I grew up watching quite a lot of shows on local television in the late ’80s and the ’90s, with ABS-CBN being my station of choice; it was also the station that my grandfather patronized. On lazy summer days, we would settle in to watch our favorite shows—”Home Along da Riles” and “Maalaala Mo Kaya” for my lolo (though I did catch him watching “Connie Reyes on Camera” and “Lovingly Yours” a couple of times), and “Sara, ang Munting Prinsesa” for me.
4:30 na, Ang TV na!
I also watched the pre-teen show, “Ang TV.” As long as it was “4:30 na, ‘Ang TV’ na!,” I dropped everything to watch Antoinette Taus, Paolo Contis and company crack corny jokes with exaggerated gestures and facial expressions. However, despite the whole “esmyuskee” phenomenon, I find it difficult to remember anything about that show now. But I do remember the commercials that were shown in between the gags.
We watched an insane amount of commercials! Since there weren’t that many channels then, my sisters and I didn’t switch even when long, boring ones came on. We patiently sat and waited for the show to resume, which would be interrupted by yet another string of ads after five minutes. The ads were repetitive, and some were just plain ridiculous—but they stuck. And now, maybe 10 years after I first watched those ads, they still pop up in my head.
The commercials came equipped with cheesy lines and catchy jingles. Some lasted, like the Mentos “Fresh goes better” series—the number of situations you can readily fix with a Mentos Fresh Mint is steadily increasing—but most have gone to the Great Advertising Junkyard in the Sky because they have become embarrassingly passé to the public.
Nano Nano candy!
Who remembers the jingle for Nano Nano candy? You know, the one that’s “sweet, sour and salty—Nano Nano, Nano Nano, Nano Nano!” It was insanely repetitive, but it worked. The kids in my school were singing that song for weeks, and I’m sure the sales of that candy shot through the roof. But after a while, the candy and the commercial simply disappeared from the scene, although I did see some bags of Nano Nano in Indonesia. Not for Nips, though. Although the song that asked you if you “wanna see what happens in a bag of Nips” didn’t make it to the new millennium, the chocolate stayed around in Manila, at least.
Songs from the commercials defined the lifestyle of the early ’90s. We had the whole rainbow of them, from Anchor milk, whose executives believed that children are the future, to Coke, whose head honchos wanted to teach the world to sing. “Sabado Nights” called for San Miguel beer, and Ruffa Gutierrez’s mermaid singing “Kumukutikutitap” put me off Hapee toothpaste forever, right up there with Beam, Family, and their accursed jingles. (Anyway, does anyone else think that the dude from the “Sabado Nights” commercial was rude? He just honked his car outside the girl’s house! My parents would have a fit if I dated someone like that).
Watch it online: Sabado Nights!
But the award for the Most Annoying Toothpaste Commercial jingle had to go to ZAA Nature’s Touch Tawas. The ad featured two twins singing to each other (with matching dance steps) after they had healed their mouth sores with the incredible magic of the toothpaste. I still know the lines by heart to this very day, and I will never forgive ZAA Nature’s Touch Tawas for that. The song goes:
“ZAA Nature’s Touch Tawas
Laban sa singaw toothpaste!
Tanggal ang singaw mo,
safe pa ang ngipin mo!”
The sad thing about the whole affair is that my mom actually bought the toothpaste after seeing the commercial.
Despite the merciful abolition of that ad, not all annoying jingles are lost to the world—if you remember laughing at the Caronia and Caress nail polish ads decades ago, then all you need to do is to surf to RPN 9 and IBC 13 to take a trip down memory lane, where you can still “color every magic moment” with Caress and sing Caronia’s incomprehensible theme song — sadly, without “Tropang Trumpo’s” “chee-ken!” at the end of it.
Caronia's gone classy nowadays
On the same channels, you will also find the Family Rubbing Alcohol referee with his precious Isopropyl that is “‘Di lang pampamilya, pang i-sports pa!” And just until recently, when it became easier to buy pirated DVDs than to rent videos, RA Home Vision terrified kids with its ad of a dark hand reaching out to viewers with a stodgy voice promoting “videocassette tapes of award-winning shows, sports, cartoons and more!” while showing clips of “Cleopatra” alternated with “The Smurfs.”
The overall style of television commercials has changed greatly since I was a kid. Now, Whisper girls are perky and decked out in brightly colored clothes. 15 years ago, they blended into the black background in spandex suits and shared the secret of their leak-free existence in, well, a whisper.
Our generation was defined by sound bites from those commercials—they were quoted, spoofed, and integrated into our everyday lives. (How many times have you been asked to pass the “ketchup please, Luis?”) You were supposed to pipe up with the rejoinder whenever someone mentioned a line from a particular ad. “Sino best friend mo doon?” was answered with “Siyempre ikaw lang!”
Even to this day, whenever people my age say something that begins with “Dear Diary,” someone will inevitably continue, “Carlo sat beside me today…”
Watch it online: “Dear Diary”
I could never forget that commercial of a girl who chose hotdogs over her biggest crush. Of course, for several weeks, whenever I bit into a Tender Juicy Purefoods hotdog, I felt like the girl made the right decision. It was an entirely different thing, of course, when the sequel came out and heartthrob Patrick Garcia turned out to be “Carlo.”
There were always happy families in the commercials. Families went to Jollibee together and flew kites on weekends. A typical commercial family consisted of loving mom and dad, doting ate or kuya, and adorable little brother or sister who all ended up hugging each other and beaming at the camera during the last frame of the ad. Dysfunctional? It didn’t happen—not in commercials, anyway.
Some ads reminded me of my family, like the Bear Brand commercial that showed a little girl dancing with her grandfather. “Is that you, lolo?” she wondered out loud. “Look at my mole,” he said, and she was convinced, never questioning him again on the basis of a mole.
Watch it online: “Lolo, let’s dance”
We also saw an innocent Vandolph bonding with Dolphy on a camping trip by the beach. ‘Tay, ulitin natin ito,” he murmured before dropping off to sleep, belly full of hotdogs. Last we heard from Vandolph, he was partying hard, driving his car off a cliff, and having a kid of his own. If all families were like the ones we saw on TV-with moms equipped with Safeguard consciences—then there’d be world peace for all.
Things seemed so uncomplicated and easy in commercials; even telenovelas were more credible compared to those 30-second fairy tales. The ugly duckling gets the handsome heartthrob after shampooing her hair; the shy girl in the corner becomes the most popular person in school after using deodorant; and couples get together after flashing their toothy smiles at each other.
Given the daydream-inspired themes of almost all the ads on TV, is it any wonder that so many people want to be commercial models? Everything is perfect, everything is in order—and your problems are solved in 30 seconds. We watched, we heard, and we were reeled in, perfect suckers for things we saw on TV.
However, some commercials just made me wonder if the sales of their products increased or decreased after people watched them. Take Technogas and 3D electric fans and stoves, for instance. Their ads featured either the appliances waltzing to classical music, Nova Villa singing their virtues, or shapely women caressing the ovens. Now if that isn’t weird, I don’t know what is.
But then again, if a product like White Castle whiskey can sell because of its legendary horse-and-bouncing-boobs commercials, anything is possible.
White Castle! *boobs bounce* White Castle!
What about YC Bikini Briefs? Did men rush out to buy bikini briefs whenever they heard the melting tones of the backup singers extolling the underwear? Did the clay figure of the fantastic Mr. Boombastic sell thousands of jeans for Levi’s? Did the SweeTarts kids finally decide if it was sweet, sharp, soft, chewy, fruity, or sweet? Did the kid who cried “mommy” when he saw the Magnolia ice cream man have a daddy? (Trivia: my best friend was supposed to play the ice cream boy but didn’t make it because he didn’t cry enough). Why did 7-Up drop Fido Dido for forgettable human models? How many people have attempted to take the Nestea plunge (I did; go on, admit you did it too).
Commercials will never be glorified in the same way as movies and television shows, because many of them are sniffed at as profit-driven vehicles. And since most of them have rather short shelf lives, they are forever banished to obscurity after a few months or even weeks. But you cannot deny that these commercials, no matter how detached from reality they initially seem to be, reflect the consciousness of a generation at a particular period; they reflect the things people at a particular time valued most. And for the most part, the things that are valued now are the same things that were valued before, although they were presented differently—you don’t get as many jingles now, for one thing.
Although commercials now are more sophisticated than they were back in the ’80s and ’90s, they also show that things haven’t really changed much since then. We still want better things than what we presently have, and commercials show us a world where things are perfect. And we, the gullible consumers and dreamers, will always be willing to go along for the ride.
Haha!! old school shows! :p From 4:30 naging 2:30 pa ang Ang TV diba?? “Esmyuskee” “ngeeee”
Di ko na inabutan yung 2.30 eh, I was still in school haha!
I may have a wallet that is Seiko, but I’ve also seen what happens in a bag of nips, what goes on before they touch my lips.
They make a rainbow.. chocolate Nips! A choco rainbow. And then they cover all the flowers and they paint the trees..
Akala ko dati, iyong guy sa Sabado nights commercial si Gary V. Haha.
Haha even when I write in my journal (the old school way, not blogging), I remember that Dear Diary commercial from time to time.
I miss the 90′s. The days of TGIS, Gimik, Tabing Ilog, and really good alternative music…life was much simpler!
si carlos padilla jr un referee sa family rubbing alcohol tatay ni zsa zsa hahaha
i remember naaasar ako sa connie reyes on camera kasi feel ko ang tagal ng show na un e after nun maskman or bioman i think hahaha pero eventually pinanuod ko den hahaha
Ooh nostalgia! Speaking of Caronia, namimiss ko tuloy ang Tropang Trumpo: Battle of the Brainless, Bahaw, and of course, Caronia dance.
Maganda Coney Reyes on Camera, namimiss ko na mga ganong shows kasi wala nang ganong klaseng shows sa noontime tv ngayon. Alala ko pa nga favorite episode ko noon iyong nag-guest si Bayani Casimiro Jr. Hehe.
Naalala niyo dati nung mga 90′s tuwing tanghali or hapon, may black and white na Sampaguita pictures na movies sa rpn-9? Pinapanood namin magkakapatid dati iyon although nahihirapan ako intindihin dati haha.
Stephen bakit mo alam kung sino yung tatay sa alcohol commercial? Ang tindi naman ng fandom na yan LOL! Ako naman naiinis ako sa “Mr. Cupido” kasi yun yung show bago mag “Sara Ang Munting Prinsesa” and minsan ang tagal ng credits.
Glenn- We should have a category on that in trivia night.
Q: What was the name of the soap opera on Tropang Trumpo?
A: Bahaw, ang kaning lamig.
WIlson- Alam ko yung mga films na yan! LOL.
@ Stephen: Haha oo alam ko rin yan lagi sinasabi ng nanay ko. “Di lang pang-pamilya, pang-isports pa! ”
@ Wilson: Meron pa rin bang Dragon katol commercial? Yung “Lamowk, siguradong teypowk”?
@ Bianca: Or better yet, have Will do a nostalgia night, that’d be awesome!
OMG Bianca that makes me feel old not just because 1) MY memories are of the 80′s- bad hair and all (ran across a photo of me with a Menudo member and I cannot get over my pugad bangs, ironing board chest and bushy unibrow) and 2) I remember being a judge for that contest.
But God the nostalgia. Just a question: Wala bang Britney Spears dyan? Some of the kids (sob sniff) at my office remember wearing pompom ponytails after seeing the “Hit Me Baby One More Time” video XD
Good Lord! Ang tanda ko na! I used to watch those commercials. Oh, my! e di naabutan nyo rin yung Kaybol? It was the “successor” of Ang TV. Suwerte ko because Camille de la Rosa is now my friend and she’s a good painter.
Remember the one who calls from the house, “Pedring! Pedring!”
Rubbing alcohol. Laban sa pasma. Ha-ha-ha! Yeah, the referee there is really, Zsa-Zsa’s father.
7-Up is cool! Animation! Woohoo!
Those were the days… At mura pa ang bilihin noon.
How about Ding-dang? Anyone remember Ding-Dang? That chocolate-quoted round wafer? Alam ko 90s yun… or memory gap? Ha-ha-ha! I miss this!
Thanks, Ms. Consunji for reminding…
hey bianca, i like your blog entry very much!! it really is a flashback to the 90′s. it’s good to know that i’m not the only one who reminisces the vrey colorful times of the 90′s.
i have a question, do you know where i can listen to the nano nano song again? that song is LSS material, and you know what i mean haha!
Hey Armand! I tried looking through YouTube, but I couldn’t find anything. Maybe we’ll get lucky soon and find something online
thank you so much for visiting!
How I miss the 90′s!!! My mom told me that when I was just a baby, I would stare at that Nano Nano commercial like there’s no tomorrow. Though I’m not familiar with it. HAHAHA. It’s good to know that it was a candy. I miss Home Along da Riles and the rest of the sitcoms and romantic programs/movies of ABS-CBN back in the 90′s. They were all gold! The best talaga ang 90′s.
hey..i just posted in facebook the ad “sino’ng bestfriend mo doon?” and then came the war, kc as far as i can remember commercial ad ito ng ice cream, ang sabi nung iba commercial ad daw ng jollibee..? alin ba talaga?