15 Comments
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Laura LeBleu's avatar

Unknown and unsavory. Chef's kiss.

Jack Boulware's avatar

we were so proud

Laura LeBleu's avatar

If this isn’t tattooed from shoulder-to-shoulder across your back I’m going to be a little disappointed.

Jack Boulware's avatar

Ha! Yes it ranked right up there with our other gold-standard media quote, from USA Today's magazine columnist: "Astonishingly offensive...deliberately bizarre." Also used for our subscription campaigns...

Laura LeBleu's avatar

This makes me jealous. The best I’ve received is “too artsy-fartsy.” I clearly need to push Geezer further.

Jack Boulware's avatar

“It was a different time.” You’re doing great, keep it up. We also got plenty of positive reviews, but not as fun to reshare…plus, I can’t remember any of them. Utne Reader might have compared us to Lenny Bruce?

Gary Singh's avatar

Everyone of our generation in the South Bay remembers Ed Barbara of Furniture USA. Those "HI KIDS!" commercials were everywhere, in-between Cal Worthington masterpieces, of course ...

Elizabeth Fox's avatar

I arrived at work and said "HI KIDS!" to some fellow employees. They happened to be Russian immigrants who didn't know of Ed, and felt insulted by being called "kids". Of course I apologized (and tried to explain, to no avail).

Chris Norris's avatar

To this day, whenever I’m feeling defeated and ashamed I hear the disembodied voice of Tom Vu telling me: “You are loser! Get out of my way!”

Jack Boulware's avatar

He still holds a weird attraction -- he's the most parodied pitchmen on this list!

Nick Tangborn's avatar

Billy Mays knew how to party

Candice Crossley's avatar

“…although his name does appear…” haha!

Caryl Rocher-Fuller's avatar

You're a font, Jack.

Paul Riddell's avatar

If you haven't yet, read Gary Weiss's "Retail Gangster," a great breakdown on Crazy Eddie and how long that scam ran. It explained why so many similar electronics retailers blew up in the 1980s, mostly due to the bills from the incessant advertising necessary to keep it going. (I never got to a Crazy Eddie store, but I remember the nearly incessant ads on the New York independent TV stations our cable company in Saratoga Springs picked up. However, the only difference between Crazy Eddie and the Highland Appliance chain in the Southwest was that Highland didn't have an easily recognized spokesman: they WERE putting out acclaimed ads that were funny and reasonable effective, even as the chain blew up in 1986.)

Jack Boulware's avatar

hey Paul, oh yes I have heard of the Weiss project, it was such a clear-cut moment in time. every media market ran these types of spots. it’s crazy to discover how many people recorded them on VCRs and uploaded them to YouTube!