♪ ♪
ROB: Welcome to the 80's Greatest Hits,
a decade that's celebrated appearance,
projecting an image and selling yourself.
ROB (off-screen): We're counting down ten classic commercials
from one classic decade.
MICK: I want my MTV.
ROB (off-screen): When we weren't being sold products,
we were being sold ourselves.
DMC: The commercials of the 80s psychologically connected
with the audience.
ROB (off-screen): With images that defined the decade for
better and for worse.
BROOKE: You wanna know what becomes between me and my Calvins?
JON: Talk about a sexual innuendo.
ROB (off-screen): TV commercials sold us the 80s.
CLARA: Hey, where's the beef?
ROB (off-screen): And, we still buy into their messages today.
KATIE: "Just Do It." What a great phrase.
ROB (off-screen): But, which one was the best of the best?
(theme music plays)
ROB: So, where do we start?
How about our fast talking number ten?
JOHN: Okay, you understand I need to be in New York on Monday,
LA on Tuesday, New York on Wednesday,
LA on Thursday, New York on Friday. Got it.
WOMAN (over phone): Got it. JOHN: Got it.
I taught myself when I was 12 how to do the fast talking.
Pretty much, told to shut up for 15 years.
NARRATOR: John Moschitta's motormouth was tailor made for
a decade consumed with a need for speed,
and it was American big business that led the race.
ROBERT: You had the fax machine coming into offices.
You had computers coming into offices for the first time,
and so, the pace of business was accelerating.
NARRATOR: Ex-Vietnam military pilot,
Fred Smith, takes the hint, and sets up a fast airborne
delivery service.
But, speed comes at a cost, and,
in this case, at a loss.
FREDERICK: In the first couple of years of operation,
we lost a total of $29 million.
NARRATOR: With his business on the line,
Fred Smith needs to get his point across.
You snooze, you lose.
Enter, John Moschitta, who's record breaking motormouth
delivers a major wake up call.
TV PRESENTER: Get set...
Talk.
JOHN: Friend, either you're closing your eyes to a situation
you do not wish to acknowledge.
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community
One fine night they leave the pool hall, heading for the dance at the armory,
libertine men and scarlet women and rag-time shameless music
that'll grab your son, your daughter, with the arms of a jungle animal instinct.
Mass-staria. Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground. Trouble.
(applause)
Within four days of that show airing I was booked on every major talk show.
(applause)
NARRATOR: To harness John's talent,
FedEx's ad agency hires superstar commercial director,
Joe Sedelmaier, a star director who's used to
doing things his way.
JOE: (bleep) that's good.
JOHN: He was not all that anxious to work with me,
and they were, kind of, making him do it,
and the original concept for the commercial only had me
saying stuff like, "Thanks for taking this meeting",
and so, I thought, well, this is not gonna be very funny,
and I got there and I said,
"You know, I was thinking about it.
I'd like to talk to you about the script",
and, all of a sudden, you could hear,
like, a pin drop, and he said,
"Oh, really, what would you like to say?"
And so I said, "I thought I should say something like,
oh, wonderful, wonderful wonderful..."
And, in conclusion, Jim, Bill, Bob, Col, Fred, Abel and Ted...
"Business is business.
In order to get something done, we've gotta do something..."
In order to do something, we've gotta get to work.
"So, let's get to work. Thanks for taking this meeting."
And, he looked at me and says, "You know, I think that will work better."
(laughs)
Got it.
ROBERT: The theme of the commercial was what FedEx did.
It was fast.
WOMAN: Can you wait 15 seconds?
MAN: I'll wait 15 seconds.
BRYAN: It was comedy that we hadn't seen before, you know?
JOHN: Congratulations on your deal in Denver, Dave.
I'm putting you down to deal with Dallas.
Dawn, do we have a deal? It's a deal. We have a deal.
I've gotta go. I've got a call coming in."
BRYAN: Like, this guys is really doing that.
Like, it's not some special effects.
KATIE: It was actually a stroke of genius.
JOHN: Dawn, I'm putting you down to deal with Dick.
Dick, what's the deal with the deal? Are we dealing?
KEVIN: And, in school, people would try to imitate him and
talk real fast, and sprain their tongue in the process.
JOHN: You did a bang up job.
I'm putting you in charge of Pittsburgh.
I know it's perfect, Peter, what's why I picked Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is perfect. Peter, may I call you Pete?
PETER: Call me Pete.
NARRATOR: FedEx's ad is a huge success,
and makes them a metaphor for the high speed of 80s business.
JOHN: Congratulations. Welcome aboard.
NARRATOR: And, that FedEx guy?
He becomes an enduring 80's star.
PETER: Yeah, didn't you do an interview with that
fast-talking FedEx guy?
LOIS: Yeah, I ended up dating him for three months.
JOHN: That's a beautiful shade of lipstick.
I bet you enjoy the music of Men at Work.
You're incredibly foxy, take off your shirt, take off your pants.
Wow, what a body. That feels good.
I'll give you a call. You'd better get tested.
ROB: So, how did we make our charts?
ROB (off-screen): We recruited a panel of experts who ranked
our top ten commercials based on their wow factor...
their importance of time, and their impact today.
ROB: Our panel's number nine, a product that revolves around
hair, but, no, it's not the beloved 80s mullet,
may it rest in peace.
NARRATOR: In the 70's men went back to nature
letting it all hang and grow out,
but, in the 80s, as business became slick and cool,
so too did men's faces.
And razor company, Gillette, jump on that clean cut
bandwagon with a series of iconic TV spots.
JEREMY: That Gillette commercial is like 17 movies.
BRIAN: First real cinematic, thematic commercial we'd ever really seen.
NARRATOR: Gillette gambles $80 million on a full
Hollywood makeover, making mini movies celebrating
clean shaven dudes on the front lines of a grooming revolution.
But, no revolution is complete without its own anthem.
♪ Oh oh oh Gillette ♪
♪ The best a man can get ♪
♪ Oh, Gillette, now ♪
♪ Oh, the best I say, ♪
♪ the best the man can get ♪
♪ For all a man can be ♪
KATIE: The jingle was absolutely irresistible.
Fun to sing along with Gillette.
♪ Gillette ♪
MAN (off-screen): The best a man can get.
♪ The best a man can get ♪
REGINALD: The best a man can get,
it was, essentially, a love song to men.
KATIE: It was written by a proper singer songwriter, Jake Holmes.
He actually wrote for Frank Sinatra.
He also wrote "Dazed and Confused",
which was later made popular by Led Zeppelin.
BRYAN: That was the heyday of the epic jingle.
MAN (off-screen): Gillette is changing the face of shaving.
NARRATOR: Gillette's gamble helps make clean shaven the
look of the late 80's male, whatever their age.
KEVIN: I'm in good shape.
(screams)
JEREMY: They definitely put full throttle,
the whole idea of men looking good,
and you need to take care of yourself to look good.
ROB: At number eight, this 80's commercial was so genius
that, in the 90's, we made a parody of it in Wayne's World.
WAYNE: Pardon me. Do you have any Grey Poupon?
(laughs)
NARRATOR: Young, urban professional or yuppie.
Now, that wasn't an 80's catchphrase.
For many, that was an assignment,
with homework that could be found inside this tiny glass jar.
LONI: Like, first of all, what is Grey Poupon?
ROBERT: Grey Poupon was an unknown product.
NARRATOR: Looking to make inroads into the US market,
Grey Poupon cast their eye on the growing yuppie trend for
culinary sophistication.
The trouble is, for most people,
mustard still means hot dogs on street corners.
Grey Poupon need ad man, Stephan Kaplan,
to come up with a commercial that can sell old world class
to a new mass market.
STEPHEN: It was myself and my writing partner,
Larry Elegant, sitting around with the jar of mustard between us,
and the first thing that Larry said was,
"What can we do with a Rolls Royce?"
KANE: Thought we might have a picnic tomorrow, Susan.
STEPHEN: I remember a scene in Citizen Kane,
and their idea of a picnic was to have these amazingly rich
cars follow each other out to the picnic area.
That triggered a thought in my mind that to,
literally, have another Rolls pull up and ask for a jar of
Grey Poupon as if they were asking for a cup of sugar.
MAN: Pardon me?
Would you have any Grey Poupon?
MAN: But, of course.
MAN (off-screen): Grey Poupon. It even has wine.
NARRATOR: Stephen Kaplan knew he was taking a big risk.
If he got it wrong, he could alienate both ends of the
market simultaneously.
But Stephen managed to bowl right down the proverbial
middle lane by serving up two of the key 80's ad
food groups, aspiration and humor.
ROBERT: Personal refinement and accomplishment,
for the price of a jar of mustard.
It elevated a condiment to something that was indicative
of your status in life.
BRYAN: They elevated it but it didn't take itself too seriously.
LONI: It's just something that you instantly remember the
minute you say, "Grey Poupon", you think of those two men in
the car passing that.
JEN: It was like the Downton Abbey of 80's commercials.
It then became something that you would say to the point
that you would annoy everyone if you wanted mustard or
any kind of condiment.
"Do you have any Grey Poupon?"
NARRATOR: When the ad is tested in Seattle,
sales increase by 100%.
Somehow, they managed to capture the 80's lightning of
class into a tiny jar.
LONI: I was, like, if I eat that, that'll make me rich.
ROBERT: I bugged my mother to buy Grey Poupon for us,
and it was considered sophisticated.
REGINALD: My mother fiercely led our family from
working class to lower middle class.
That was her mission, and all I had to do was say,
"Rich people eat that mustard, Mamma",
it was on the list.
(laughs)
NARRATOR: Soon, many mammas put their wallets where
their son's mouths were, which helped lock Grey Poupon down
as our number eight.
But, seven more commercials are in bound.
For instance, a dog in a sex scandal.
Really?
ROB: Now, there are bad business decisions and there
are ba-ad business decisions.
New Coke was terrible, but it was a great opportunity for an iconic 80s character,
a fusion of special effects and an out of work actor.
Our number seven.
NARRATOR: The 80s was marked by growing tensions between
two superpowers, both dedicated to each other's obliteration.
BROKAW: What is heating up is the cola war between Coke and
Pepsi for dominance of the soft drink business.
JEREMY: The cola wars.
I mean, there was no way around it.
That was a big deal.
Who cares about the Berlin Wall falling down?
It's about Coke versus Pepsi.
NARRATOR: The two cola giants are in a bitter fight for
America's taste buds.
After blind taste tests indicate that 80s cola fans
increasingly prefer sweeter drinks,
Coca Cola goes for the nuclear option.
They change Coke's revered recipe to be more like Pepsi's
sweeter flavor.
They call it, New Coke, and match the theme by enlisting
a revolutionary flag bearer for the brand.
MAX: Max, Max Cornelius Headroom here,
and I'm looking for some atmosphere.
DMC: Max Headroom was a huge star in the 80s, like, a star.
JEREMY: I was obsessed with Max Headroom.
- M,M,M,M, - Max, - H,H,Headroom, - Headroom.
MAX: Max. Max Headroom.
NARRATOR: Max first materializes in a cyber punk
TV film made for British television.
Then, he gets his own spinoff TV series.
MAX: I was created because there was a gap in the
entertainment market for something,
I suppose you could call, swagger.
NARRATOR: Cinemax runs Max's shows in America,
and he quickly gains cult status as the smart talking
computer generated face of the future.
DMC: So, I guess, Coke figured,
if anybody could sell new Coke to the public,
it could be Max Headroom.
MAX: The network where two's coming in,
three's an audience.
NARRATOR: Coke believed that they've backed a winner in
attracting the youth market.
They double down by hiring Ridley Scott,
an A list director whose movie, Blade Runner,
gave a starring role to artificial humans called replicants.
RACHAEL: Mr Deckard, Dr Eldon Tyrell.
RICK: I don't get it, Tyrell.
JOE: Commerce is our goal, here at Tyrell.
More human than human is our motto.
- MAX: M,M,M, - Max Headroom.
Hi.
BOY: Hi.
MAX: Ah, our new...
NARRATOR: But, Ridley soon discovers that
there's more to the mighty Max than meets the eye.
MAX: OK. It's great.
RIDLEY: He seemed to be a bio mechanoid.
I said, "I think it's extraordinary.
Who is this man, machine?"
He said, "Well, actually, he's just outside."
So, they brought him in and there he was.
NARRATOR: Like Ridley, most people assumed Max was a
computer generated replicant.
But, in fact, he was brought to life by actor, Matt Frewer.
MATT: I would say Max is charming.
He's goofy.
He's very slick, very good at his job.
He stutters a lot when he gets fussed.
MAX: Live and live and direct.
MATT: On the whole, I would say he's a fairly
disconcerting prospect.
NARRATOR: Adding to the disconcerting vibe,
is Max's unusual face, now enhanced by old school cosmetics.
MATT: There's a lot of prosthetics rubber makeup involved.
It's a very grueling make up session.
HUMPHREYS: This is a piece of Max Headroom.
It's just foam latex, not silicone like they use these days.
It would have fitted on something like this.
I was getting people ringing me up saying,
"You're gonna be out of business soon because look at
these computer graphics that we've..."
(laughs)
MAX: T, T, tune into Network 23.
RIDLEY: But, actually, he could do that stuff.
He could sit here and computer generate like it was a,
he could act it out.
HUMPHREYS: It looked, in the studio,
like he was in a different dimension to ourselves.
It looked like something else.
KID: I like him. MAX: Join the club.
NARRATOR: Here's where the good news,
bad news part of the Coke wars comes in.
Good news.
In market testing 76% of American youth can identify
Max from the commercial.
But, bad news.
That same 76% don't like the new sweeter flavor.
WOMAN: I hate the new coke.
ROBERT: New Coke was a colossal mistake.
It is taught in business schools to this day as
the way to introduce a flop.
NARRATOR: Coke retires Max in 1988,
and his alter ego, Matt Frewer,
trades in his prosthetics for the quieter life of a character actor.
MAX: No. Catch me now.
MATT: I don't have a laptop, and I actually live out in the woods now.
MAX: Thanks to Max Headroom, who,
basically, told us all to go digital.
NARRATOR: 20 years later, an older,
if not wiser Max comes out of retirement,
starring in a British spot promoting the switch from
analog TV to digital.
Max truly remains in his own head space.
MAX: No, not the face.
ROB: Some days I kinda miss the fruity bouquet of New Coke.
But, one beverage which is very much still around brings
us to our next contender in the commercials hit parade.
The drink may still be here, but it's iconic 80s spokesman
has passed into commercial legend.
♪ Oh Oh Oh ♪ ♪
WOMAN: Look, here he comes.
♪ There's a super party animal ♪
♪ His name is Spuds Mackenzie ♪
NARRATOR: By the late 80s, young women are drinking more
beer than ever before, and Budweiser spies the perfect
opportunity to sell their new light calorie beer to
young people of both genders.
MAN (off-screen): Party animal.
WOMAN: That's Spuds, he is the party.
NARRATOR: As they redefine the phrase, party animal.
Hey, it's the 80s.
CRISTELA: A dog knows how to party.
I look at a dog and I'm, like, I need to hang out with that guy.
JEN: It looks like an SNL sketch, and it's not.
Like, it's an actual, legitimate commercial.
MAN (off-screen): He's Spuds McKenzie,
one party loving happening dude.
NARRATOR: And, to turn a cheap,
low cal beer into a symbol of fun loving 80s youth and
success, they give it an ironic makeover by borrowing
the very loud voice of Robin Leach,
the host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
MAN (off-screen): It's just the life.
WOMAN: So, go, Spuds, go.
WOMAN: Spuds gives motion to the ocean.
BRYAN: Spuds Mackenzie just said,
"We're not taking this whole thing seriously."
KEVIN: I think it's, like, a self awareness with a sense of irony.
It goes down a bit smoother for the consumer.
NARRATOR: Within weeks, Spuds makes the talk show rounds.
MAN: You're a major star, Spuds.
You've been around the world.
(laughs)
MAN: You've gone everywhere.
What does it all smell like to you, Spuds?
(laughs)
NARRATOR: His canine star was rising,
but then, at the height of his fame,
he's hit by, yes, a career near ending scandal.
Say it ain't so, Spuds?
NARRATOR: In 1987 Spuds McKenzie is the high rolling
brand ambassador for Bud Light,
but, like so many iconic superstars,
Spuds is discovered living a double life.
CRISTELA: Wait a minute. Hold on.
Wait a minute.
KATIE: Gender bender.
He was a she, and it turned out that Spuds was really a girl dog.
CRISTELA: Like, you just told me that Spuds was a girl?
It's like you just told me that we really didn't land on the moon.
NARRATOR: Spuds, AKA Evie, rides out the scandal,
but that was small potatoes
compared to Spuds' next fall from grace.
CRISTELA: Kids can't drink, but, guess what?
They love stuffed animals.
STROM: To put these toys, advertising beer on them,
is absolutely against the public interest.
LARRY: Marketing may have gone one step too far where
a nine, ten, 11 year old, was collecting merchandise for
things related to beer and cigarettes,
might be a little too early for that.
NARRATOR: Politics and pressure groups turn a parody
pooch into a scapegoat.
And, by the end of the '80s, Spuds becomes an early victim
of what we now call, cancel culture.
He, or she, is put into the doghouse, permanently.
ROB: So, Spud's, Fast Talking Guy and Max Headroom,
were all memorable characters who defined the products that
they pitched.
But there's another way commercials get inside your brain,
and that's through catchphrase.
Number five features one that, try as we might,
us '80s survivors will never forget.
CLARA: Where's the beef?
JOHN: Where's the beef?
TIFFANI: I remember saying that slogan.
JON: Where's the beef? She was a cranky lady.
NARRATOR: Now the '80s were supposed to be all about
living the dream and living it large,
but in reality, that dream was mostly a fantasy unless,
of course, your name was, Clara Peller.
JOHN: She worked in a nail salon,
and she was just one of those faces.
NARRATOR: Clara is propelled to instant celebrity when she
stars in an ad spot for, Wendy's Bigger Burger.
ROBERT: Wendy's understood what made Wendy's different.
If you come to Wendy's, you'll get more beef in your burger.
WOMAN: It certainly is a big bun.
WOMAN 2: It's a very big bun.
WOMAN: Big fluffy bun.
BRONSON: They gave her the competitor's burger and
she said in this unexpectedly deep, gruff voice.
CLARA: Where's the beef?
MAN (off-screen): Some hamburger places give you a lot less beef
and a lot of bun.
JOHN: Since Clara was practically deaf,
when it was time for her to talk they had someone laying
on the floor that would pull on her leg and,
when they'd pull on her leg she'd go,
"Where's the beef?"
NARRATOR: And three words and one little old lady conquered America.
TIFFANI: Where's the beef was huge.
LONI: I could just remember going into my Wendy's going,
"Where's that beef?"
NARRATOR: The spot helps the company take a much bigger bite
from the $15 billion burger business.
Over two years, their sales increase by a third.
MAN: It's become a universal one liner.
CLARA: Where's the beef?
NARRATOR: And that universal one-liner is soon weaponized
by wannabe President, Walter Mondale,
as he faces off with Gary Hart for the Democratic nomination
in the 1984 race for the White House.
WALTER: When I hear your new ideas,
I'm reminded of that ad, Where's the beef?
NARRATOR: Walter Mondale ends up using the catchphrase
almost as often as Clara.
WALTER: Where's the beef?
Where's the beef?
NARRATOR: But strangely, the catchphrase isn't powerful enough
to unseat the invincible Reagan,
and, when Clara tries to run out the clock on her
15 minutes of fame, by endorsing Prego pasta sauce.
CLARA: I found it.
NARRATOR: Wendy's takes their beef out by cancelling her contract.
But Clara gets the last laugh.
CLARA: Where's the bags?
MAN: Right here, ma'am.
NARRATOR: With a host of cameo roles in movies and TV,
as well as public appearances
with the likes of New York's mayor.
REPORTER: Clara Peller, the 4 foot 10,
silver haired little lady with the big voice,
made a courtesy call on Major Koch at City Hall.
NARRATOR: And pioneers a by now familiar path,
of cashing in on her celebrity status until the day she dies.
CLARA: Where's the beef?
ROBERT: A very memorable character and a very funny line
it just made it one of the best ads ever.
NARRATOR: Wendy's meaty "Where's the Beef?" Campaign,
muscles its way to number five in our charts,
by transcending from catchphrase,
to part of our language.
But, there were some '80s ads that many would rather forget entirely..
BROOKE: Do you wanna know what comes between me and my Calvin's?
ROB: The competition is getting fierce,
as we move into the top four, but, so far,
we've left out one vital component of '80s advertising
that has aged very badly.
In short, sex sells.
NARRATOR: The '60s may have introduced the idea of free love,
but the '80s did their best to cash in on it.
KATIE: Once we got into the '80s there was a new awareness
that nothing sells like sex.
NARRATOR: And '80s advertisers went for that sell in ways
that raised eyebrows then,
but would cause jaws to drop today.
LONI: It was just crazy what was happening in the '80s,
as far as when it comes to commercials and women and how
they were being sexualized and objectified so much.
TONY: There's stuff happening ten years ago that wouldn't
fly today but, but especially in the '80s.
JASON: The '80s was this time when people realized that you
could be provocative and you could be controversial in a
way that could launch you as a brand.
NARRATOR: And no-one was more controversial than Calvin Klein.
CALVIN: Does sex sell? Absolutely it sells.
We still like sex.
NARRATOR: In 1980, the fashion guru had a new range of
skin tight jeans to promote.
For maximum impact and buzz,
he signs model and movie star, Brooke Shields.
KATIE: She had already had pretty much,
a lifetime career as a, a child model and actress.
Very controversially, she started when she was 12 in,
Pretty Baby, about a child prostitute.
MAN (off-screen): This is Brooke Shields,
breathtaking in her screen debut,
constantly changing, always surprising.
Like the image of an adult world,
reflected in a child's eye.
NARRATOR: When Klein takes her on,
Brooke Shields is just 15 years old,
but that doesn't stop him from creating an ad campaign that
overtly sexualizes her.
(whistling)
KATIE: The camera is just crawling up her long, long, long legs.
(whistling)
JASON: It was really shocking, my mother said, you know,
"Turn the channel, don't watch that."
KATIE: The fact that she was 15 years old,
that made people's heads explode.
NARRATOR: Now, it wasn't only the pictures that detonated,
Klein's collaborator, Doon Arbus,
came up with a tagline that was true cultural dynamite.
BROOKE: You wanna know what comes between me and my Calvin's?
Nothing.
MAN (off-screen): Calvin Klein jeans.
LONI: I'm, like, girl, you going commando?
Really?
TIFFANI: It definitely was way too risqué for a 15 year old girl.
ROBERT: Greasy, with a whiff of scandal and I would argue,
that's probably exactly what Calvin Klein wanted it to be.
CALVIN: I will take chances with,
with advertising and I will maybe sometimes,
step beyond what is considered to be good taste.
NARRATOR: And while Klein delighted in being a provocateur,
his young star also got dragged into the growing scandal.
BROOKE: The commercial sold jeans,
and when I made the commercials I had no idea
that the controversy would be as it was.
ROBERT: It was a highly suggestive ad with an underage actress,
and CBS and ABC were not happy at all.
REPORTER: "What comes between me and my Calvin's?"
Well, if you didn't see it, you won't be seeing it on
some television stations.
The CBS network and Channel seven,
here in New York, say they won't show the ad because they
don't like the answer to that question.
ROBERT: They banned the ad outright.
Was he happy that his ad was banned?
My guess is, probably.
NARRATOR: Despite the ban, or perhaps because of it,
Calvin Klein sells 400,000 pairs of jeans a week
throughout the next year.
ROBERT: Scarcity creates desire.
When the Calvin Klein ad was banned,
it just created an enormous amount of curiosity for
what the ad was.
TIFFANI: It's definitely something I know my mother
would not be okay with me doing.
And I think it brought a huge conversation up,
especially during that time, about what's right and what's
not right, possibly, for that age.
NARRATOR: Today, our number four would probably get
someone fired for just suggesting it,
and the catchphrase behind our number three,
also had a twisted past that almost nobody knew about,
until now that is.
ROB: Well now we're down to a Budweiser Clydesdale horse race,
remember those guys?
The last three spots that our panel had a very hard time ranking.
You'll see why.
Number three has all the moving parts;
zeitgeisty brand, incredible production values and yeah,
the ultimate catchphrase.
NARRATOR: In the '80s, it's not just Coke and Pepsi who are at war;
in 1988, a new conflict breaks out for the
hearts, minds and feet of American consumers.
MAN: It has become the sneaker wars.
NARRATOR: Boldly channeling the can-do attitude of the
Reagan era, Nike comes up with a catchphrase that goes far
beyond the world of sneakers,
to become an era defining mantra.
WOMAN: Just do it.
Just do it.
ROBERT: What they needed was a tagline that would appeal to
jocks and to athletes, to soccer moms,
high school kids, anybody.
BOY: Just do it.
KATIE: Just do it, what a great phrase.
It's so positive.
BRYAN: An anthem that we all can live by and a very simple line.
ROBERT: It's one of the most famous taglines in history.
BOY: Just do it.
LONI: Like 30 seconds of inspiration, you know?
Just do it.
BRYAN: Like, how did they create that?
Like, how did that happen?
NARRATOR: Now, be careful what you ask for,
because the phrase, "just do it"
emerged from a very dark place.
KATIE: The inspiration for it came from the killer,
Gary Gilmore, who was on death row,
just before he was about to be killed by firing squad;
his last words were, "Let's do it."
And, for some reason, it stuck in the ad writer's mind.
NARRATOR: Nike hit home their new catchphrase with another
stroke of genius.
Over a series of ad spots, they champion inclusivity and
diversity in a way never before seen in the go-getter '80s.
GIRL: I like to feel hyper.
BOY: Do it.
NARRATOR: Their most memorable star is an athlete
from an age group long overlooked by Nike's rivals.
WALT: I run 17 miles every morning.
ROBERT: An athletic wear company, prior to Nike,
hadn't bothered to reach out to older Americans,
or differently abled Americans.
WALT: People ask me how I keep my teeth from chattering in
the wintertime.
I leave 'em in my locker.
JASON: It was the idea that didn't matter if you were an old man,
it doesn't matter if you're a child,
that anybody can wear Nike.
It didn't matter if you were an athlete or not.
NARRATOR: Nike's inclusive campaign is a runaway success,
and Walter Stack?
He kept on running.
By the time of his death in 1995,
he's estimated to have run a total of 62,000 miles.
How's that for just doing it?
ROB: It's rare that you can remember where you were the
first time you saw a commercial,
but I bet you can remember our number two.
I can pretty much guess you were sitting on your couch,
surrounded by unhealthy snack items and an alcoholic beverage
and I bet it was on a Sunday in January,
when this masterpiece happened.
MAN (off-screen): The day we celebrate the first glorious
anniversary of the information purification.
NARRATOR: It's 1984, no-one has even thought of the iPod,
or the iPhone, or really, the I anything.
And Apple is almost broke.
An also-ran facing big competition.
But Apple boss, Steve Jobs, is a revolutionary who's
convinced his time has come.
STEVE: We've been working on this thing for over two years now
and those of us that have been really close to it
will all tell you, it is insanely great.
The message that we have with Macintosh is,
that it's the computer for the rest of us.
NARRATOR: So convinced is Jobs that his user friendly
computer will be the next big thing,
he manages to convince Apple's corporate board to commission
a commercial that will air only once on national TV,
during Superbowl 18.
ROBERT: In 1984, there were 78 million Americans
that tuned into the Superbowl.
NARRATOR: The ad agency hires one of the best directors
in the business and yep, we've met him before,
Max Headroom's big brother, Ridley Scott.
A man with not one, but two commercials on our hit list.
RIDLEY: The commercial had an opportunity to be epic.
They sent me one sheet of paper referring to George Orwell.
You know, when you get a vision, you go for it.
NARRATOR: The pitch is revolutionary:
break the first rule of advertising, and don't even talk about the product.
RIDLEY: Nothing. Didn't talk about anything.
Didn't mention a computer or anything.
In a way, this was the best form of advertising,
'cause I'm dangling a little jewel, saying
"Guess what this is?"
NARRATOR: They want Scott to blend the dystopian vision of
Bladerunner with the menace of Alien,
but there's one catch:
it has to be shot on a reduced TV budget.
To keep costs down, Scott decides to film it in England,
and hires an inexpensive but toxic bunch of extras:
white supremacists.
RIDLEY: I knew there was a group called National Front.
So we contacted the Bovver Boys Society,
and about 200 turned up with shaved heads looking
the cat's whiskers.
BRYAN: He filled the room with guys that could, like,
completely rip that room down and kill people, right.
The reason being is that he knew when that camera moves over them,
that those faces, you're going to see the details,
in those details you're gonna see there's a threat.
NARRATOR: But Scott and his production team would soon
reap what they had sown, and during the shoot at
Shepperton Studios, life imitates art.
RIDLEY: They got a hold of the first AD,
who had long hair, and they shaved his head
and his testicles at lunchtime.
So, he was hairless and went home.
MAN (off-screen): A garden of pure ideology.
NARRATOR: The commercial channels Orwell's dystopian 1984,
to cast aspersion on Apple's mainstream competitor,
IBM, also known as Big Blue.
STEVE: Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry,
the entire information age?
Was George Orwell right?
SETH: All of those other computers,
all those other things out there,
they're just like tools of the conformist.
NARRATOR: And Scott decides to hammer the point home.
RIDLEY: I said, "OK, she's gonna hurl the hammer,
the hammer's gonna hit the screen.
The screen's gonna explode like an atomic explosion.
WOMAN: Argh!
MAN: We shall prevail.
RIDLEY: At that moment, I'm gonna have a lot of buckets of
talcum powder and these big fans,
and I'm gonna blow it all over ya.
I want you all to go, "Bah."
And they went, "Alright."
NARRATOR: It's everything Steve Jobs asked for,
but, and why is this not surprising,
once the Apple board see it, they hate it,
and try to block the commercial from airing.
ROBERT: Steve Jobs liked it so much that, reportedly, he said,
"I'll pay for this myself if the company doesn't want to."
NARRATOR: The board backs down,
and the commercial airs during the Super Bowl of January '84.
MAN: We are one people, with one will,
one resolve, one cause.
ROBERT: That ad embodies the kind of risk taking, the nerviness,
the confidence that we now associate with Steve Jobs.
NARRATOR: Millions watch, entranced,
with no hint about what the product is,
until the very end.
BRIAN: It's one of those that really sort of rocks you back in your seat.
And you've just seen something incredible,
and then they tell you.
MAN (off-screen): On January 24th,
Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh,
and you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984."
RIDLEY: Buster!
A genius piece of advertising, if I may say so.
NARRATOR: Super Bowl advertisin will never be the same.
After the commercial airs,
Apple sells 72,000 computers in 100 days;
50% more than its most optimistic sales predictions.
And that was only the beginning.
Today, we're all living inside Steve Jobs's I-world.
SETH: The 1984 Macintosh Super Bowl ad is one of the most famous,
the most important, the most influential pieces of advertising
that has ever been and will ever be created.
WOMAN: Argh!
MAN: We shall prevail.
ROB: How is it possible to top that?
(laughs)
I don't think you can.
But our number one does have its own kind of revolution baked in,
as you'll see after the break.
ROB: We've 'Just Did It' and absolutely positively
delivered the beef on nine iconic '80s commercials.
ROB (off-screen): We've gone from the cutting edge of a shaving campaign,
to a bitter battle for our taste buds,
and the start of a digital revolution.
But who will claim our top spot?
Here's our number one.
An entire TV network, that was actually an immersive,
wildly entertaining ad for its own programming.
MARK: This is it.
Welcome to MTV music television,
the world's first 24-hour stereo video music channel.
NARRATOR: When MTV goes on the air in 1981,
the revolution was indeed televised.
User-friendly videos and user-even-friendlier hosts,
spoke to teenagers in a secret language that would become the
rallying cry for a whole generation,
setting the stage for today's explosion of social media platforms,
from YouTube and Instagram to Snapchat and TikTok.
And this big bang all began with a song.
♪ Video killed the radio star ♪
DMC: It was a beautiful thing.
It allowed the poor kid in the hood to be touched and
inspired and entertained the same way the little kids
in Beverley Hills were.
LONI: You know, once MTV came with those videos,
'cause we didn't have YouTube, we didn't have Google,
we didn't have videos that you could...
We didn't even have phones back then, OK?
CRISTELA: MTV. I was so obsessed with MTV.
♪ Video killed the radio star ♪
DEE: Anybody who was cool was down with MTV,
and you had to have MTV or you wouldn't be cool.
LONI: That's where you got your fashion sense from.
That's where you got your music sense from.
ARMSTRONG (over radio): It's one small step for man.
NARRATOR: But what many forget,
four decades on, was that MTV's success was no sure thing,
and this revolution came very, very close
to not being televised.
BRIAN: When MTV first started in 1981,
a lot of cable providers wouldn't carry it.
KATIE: It seemed like a pretty flimsy idea for an entire
television network to be based on pop music videos.
PRESENTER: The music will continue non-stop on MTV Music Television,
the newest component of your stereo system.
NARRATOR: To survive, MTV needs to persuade more cable companies
to carry their upstart channel.
Their secret weapon is a maverick from the good old
Mad Men days.
His name: George Lois.
And George Lois is a zen master of the catchphrase.
MARK: The guy who wrote I want my Maypo.
CHILD: I want my Maypo.
MARK: They just tailored it, call up your cable company and
say, "I want my MTV"
JEN: The whole idea of I want my MTV,
there were a lot of people who just didn't have access to it.
Turning it into this sort of generational rallying cry was so, so smart
NARRATOR: But MTV knows that a slogan won't be enough,
it needs a heavyweight to land a knockout.
An MTV exec, Les Garland, tries to tempt Mick Jagger into the ring.
MARK: Literally, it was like, "We want to get Mick."
"OK, I'm going to get on a plane and I'm gonna go there and get Mick."
And he was a little hesitant,
but Les Garland is very convincing.
NARRATOR: Money talks, and when Mick Jagger asks for payment,
Garland theatrically reaches for his wallet.
MARK: "Here's a dollar. Come on."
And that was it. Mick loved that.
And once Mick was in, of course other artists would
wanna get involved.
TIFFANI: They got tons of different people to say "I want my MTV"
MARK: We got these incredible artists to shill for us.
MICK: I want my MTV.
BOWIE: I want my MTV.
PAT: I want my MTV.
THE POLICE: I want my MTV.
NARRATOR: MTV has to go for broke in order to not go broke,
and they gamble on a nationwide campaign.
Soon, America's bored youth hears the clarion call.
BRIAN: "It's Uncle Sam.
I want you to call your cable provider and tell them I want my MTV."
Brilliant.
DMC: You wanted your MTV badly.
AMBER: I remember my dad he worked at Pacific Bell.
They would get calls at their cable station and be like,
"I want my MTV."
TIFFANI: I called and said, "I have to have MTV."
DEE: You know, and then their parents would find out later,
"Why did we get this frickin' MTV on here?"
you know, because the kids had made the call.
BOWIE: America, demand your MTV
PETE: I want my MTV
NARRATOR: The impact is irresistible.
One by one the cable companies bow to the pressure.
TIFFANI: I was a kid that loved music,
so to be able to have music on TV was,
like, mind-blowing.
RIC: I want my MTV.
NARRATOR: I want my MTV tops our charts because it truly
empowered '80's youth, not just to buy something,
but to demand something.
KISS: I want my MTV.
CRISTELA: It was this thing that was unlike anything else.
JACKIE: It was like a movement.
People were really pumped, you know.
It would get you excited because something everybody
really wanted and you had to have it.
I loved it.
MAN: I want my MTV, MTV, MTV!
BOWIE: Too much is never enough.