KFC's first franchisee opened near Salt Lake City in 1952; Pete Harman registered the line that became the company slogan and in 1957 introduced the bucket meal.

Which chain built its advertising on 'Have it your way'?

Burger King introduced 'Have It Your Way' in 1974 with a jingle that began 'Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce', promising customised orders in contrast to McDonald's fixed menu.

Which future TV star was a small child when her Burger King advert drew a lawsuit from McDonald's?

Sarah Michelle Gellar was about four when she told viewers that McDonald's burgers were smaller; McDonald's sued Burger King, its agency and Gellar herself in one of fast food's first attack-ad fights.

Which slogan did McDonald's launch worldwide in 2003?

I'm lovin' it began in Germany as 'Ich liebe es', written by a Munich-area agency, before McDonald's took it worldwide in 2003 with a jingle sung by Justin Timberlake.

The word 'slogan' originally referred to what?

A Gaelic clan war cry: 'slogan' comes from the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm, 'army shout'; the advertising sense is a much later borrowing.

Which company launched 'Reach out and touch someone' in 1979?

AT&T launched 'Reach out and touch someone' in 1979 to promote long-distance telephone calls, using emotional spots of families and friends phoning each other across the country.

Which animal mascot shared 1952 cereal boxes with Tony the Tiger before being dropped within a year?

Katy the Kangaroo appeared on the first boxes beside Tony but was gone within the year; two more rivals, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu, never reached the front of a box at all.

Which energy drink's slogan promises that it 'gives you wings'?

Red Bull, launched in Austria in 1987, built its advertising on 'Red Bull gives you wings' and hand-drawn cartoon commercials; in 2014 it paid about $13 million to settle a US class action over the claim.

In Japan, advertising slogans are commonly known by what borrowed English phrase?

Japanese advertising calls a slogan a 'catch copy' (kyatchi kopī), a Japanese-English coinage in which 'copy' means the advertising text itself.

Which Coke slogan debuted in 1993?

Always Coca-Cola arrived in 1993 with the computer-animated polar bears of the 'Northern Lights' advert, which their creator Ken Stewart said he modelled on his Labrador retriever.

Coca-Cola's 2016 slogan 'Taste the Feeling' came with a song by which DJ?

Avicii was approached by Coca-Cola to make an anthem for its Euro 2016 football adverts, and the singer Conrad Sewell joined him at his studio in Sweden to work on it.

What was the very first slogan used for Coke in 1886?

'Drink Coca-Cola' dates from 1886, when the first shop signs said only 'Coca-Cola'; 'Drink' was added to tell passers-by that the new product was a soda-fountain beverage.

Blind in-store cola taste tests against Coke were marketed under what name?

The Pepsi Challenge, launched in 1975, filmed shoppers preferring Pepsi in blind sips; its results helped push Coca-Cola into the ill-fated New Coke reformulation of 1985.

Which agency created the 1959 'Think Small' campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle?

Doyle Dane Bernbach's 1959 adverts showed a lone Beetle against a bare background and made a virtue of its size when rivals sold bigness; Advertising Age named it the century's best campaign.

Which carmaker's 2011 Super Bowl advert introduced the slogan 'Imported from Detroit'?

Chrysler bought two minutes of airtime for the advert, in which the rapper Eminem drives one of its cars through the city to the Fox Theatre, where a local choir is singing on stage.

Which pointing figure on a 1914 British poster inspired the 'I Want You' Uncle Sam poster?

Lord Kitchener, Britain's war minister, pointed out of Alfred Leete's 1914 design; James Montgomery Flagg echoed it and used his own face for Uncle Sam to save arranging a model.

Which Disney character fronted US fire-prevention posters for a year before Smokey Bear was created?

Bambi was only on loan from Walt Disney for a year, so the Forest Service needed a symbol of its own; it chose a bear and named him after New York firefighter 'Smokey' Joe Martin.

What did Smokey Bear's message change to in April 2001?

'Only You Can Prevent Wildfires' replaced the forest-fires wording in April 2001 so the message would cover blazes in grasslands and other wildland areas beyond forests.

Which bloodhound mascot was created by ad executive Jack Keil, who also voiced him?

McGruff the Crime Dog, the trench-coated bloodhound of 'Take a Bite Out of Crime', was created and voiced by adman Jack Keil; a nationwide contest named him, with 'Shurlocked Homes' the runner-up.

Which wartime poster resurfaced in an Alnwick bookshop?

Keep Calm and Carry On was printed 2.45 million times in 1939 but hardly ever displayed, so it was almost unknown until Barter Books found a copy in 2000 and put it on the wall.

Which body created the 1940s slogan 'Loose lips sink ships'?

The War Advertising Council, the industry body formed in 1942 to support the war effort, created 'Loose lips sink ships'; the line appeared on posters issued by the Office of War Information.

The 'Whassup?' beer commercials of 1999 were based on a short film called what?

True was a short film by Charles Stone III, starring his childhood friends; an agency creative came across it, noticed everyone he showed it to shouted the greeting back, and pitched it to the brewer.

Which lager was advertised overseas with the slogan 'Australian for beer'?

Foster's sold itself abroad as the taste of Australia, yet by 2011 it was little drunk there: Australian drinkers preferred Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught.

Audi's tagline 'Vorsprung durch Technik' translates roughly as what?

'Vorsprung durch Technik' means 'progress through technology'; Audi's British adverts left the German untranslated from the 1980s, and it became a catchphrase in the UK anyway.

Compare the Market's meerkat Aleksandr Orlov is famous for which catchphrase?

Aleksandr Orlov's sign-off 'Simples' became a national catchphrase after the campaign launched in 2009, its joke being that people confuse comparethemarket.com with comparethemeerkat.com.

Which US volunteer programme's long-running recruiting adverts called it 'The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love'?

The Peace Corps recruiting campaign began in 1961 and ran for thirty years; by 1965 more than a thousand Americans a week were clipping and posting its coupons.

Which British wood-stain brand is known for 'Does exactly what it says on the tin'?

Ronseal introduced 'Does exactly what it says on the tin' in 1994 for its wood-stain and varnish adverts; the phrase became British shorthand for plain-speaking honesty.

Which actor first narrated the beef industry's 'It's What's for Dinner' adverts in 1992?

Robert Mitchum voiced the adverts from 1992 until his death in 1997; when the slogan was brought back in 1999, Sam Elliott took over the narration.

Music from which Aaron Copland work accompanied the beef industry's 'It's What's for Dinner' adverts?

Rodeo supplied its 'Hoe-Down' finale; Copland wrote the 1942 ballet for choreographer Agnes de Mille, who danced the lead herself at the premiere.

Which meat was marketed from 1987 as 'The Other White Meat'?

Pork is classed as red meat by the US Department of Agriculture, whatever the adverts said; the campaign pitched it as an alternative to chicken and turkey.

Which airline billed itself as 'The World's Favourite Airline' in adverts from the 1980s?

British Airways kept the boast through the 1990s, but by 2001 Lufthansa had overtaken it in passenger numbers.

'Don't Mess with Texas' began as a campaign against what?

'Don't Mess with Texas' launched in 1986 as a Texas Department of Transportation anti-littering campaign aimed at 18-to-35-year-old men, the group most likely to litter.

Which blues guitarist starred in the first 'Don't Mess with Texas' television advert in 1986?

Stevie Ray Vaughan's advert was an overnight success, though some state highway officials had worried that the line sounded too harsh and direct.

Milton Glaser sketched the I ❤ NY logo in 1976 where?

In the back of a taxi, on his way to a meeting about the campaign, Milton Glaser drew the logo in red crayon on scrap paper; he expected it to last a few months and gave the work for free.

Which newspaper has carried the motto 'All the News That's Fit to Print' since the 1890s?

The New York Times ran a contest in 1896 offering $100 for a better motto of ten words or fewer; a winner was picked, but publisher Adolph Ochs kept his own line.

Which US state has promoted itself since 1969 as being 'for Lovers'?

Virginia's agency first wrote separate lines for history lovers, beach lovers and mountain lovers, then dropped the qualifiers as too limiting.

Which US Army recruiting slogan ran for over twenty years from 1980?

'Be All You Can Be' ran from 1980 until 2001, when 'An Army of One' replaced it; the Army gave its writer a civilian service medal in 2003 and brought the line back in 2023.

Which First Lady championed the 'Just Say No' anti-drug campaign in the 1980s?

Nancy Reagan gave the reply to an Oakland schoolgirl who asked what to do if offered drugs; pupils at the school later started a Just Say No club, and clubs spread nationwide.

In the 1987 'This Is Your Brain on Drugs' PSA, what stood for the brain?

An egg sizzled in the pan as 'your brain on drugs'; a 1997 sequel went further, with actress Rachael Leigh Cook smashing up a whole kitchen with the frying pan.

Which organisation adopted 'A mind is a terrible thing to waste' as its motto in 1972?

The United Negro College Fund adopted the line in 1972; in 1989 Vice President Dan Quayle mangled it in a speech to the fund as 'what a waste it is to lose one's mind'.

Which lager has been advertised as 'Probably the best lager in the world'?

Carlsberg's line dates from the 1970s; in 2011 the brewer swapped it for 'That calls for a Carlsberg' in a campaign rolled out across 140 markets.

Maxwell House ads claimed which president called its coffee 'good to the last drop'?

Maxwell House adverts credited Theodore Roosevelt with saying 'good to the last drop' after a cup at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage near Nashville in 1907, a story the company's own early adverts never mentioned.

Maxwell House coffee, 'Good to the last drop', is named after what kind of Nashville landmark?

Hotel: Nashville's Maxwell House Hotel agreed to serve wholesale grocer Joel Cheek's blend, so he named the coffee after it; the hotel itself burned down on Christmas night 1961.

What did British adverts sing in place of America's 'Plop, plop, fizz, fizz'?

Plink, plink, fizz was the British wording of the jingle; the American adverts' habit of showing two tablets dropping into the glass, not one, had already sent the antacid's sales sharply up.

Which remedy's classic advert had a groaning husband say 'I can't believe I ate the whole thing'?

Alka-Seltzer got the line from copywriter Howie Cohen, who overate at a crew dinner in London and groaned it aloud; his wife replied, 'There's your next Alka-Seltzer commercial.'

Which brand's grocer, Mr. Whipple, begged customers not to squeeze the product?

Charmin's Mr. Whipple, played by Dick Wilson in more than 500 commercials from 1964 to 1985, scolded shoppers for squeezing the rolls, then sneaked a squeeze himself when he thought nobody was looking.

Which detergent ran the nagging 'Ring around the collar!' campaign from 1968?

Wisk's 'Ring around the collar!' taunt, created by the agency BBDO in 1968, ran for almost 20 years; by 1987 a rumour that Lever Brothers would drop the line was news in itself, and the company denied it.

Lucky Strike's 1917 slogan 'It's Toasted' promoted what?

'It's Toasted' referred to Lucky Strike's tobacco-curing method, in which the leaf was heated rather than sun-dried; rival Camel later advertised itself as 'never parched or toasted'.

In 1942 'Lucky Strike Green has gone to war' announced that the brand's green pack had turned which colour?

White replaced the dark green pack in 1942, in a redesign by Raymond Loewy; American Tobacco said the metal in its green ink was needed for the war effort.

Which cigarette brand's decades-long slogan was 'I'd walk a mile for a ...'?

Camel was launched by R. J. Reynolds in 1913 behind teaser adverts that said only 'The Camels are coming'; 'I'd walk a mile for a Camel' then served as its slogan for decades.

Which brand told women 'You've Come a Long Way, Baby'?

Virginia Slims, launched by Philip Morris in 1968, set scenes of early-1900s women being punished for sneaking a smoke against a modern woman lighting up freely, borrowing the mood of the women's movement.

Which cigarette 'tastes good like a cigarette should', to grammarians' dismay?

Winston, launched by R.J. Reynolds in 1954, used 'Winston tastes good like a cigarette should', a line grammarians attacked for using 'like' where 'as' belonged.

Which beer's adverts had retired athletes arguing 'Tastes Great!' against 'Less Filling!'?

Miller Lite's campaign, created by McCann-Erickson in the mid-1970s, cast gruff ex-athletes so that male beer drinkers would see a low-calorie brew as a real beer rather than a diet drink.

Which beer calls itself 'The King of Beers'?

Budweiser calls itself 'The King of Beers', and Anheuser-Busch also holds the US rights to the reverse, 'Beer of Kings', a tag used for the rival Czech Budweiser.

Which lager has long been sold as 'The Champagne of Beers'?

Miller High Life went on sale in 1903, when bottled beer was still a rarity, in clear glass bottles whose long sloping necks were modelled on Champagne's.

Which soft drink sold itself as 'The Uncola' in the 1970s?

Seven-Up cast itself as 'The Uncola'; in its 1970s adverts the Trinidad-born actor Geoffrey Holder held cola nuts in one hand and a lemon and a lime, his 'Uncola nuts', in the other.

Which soda told drinkers to 'Obey Your Thirst' from 1994?

Sprite dropped 'I Like the Sprite in You' for 'Obey Your Thirst' in 1994 and set the new slogan to a hip-hop theme.

Early Mountain Dew marketing in the 1940s and 1950s used what kind of character?

A barefoot hillbilly fitted the name: 'mountain dew' was old slang for moonshine, and Tennessee bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman first made the soda in the 1940s as a mixer.

Which candy's adverts invite viewers to 'Taste the Rainbow'?

Skittles got the line from the New York agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles; the candy itself began in Britain and was not widely sold in America until 1979.

GEICO's talking gecko mascot speaks with which accent?

Cockney arrived only in 2006: the gecko had first spoken in an upper-class English voice, and his makers changed the accent to turn him into more of an everyman.

Which singer-songwriter wrote State Farm's 'Like a good neighbor' jingle in 1971?

Barry Manilow wrote the State Farm jingle in 1971 as a jobbing jingle writer; once he was famous, he worked his old commercials into his concerts as 'A Very Strange Medley'.

What did the original 'Jake from State Farm' famously say he was wearing?

Asked what he was wearing, the original Jake replied 'Uh, khakis'; Jake Stone, who played him in the 2011 advert, was a real State Farm employee.

Which insurer has told customers 'You're in Good Hands' since 1950?

Allstate's line came from sales manager Davis Ellis: when his daughter fell ill in 1950, the family was reassured that she was in good hands with her doctor, and he borrowed the phrase.

Which insurer's seven-note jingle, written by Steve Karmen, promises that it 'is on your side'?

Nationwide's line began as a plain slogan from its advertising agency; Steve Karmen, who also wrote the 'I Love New York' song, was hired later to set it to music for television.

Which razor brand introduced the slogan 'The Best a Man Can Get' in 1989?

Gillette kept the line for thirty years, then opened its 2019 film 'The Best Men Can Be' by asking 'Is this the best a man can get?' over scenes of bullying and harassment.

L'Oréal's 'Because I'm worth it' was first written to advertise which product?

Hair colour was the product, a dye called Préférence; copywriter Ilon Specht wrote the line in the early 1970s so that the woman in the advert spoke for herself, in tune with the women's movement.

L'Oréal later softened 'Because you're worth it' by switching to which pronoun?

We're replaced 'you're' as a softer line that seemed meant to sound more inclusive; the slogan had begun in the early 1970s as 'Because I'm worth it'.

Which company warned travellers 'Don't Leave Home Without It'?

American Express got the line from the agency Ogilvy & Mather in 1975; it began as 'Don't leave home without them', a warning about travellers cheques, before it was applied to the card.

Which 1970s TV detective star spent years fronting adverts for travellers cheques?

Karl Malden, born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago, spoke only Serbian until kindergarten; he went on to win an Oscar for A Streetcar Named Desire and to front the cheque adverts through the 1970s and 1980s.

Which carmaker launched 'Zoom-Zoom' in 2000 to describe the 'emotion of motion'?

Mazda borrowed the chant from 'Zoom-Zoom-Zoom', a capoeira-style song Jibril Serapis Bey had recorded for the 1993 martial-arts film Only the Strong, and had a young boy whisper it in the adverts.

BMW's German slogan 'Freude am Fahren' translates as what?

Sheer Driving Pleasure is BMW's English version of a slogan it has used in German since 1965; American adverts went their own way with 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'.

Which lager was sold in Britain as 'Reassuringly Expensive' from the 1980s?

Stella Artois used the line from 1982 to 2007, turning a higher price into a boast; from the early 1990s its British adverts were shot as miniature French films, the first inspired by Jean de Florette.

Which brand's umbrella girl illustrates the motto 'When It Rains It Pours'?

Morton Salt meant the motto literally: the company had begun adding an anti-caking agent, so its salt went on pouring freely in damp weather.

Which meat-stick snack did wrestler 'Macho Man' Randy Savage tell television viewers to 'snap into'?

Slim Jim's 'Snap into a Slim Jim!' was first bellowed by the Ultimate Warrior; 'Macho Man' Randy Savage took over in 1993 and fronted the meat stick's adverts until 2000.

Which cereal's adverts scold a hungry mascot with the words 'Silly rabbit'?

Trix's rabbit and his put-down, 'Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!', were created in 1959 by Joe Harris; in later box-top votes children chose to let the rabbit have a bowl at last.

Which cereal's long-running slogan is 'They're magically delicious'?

Lucky Charms nearly lost its leprechaun: in 1975 General Mills replaced him in New England with Waldo the Wizard, who called the cereal 'ibbledebibbledelicious', but the swap was brief.

Which cereal's ads featured hard-to-please 'Little Mikey' from 1972 to 1986?

Life's 'Mikey likes it!' advert, first aired in 1972, starred John Gilchrist beside his real brothers; a playground legend later claimed, falsely, that he had died from mixing Pop Rocks and soda.

Which chipmaker turned a PC part into a household name with a 1991 sticker campaign?

Intel launched 'Intel Inside' in 1991 and helped pay for PC makers' adverts that showed the logo; by the end of 1992 more than 500 manufacturers had signed up.

Which airline invites passengers to 'Fly the Friendly Skies'?

United introduced the line in 1965, dropped it in 1996, then brought it back in 2013 with the actor Matt Damon reading the voice-over.

Which Gershwin piece became the theme of the 'Fly the Friendly Skies' adverts?

Rhapsody in Blue cost the airline a reported $500,000 to license, a fee later cited in a Supreme Court copyright case; the 1924 piece entered the US public domain in 2020.

Which carmaker's American adverts ended with buyers leaping into the air under 'Oh, what a feeling!'?

Toyota's American adverts froze delighted buyers in mid-air; Toyota Australia borrowed the line in 1983 and was still using it, jump and all, forty years later.

Which peanut butter did adverts say 'choosy mothers choose'?

Jif adopted 'Choosy Mothers Choose Jif' in 1966; at its 1958 launch the brand had instead been fronted by a blue cartoon mascot called the Jifaroo.

Which theme park's official tagline is 'The Happiest Place on Earth'?

Disneyland, opened by Walt Disney in 1955, keeps the title for itself: its Florida sibling, the Magic Kingdom, is billed instead as 'The Most Magical Place on Earth'.

In 2018 Kix replaced the word 'Mother' in its long-running slogan with what?

Parent replaced Mother in 2018, after 40 years of 'Kid-Tested. Mother-Approved.' on the box; General Mills said the new word was more inclusive because it covers everyone raising children.

Which snack went on sale in 1968 as 'Newfangled Potato Chips'?

Pringles' claim to be potato chips was disputed from the start: US regulators restricted the word in 1975, and in 2009 a British court ruled that the 42%-potato snack was a crisp after all, and taxable.

Which brand's slogan claimed 'Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like...'?

Sara Lee's double-negative jingle was written by Mitch Leigh, the composer of Man of La Mancha; baker Charles Lubin had named his cheesecake after his eight-year-old daughter.

Which vegetable brand's mascot was given a leafy suit, a smile and the word 'Jolly' in 1935?

Green Giant's mascot had first appeared wrapped in a bearskin; the adman Leo Burnett traded the fur for leaves and gave the figure the friendlier look.

What is the Pillsbury Doughboy's proper name?

The Doughboy's official name is Poppin' Fresh; copywriter Rudy Perz dreamed him up in 1965 while imagining a living dough popping out of a Pillsbury can.

Which sleepy doughnut-shop character trudged to work saying 'Time to make the donuts'?

Fred the Baker, played by Michael Vale for 15 years, was retired in 1997 with a parade in Boston and a free doughnut for about six million customers.

Which chain's slogan has claimed since 2006 that America 'runs on' it?

Dunkin' launched 'America Runs on Dunkin'' in 2006; customers took to the shortened name so well that in 2019 the chain dropped 'Donuts' from its signs altogether.

Which sandwich chain used the slogan 'Eat Fresh' and called staff 'Sandwich Artists'?

Subway began in 1965 when 17-year-old Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 from a family friend, Peter Buck, and opened a sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, called Pete's Super Submarines.

Which chain's adverts feature cows holding signs that plead 'Eat Mor Chikin'?

Chick-fil-A's cows were created in 1995 by The Richards Group of Dallas: Holsteins with a stake in the matter, scrawling misspelled pleas for diners to choose chicken.

What did Taco Bell's talking chihuahua say?

Yo quiero Taco Bell, Spanish for 'I want Taco Bell', made the dog a late-1990s craze, but in July 2000 the chain ended the adverts and parted company with the agency behind them.

Which chain's catchphrase says 'Pizza!' twice?

Little Caesars coined the doubled 'Pizza!' in 1979 for a deal of two pizzas for the price of one; in Canada it cannot use it, because a rival chain called Pizza Pizza owns the trademark.

Which burger's 1974 jingle begins 'Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese'?

Big Mac was the third name tried: franchisee Jim Delligatti's 1967 burger had failed as the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger before a 21-year-old secretary, Esther Glickstein Rose, renamed it.

Adidas launched which memorable campaign in 2004?

Impossible is Nothing is often quoted as a saying of Muhammad Ali, who launched the campaign and appeared on its posters, but the words were written for Adidas by its advertising agency.

Britain's long-running slogan claimed that 'A Mars a day helps you' do what?

Work, rest and play were the promise of the British bar, first made in Slough in 1932 as a version of the American Milky Way with a recipe adjusted for European tastes.

Which British sweet has long been advertised as 'the mint with the hole'?

Polo was Rowntree's answer to an American ring-shaped mint it had made under licence during the war; its name is said to come from 'polar', for the cool taste.

Which UK sweets, 'made to make your mouth water', were renamed Starburst in 1998?

Opal Fruits took the American name Starburst in 1998 so the sweets carried one brand worldwide; the old name has since been revived for nostalgic limited editions, first for 12 weeks in 2008.

Which lager's British adverts claimed it 'refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach'?

Heineken's line came to copywriter Terry Lovelock at 3am in Morocco; he had gone there on another shoot, still unable to crack a brief that consisted of one word, 'refreshment'.

Which actor voiced the original 'Probably the best lager in the world' adverts?

Orson Welles gave the line its first voice-over; by then the director of Citizen Kane was a familiar voice in commercials, and a blooper tape of him grumbling through a frozen-peas script became notorious.

Which British gravy brand's ragged Kids sniffed the air and sighed 'Ah!' in adverts from 1919?

Bisto's two street urchins, drawn by the cartoonist Will Owen, sniffed their way through nearly eight decades of adverts before the brand dropped them from its packaging in 1996.

Which model fronted Wonderbra's 1994 'Hello Boys' posters?

Eva Herzigová, a Czech model, gazed down from the 1994 billboards; road-safety campaigners received complaints about them, and tales of drivers crashing as they stared passed into urban legend.

Which mobile network launched in Britain in 1994 with the promise 'The future's bright'?

Orange completed the line: 'The future's bright, the future's Orange'. The network had been known as Microtel until its owner Hutchison renamed it a month before the 1994 launch.

Which British optician's strapline is 'Should've gone to...'?

Specsavers built the line on eyesight mishaps, such as the farmer who shears his own sheepdog by mistake, and the phrase has planted itself in the everyday British lexicon.

The slogan 'Does she... or doesn't she?' sold which home hair dye from the 1950s?

Miss Clairol let women tint their hair at home in a single step; Shirley Polykoff's teasing question came with its own answer, 'Hair color so natural only her hairdresser knows for sure'.

What did 1970s TV ads show doing the walking across the Yellow Pages?

A disembodied hand strolled across the directory under 'Let your fingers do the walking'; the Bell System never registered its best-known walking-fingers logo, so rivals used it freely, and a later trademark bid was refused as generic.

Which company promised from 1979 that 'We Bring Good Things to Life'?

General Electric adopted the line to give its many businesses a single image, having been seen mainly as an appliance maker; 'Imagination at Work' replaced it in 2003.

Which company's slogan is 'When you care enough to send the very best'?

Hallmark's line began as a note on an index card, where sales executive Ed Goodman had jotted down what he thought set the company apart.

George Eastman's early Kodak slogan promised 'You Press the Button, ...' what?

'You press the button, we do the rest' introduced the first Kodak camera in 1888, which buyers returned to Eastman's company for developing; Gilbert and Sullivan quoted it in Utopia, Limited.

Which delivery company asked 'What can Brown do for you?' in the 2000s?

UPS was playing on its Pullman brown livery, chosen in the firm's early days because, like the railway carriages it copied, brown looked smart and hid the dirt.

Which lollipop does a cartoon owl bite after three licks in a classic advert?

Tootsie Pop's advert left the number of licks to the centre unanswered, so students at Purdue built a licking machine to settle it, and other universities ran counts of their own without agreeing.

Which side dish is 'The San Francisco Treat'?

Rice-A-Roni began as a pilaf of rice and broken vermicelli that Lois DeDomenico learned from her Armenian landlady in San Francisco; her husband's family pasta firm boxed it in 1958.

Which stout's vintage posters paired a toucan with the promise that it was 'Good for You'?

Guinness's toucan was painted by John Gilroy and given its verse by Dorothy L. Sayers, then an advertising copywriter and later famous for her Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels.

Which future film director shot Hovis's 1973 'Boy on the Bike' commercial?

Ridley Scott shot the 1973 advert years before Alien; its brass-band Dvořák suggests a northern mill town, but the cobbled climb is Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset.

Which British chocolate bar promises 'a glass and a half' in every half pound?

Dairy Milk has carried the 'glass and a half' since 1928, when Cadbury first put real money into advertising the bar and chose its high milk content as the boast.

What is the Milkybar Kid's catchphrase?

The blond, bespectacled cowboy shouts 'The Milkybars are on me!' before handing out the white chocolate; the character first appeared in 1961.

Which chocolate bar has told snackers to 'Have a Break' in its adverts since 1957?

Kit Kat, launched in 1935 as Chocolate Crisp, got 'Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat' from the agency JWT London in 1957, and the line reached British television a year later.

Ferrero Rocher's famous 1990s ad was set at whose party?

An ambassador's reception was the setting: trays piled with pyramids of the gold-wrapped chocolates were passed off as the height of good taste, and the advert has been parodied repeatedly since.

'Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet' ads used which piece by Bach?

Hamlet's adverts played Jacques Loussier's jazz arrangement of Bach's Air on the G String as each comic misfortune was soothed by lighting the cigar.

Castlemaine's 1980s tagline said Australians wouldn't give a XXXX for what?

The 1980s British campaign ended 'Australians wouldn't give a XXXX for anything else', a pun on the four Xs of the Castlemaine Perkins lager from Brisbane.

Which company's console was sold with the taunt that it 'does what Nintendon't'?

Sega's 'Genesis does what Nintendon't' ads set the 16-bit Genesis against Nintendo's 8-bit NES, selling arcade-style action and sports games fronted by paid celebrities.

Which phone maker used the corporate slogan 'Connecting People'?

Nokia introduced 'Connecting People' in 1992, the year it launched the first mass-produced GSM phone; the company had begun in 1865 as a Finnish pulp mill and later made rubber and cables.

Verizon's 'Can you hear me now?' Test Man later became a spokesman for which rival?

Paul Marcarelli, Verizon's 'Can you hear me now?' Test Man from 2002, was dropped in 2011 and resurfaced in 2016 as a Sprint spokesman, claiming its network was within 1% of Verizon's.

Which two veterans starred in Snickers' first 'You're Not You When You're Hungry' ad?

The 2010 Super Bowl spot had Betty White tackled in a muddy football game and Abe Vigoda flattened, both 'not themselves' until they ate a Snickers.

Which gum maker launched the long-running Doublemint Twins advertising campaign in 1939?

Wrigley began the campaign with stylised drawings of twins as a play on the 'double' in the gum's name; real twins took over later, and the first pair on television appeared in 1959.

Which candy's ads called it 'two great tastes that taste great together'?

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ads of the 1970s and 1980s had two strangers collide, one crying 'You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!', before both tried the mix and liked it.

Which candy's 1970s adverts urged customers to 'Get the Sensation'?

York Peppermint Pattie got its 'Get the Sensation' adverts in the 1970s, when new owner Peter Paul took a regional candy national.

Which cartoon character warned 'Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger'?

Bart Simpson fronted Butterfinger adverts from 1988 to 2001, snarling 'Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!'; the first spots predated The Simpsons' own series debut.

Which mint's ads settled a 'breath mint or candy mint' quarrel by declaring it 'two mints in one'?

Certs ads had two people argue 'It's a breath mint!' and 'It's a candy mint!' until an announcer ruled both right; the green flecks came from Retsyn, a trademarked blend built on copper gluconate.

'Four out of five dentists surveyed' recommended sugarless gum for which brand?

Trident's full line ran 'four out of five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum', wording that backed sugarless gum in general and never named Trident.

Which toothpaste asked 'You'll wonder where the yellow went'?

Pepsodent's jingle ran 'You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent'; the brand had earlier paid for Bob Hope's radio show through its whole ten-year run from 1938.

Which hair cream promised 'A Little Dab'll Do Ya'?

Brylcreem, created in Birmingham, England, in 1928, sang 'a little dab'll do ya' in its first television adverts, where a cartoon man's shaggy hair combed itself smooth after one dab.

Which brand's 2010 ads starred Isaiah Mustafa as 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like'?

Old Spice put the one-take ad online days before the 2010 Super Bowl, then had Mustafa answer fans and celebrities in 186 personalised videos shot over two and a half days.

Which Procter & Gamble soap was long sold with the slogan 'It Floats!'?

Ivory floated because air was whipped into the bar; the old tale that a worker left the mixer running by accident was later discounted by the company, whose records show the design was deliberate.

Which cleanser's 'Stronger than dirt!' was often paired with a knight on a white horse?

Ajax detergent's 1960s 'Stronger than dirt!' adverts featured a White Knight on horseback; The Doors ended 'Touch Me' by chanting the phrase.

Which insecticide brand's slogan promises that it 'Kills Bugs Dead'?

Raid's line is often credited to the Beat poet Lew Welch, then an advertising copywriter, and animation director Tex Avery made the early spots in which cartoon bugs scream the brand's name.

Which electronics maker used 'The quality goes in before the name goes on'?

Zenith, the Chicago maker of radios and televisions, used 'The quality goes in before the name goes on' for many years; South Korea's LG took control in 1995 and owned it outright by 1999.

Which dog is the subject of the 1898 painting His Master's Voice?

Nipper had died in 1895, three years before Francis Barraud painted him listening to a phonograph; the Gramophone Company bought the picture once Barraud repainted the machine as one of its own.

Which appliance brand's ads feature 'Ol' Lonely', a repairman with nothing to fix?

Maytag made its repairman idle to sell its machines as dependable; Jesse White played him from 1967 to 1988, then Gordon Jump took over the uniform until 2003.

Which jazz singer's voice shattered glass in Memorex's 'Is it live?' ads?

Ella Fitzgerald sang a note that shattered a glass, then a Memorex cassette of the note did the same, under the line 'Is it live, or is it Memorex?'

Which jeans brand's slogan was 'Quality never goes out of style'?

Levi's used 'Quality never goes out of style' from the 1980s; the company traces its riveted denim jeans to an 1873 patent held by Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis.

Why was the Frito Bandito mascot discontinued around 1971?

Complaints about a racist stereotype came from Mexican-American groups, one of which threatened a $610 million defamation suit; Frito-Lay first tidied up the cartoon bandit, then retired him in 1971.

Which brand's slogan says 'there's always room for' it?

Jell-O began in 1897 with carpenter Pearle Wait, who sold the name two years later to a neighbour in LeRoy, New York, whose adverts made it 'America's Most Famous Dessert'.

What does the Kool-Aid Man shout after smashing through a wall?

Oh, yeah! is his catchphrase: children shout 'Hey, Kool-Aid!' and the pitcher bursts in to pour them a glass. He began in 1954 as the 'Pitcher Man', inspired by a smiley face a child drew on a frosted window.

Which drink is 'Made from the Best Stuff on Earth'?

Snapple's ads starred Wendy Kaufman, a staffer who had taken it on herself to answer the company's fan mail; as the 'Snapple Lady' she read drinkers' letters on air.

Which cookie brand's ads star elves led by Ernie who bake in a hollow tree?

Keebler's elves and their Hollow Tree were invented by an ad agency in the late 1960s, the story being that elves bake the cookies in magic ovens; the bakery itself goes back to Godfrey Keebler's Philadelphia shop of 1853.

Goldfish crackers' packaging calls them 'The snack that...' what?

Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish carry the line 'The snack that smiles back', a nod to the smiling face stamped on some crackers since 1997; Finn, the sunglass-wearing goldfish, is the mascot.

Which voice actor first voiced Toucan Sam, with an American accent?

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, first voiced Toucan Sam in 1963 with an American accent; Paul Frees later gave him the British accent that Maurice LaMarche continued.

Sonny the Cuckoo Bird loses control at the mere mention of which cereal?

Cocoa Puffs sends him into a frenzy in most ads, shouting that he is cuckoo for it; he is called Sonny because the first spots paired him with his grandfather, Gramps, and the name outlived the old bird.

Which actor fronted Quaker Oats commercials from 1987 through the 1990s?

Wilford Brimley told viewers that eating oatmeal was 'the right thing to do' in a campaign that began in 1987; his later ads for diabetes supplies turned him into an internet meme.

Which cat food is 'the only brand cats ask for by name'?

Meow Mix has a jingle, first aired in 1974, whose only lyric is the word 'meow'; subtitles with a bouncing ball then translate what the cat is ordering.

Which fruit brand's mascot was first drawn in 1944 by Dik Browne, later the creator of Hägar the Horrible?

Chiquita's Miss Chiquita was modelled on Carmen Miranda and arrived with a 1944 jingle that told Americans when bananas were ripe to eat and how to store them.

Which group sang 'Buy the World a Coke' in the 1971 'Hilltop' commercial?

The New Seekers first recorded it as a radio jingle, built on a line adman Bill Backer scribbled on a napkin while delayed at Shannon Airport; reworked without the brand name, it became a worldwide hit.

Apple's '1984' commercial, shown during that year's Super Bowl, introduced which computer?

Macintosh was the machine pictured on the runner's vest: she hurls a sledgehammer through a screen showing a Big Brother figure, and the ad had its only national airing on 22 January 1984.

The Michelin Man's proper name, Bibendum, comes from a Latin phrase on an 1898 poster meaning what?

'Now is the time to drink' renders Horace's 'Nunc est bibendum'; on the poster the man made of tyres raises a glass of road hazards to show that Michelin tyres 'drink up' obstacles.

Under what name has Aunt Jemima been sold since its 2021 retirement?

Pearl Milling Company was the firm that developed the original ready-mix in 1888–89; PepsiCo bought the name in February 2021 so that it could retire the Aunt Jemima brand.

Which brand's mascot, used since the 1950s, is a bald man with an earring and folded arms?

Mr. Clean goes by other names abroad: in Britain the cleaner is sold as Flash, because another company already owned the Mr Clean name there.

Which future weatherman played the first Ronald McDonald in 1963?

Willard Scott had been playing Bozo the Clown on Washington television when a local McDonald's franchisee's ad agency put him in three 1963 commercials as Ronald, 'the Hamburger-Happy Clown'.

Which brand's hipster mascot Charlie the Tuna was created in 1961?

StarKist always turns him down: Charlie thinks his good taste makes him a fine catch, but the brand wants tuna that tastes good, hence the catchphrase 'Sorry, Charlie'.

Elsie the Cow was created in 1936 as the mascot for which dairy company?

Borden gave Elsie a cartoon mate, Elmer the Bull, in 1940, and in 1951 made him the face of its adhesives, which is why a bull looks out from every bottle of Elmer's Glue.

Morris, 'the world's most finicky cat', advertises which cat food?

9Lives found the original Morris at a Chicago-area animal shelter in 1968, and every cat to play the finicky orange tabby since has also been a rescue.

Which beer brand's 'Original Party Animal', Spuds MacKenzie, was played by a female bull terrier?

Bud Light introduced Spuds in a 1987 Super Bowl ad; the dog, really named Honey Tree Evil Eye, drew a campaign by Senator Strom Thurmond, who said the brewer was courting children.

Which cigarette mascot did six-year-olds know like Mickey Mouse?

Joe Camel was matched to cigarettes by 91% of six-year-olds in a 1991 study; a Federal Trade Commission complaint followed, and R.J. Reynolds dropped him in 1997.

Which beer's adverts starred a bearded 'Most Interesting Man in the World' from 2006?

Dos Equis cast Jonathan Goldsmith, who won the part by improvising for 30 minutes after taking off one sock; in 2016 the brand retired him by sending him off on a one-way space flight, then brought him back in 2026.

Which comedian portrays Flo of Progressive Insurance?

Stephanie Courtney, a member of the Groundlings improv troupe, has played Flo since 2008 and says the look takes an hour for the hair and another for the make-up.

Which comedian originally voiced the duck in Aflac insurance commercials?

Gilbert Gottfried quacked the company's name until 2011, when Aflac, which does most of its business in Japan, fired him over jokes about the Japanese tsunami.

Which slogan has the Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah used since 1997?

Dangerously cheesy replaced his two earlier slogans in 1997; the cartoon cheetah had arrived in 1986, some years after the brand dropped its first mascot, the Cheetos Mouse.

Which two monster cereals launched alongside each other in March 1971?

Count Chocula and Franken Berry arrived together in March 1971 and spent their ads bickering over whose cereal was better; Boo Berry did not join them until December 1972.

Which savoury spread is sold with the slogan 'Love it or hate it'?

Marmite made a slogan of its own divisive taste, and the name has entered British English as a word for anything people either love or loathe.

Which antacid's adverts answered the question 'How do you spell relief'?

Rolaids spelled out its own name as the answer, then stretched the pun: for more than thirty years from 1976 it sponsored baseball's award for the best relief pitchers.

Mr. Peanut originated from a 1916 design contest entry by whom?

A schoolboy, Antonio Gentile, drew the peanut man for the contest, and a commercial artist then gave him the monocle and top hat that turned him into a gentleman.

Which baking brand's namesake was made up by a flour company in 1921 to sign replies to customers' letters?

Betty Crocker never existed: the miller Washburn-Crosby invented her after a 1921 puzzle contest brought in hundreds of cooking questions, borrowing 'Crocker' from one of its directors.

Which company owns Ben's Original, the rice renamed from Uncle Ben's in 2020?

Mars, better known for chocolate bars, owns the brand; the rice was supplied to the armed forces in the Second World War before it was offered to shoppers.

Papa John's founder John Schnatter started the chain in 1984 from where?

A broom closet in his father's tavern held the first oven; Schnatter sold his 1971 Camaro to buy used pizza equipment, then paid a $250,000 reward in 2009 to get the car back.

Which chain introduced a distinctive red-roofed building in 1969 and later made the roof a logo?

Pizza Hut began in 1958 when brothers Dan and Frank Carney, students in Wichita, borrowed $600 from their mother to open a pizza parlour; the red roof followed eleven years later.

Which teenage actress declared in a 1980 jeans advert that nothing came between her and her Calvins?

Brooke Shields delivered the line as a question and answer for photographer Richard Avedon's Calvin Klein Jeans campaign, and some television stations refused to run the adverts.

Which budget lodging chain's radio ads, voiced by Tom Bodett from 1986, promised to 'leave the light on for you'?

Motel 6 was named for the $6 a night it charged when its first motel opened in Santa Barbara in 1962; Bodett ad-libbed the closing line at his first recording, and the partnership ended in 2025.

Which coffee brand's jingle, used since 1984, claims it is 'the best part of waking up'?

Folgers has kept the same jingle going by having it re-recorded again and again, in country, gospel, jazz, folk and a cappella versions.

Which British supermarket's main advertising slogan is 'Every little helps'?

Tesco began in 1919 with market trader Jack Cohen; he made the name for his own-brand tea from the initials of supplier T. E. Stockwell and the first two letters of Cohen.

Which paper towel brand, launched by P&G in 1965 after it found shoppers cared most about absorbency, is 'the quicker picker-upper'?

Bounty arrived as a thicker two-ply towel, and for decades a diner waitress named Rosie mopped up her customers' spills with it to prove the point.

Which actress played the diner waitress Rosie in decades of paper-towel commercials?

Nancy Walker, also known as Rhoda's mother Ida Morgenstern, played Rosie in a long-running series of commercials, wiping up diners' spills to show how much one towel could absorb.

Campbell's has used which slogan predominantly since 1935?

The other three were all later Campbell's taglines, from 1969-75, 1975-82 and the 1990s respectively.

Which snack brand's best-known slogan is 'betcha can't eat just one'?

Lay's began in the 1930s with salesman Herman Lay selling potato chips from his car; the dare came in the 1960s, in adverts starring Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion of The Wizard of Oz.

Which soft drink promoted 'drink time' at 10, 2 and 4 o'clock?

Dr Pepper's promotions named 10, 2 and 4 o'clock as 'Dr Pepper Time', and during World War II a radio show called The 10-2-4 Ranch carried the idea across the South.

Which claymation artist created the Noid for Domino's Pizza in the 1980s?

Will Vinton, who trademarked the word 'claymation', animated the pizza-wrecking pest from 1986; in 1989 a man named Kenneth Noid, sure the ads were mocking him, took Domino's staff hostage in Georgia.

Which watch brand's slogan says it 'takes a licking and keeps on ticking'?

Timex had newsman John Cameron Swayze torture its watches on live television; when one came off an outboard motor's propeller and was lost in the tank, he ad-libbed that it was probably still ticking at the bottom.

In Volkswagen's Super Bowl commercial 'The Force', a boy is dressed as which Star Wars character?

Darth Vader, in miniature, fails to wake the dog or start the washing machine, then believes he has started the family Passat. His father had quietly used the remote control.

Which action star did the splits between two reversing Volvo trucks in a commercial set to Enya?

Jean-Claude Van Damme, then in his early fifties, stood on the wing mirrors as one truck slowly moved sideways, to the sound of Enya's 'Only Time'.

Which animated animals became the stars of Kia's American commercials for the boxy Soul hatchback?

Hamsters on stationary wheels, stuck in city streets, launched the campaign, and the Kia rodents were later inducted into the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame.

Which actor plays a storyteller musing at the wheel in Lincoln's car commercials from 2014?

Matthew McConaughey's ads were directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, and Lincoln's sales rose by 25 percent one month after they debuted.

Which Hollywood star narrated 'Halftime in America', Chrysler's two-minute 2012 Super Bowl commercial?

Clint Eastwood narrates an account of the American car industry rebounding after the Great Recession, and the ad ends on a close-up of his face.

Which Japanese carmaker spent the early 1980s on a costly campaign to retire its Datsun brand name?

Nissan's switch cost around US$500 million in all, including new signs for 1,100 Datsun dealerships.

Which Detroit rocker's song 'Like a Rock' soundtracked Chevrolet truck commercials for more than a decade?

Bob Seger got the call only after Bruce Springsteen declined to lend 'Born in the U.S.A.' to the campaign, which then ran until 2004.

Which Australian actor fronted Subaru's American commercials for the Outback after its 1990s launch?

Paul Hogan, the star of Crocodile Dundee, sold the Outback as a capable and more efficient alternative to large, truck-based SUVs.

Which auto executive became a television pitchman by starring in Chrysler's own commercials throughout the 1980s?

Lee Iacocca proved so persuasive on camera that other companies began putting their own executives in their advertising.

Which carmaker's British commercial 'Cog' shows a chain reaction built from the parts of one dismantled car?

Honda took apart a seventh-generation Accord for the 2003 ad, which works like a Rube Goldberg machine of colliding parts.

Which cartoon character joined Michael Jordan in Super Bowl sneaker ads that inspired the film Space Jam?

Bugs Bunny was picked because the rabbit was the creative director's childhood hero, and the first spot took six months and $1 million to make.

Which NBA legend duels Michael Jordan in a trick-shot contest for lunch in a McDonald's Super Bowl ad?

Larry Bird and Jordan play for Jordan's own lunch, and the loser has to watch the winner eat it.

Which Pittsburgh Steelers star tosses his jersey to a boy who hands him a Coke in a classic commercial?

Joe Greene, nicknamed 'Mean', starred in an ad that won a Clio Award and fixed his image as a tough football player who is really a nice guy.

Which film director played Mars Blackmon opposite Michael Jordan in Air Jordan sneaker commercials?

Spike Lee first played Mars in his own 1986 film She's Gotta Have It, and thought the offer to revive him in ads was a prank by his friends.

Which Brazilian star paused a World Cup kick-off in Mexico to tie his Puma boots as the cameras zoomed in?

Pelé was paid $120,000 by Puma for the stunt, which put his boots in close-up in front of a global television audience.

Which NBA star challenged Godzilla to a game of basketball in downtown Tokyo in a 1992 sneaker commercial?

Charles Barkley's giant-sized showdown was shot by Industrial Light & Magic on a rebuilt miniature set from Ghostbusters II, and was later adapted into a comic book.

Which Super Bowl-winning quarterback famously wore Hanes Beautymist pantyhose in a television commercial?

Joe Namath was a prolific pitchman: in a Noxzema shaving cream ad he was shaved by a then-unknown Farrah Fawcett.

Which New York Yankees legend became the television face of Mr. Coffee machines in the 1970s?

Joe DiMaggio was an unlikely coffee salesman: an ulcer meant he could barely drink the stuff he sold on television.

Which comedian voiced Lil Penny, the puppet alter ego of NBA guard Penny Hardaway in 1990s sneaker commercials?

Chris Rock voiced the puppet in Nike's Lil Penny campaign of the mid to late 1990s, when Hardaway was an All-Star guard with the Orlando Magic.

Reebok's 'Dan & Dave' commercials before the 1992 Barcelona Olympics hyped two American rivals in which event?

Decathlon medal hope Dan O'Brien then failed to qualify for the US team, missing the pole vault at the trials, so Reebok recut the spots to show Dan cheering Dave on.