Local/Regional Commercials

[Flick James]

I've always appreciated localized commercials for their cheese factor and, let's face it, they're not unlike b-movies in many ways. Sometimes they're clever but low-budget, sometimes they're just outright bad and we can't help but laugh at them. I was thinking of some of the local commercials I watched growing up, and how, unless you lived at this particular region at that particular time, there's little chance you would ever see some of these cheesy gems. I'm sure this topic or similar has been brought up before, but so what?

Fred Rated: This one comes from my adolescence. Fred Rated was a hugely popular commercial persona in the Western U.S. in the early to mid 80's. He was the official commercial character for The Federated Group, a regional stereo and electronics chain that went belly up, I think somewhere in the early 90's, but was hugely successful in the early 80's, thanks in part to this man. He went on to host American Top 40 for several years under the moniker Shadoe Stevens, but it was his Fred Rated commercials that made him. Here is a collection of his old Fred Rated commercials from the 80's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM7yGRMjbrI
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Lowell "The Hammer" Stanley: This is one of those that just makes you laugh because it's so bad. When I was living in Virginia while in the Navy, this commercial was on alot. Here is a lawyer that wants to convey an image of toughness. He's wants to come across as the Dirty Harry of the legal world, but he looks like your dad's boss. Hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62xreSr25uI
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Feel free to post or talk about your favorite local commercials.

[Rev. Powell]

Here's a funny link. http://www.asylum.com/2010/05/04/worst-local-commercials-marc-norton-eagleman-credit-macdaddy-valley-ball-strip-club/

This one stars Circus' American cousin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8BbNysDo8k&feature=player_embedded
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Marc Noton's pretty proud of these f-ed up commercials, he's put almost 80 of them up on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2z1YroJTRE
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This was selected as the worst: it's pretty much a train wreck starting about the 30 second mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI7jC57GuZM&feature=player_embedded
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[Flick James]

Thanks for those laughs, Rev. The guy with the rockin' hairpiece is all kinds of amazing.

[AndyC]

I remember quite a few local commercials, but I can't find too many clips. Used to be a number of electronics and furniture stores, as well as a couple of car dealerships putting crazy stuff on the air.

One place close to my hometown that's still at it is a regional fabric, yarn and assorted crap warehouse chain. Watch this at your own risk. It's painful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkgNFXhTkbc
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The Toronto stations always had some good ones. Crazy Joe used to crack me up in the 80s, partly because of the sheer lameness of everything from the wooden delivery to the slogan, "If you don't shop at Crazy Joe's, you pay too much."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYBjLl8MUfM
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And I know I've posted this guy before. Russell Oliver, who will take all your old, dusty, broken gold and give you crisp new cash. It's interesting to see the progression from his early commercials, where he tried to appear somewhat classy, to the utterly shameless ones he continues to make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhXdIh6i-I&feature=related
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSQVVHyvOZU&NR=1
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And for those who have hocked all their jewellery, he started handing out loans...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nBIpwnMW9s&NR=1
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That's right, if your credit stinks and you need a thousand bucks for the casino, Russell will process your loan in minutes. What a nice guy.

[Mr. DS]

Bedding Barn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1GMzw-KnQ&feature=related
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I don't ever recall these guys being normal by the way.

Bob's Discount Furniture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HhQX-lwfE
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Bob kind of creeps me out.   I can do a pretty good imitation of him though.

Cardis Furniture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYGRk80ZgIc
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They totally ripped this off from M&Ms.  I do buy a lot of my furniture from them though.  

[Flick James]

Wow. Fred Rated is high-quality genius in comparison to some of these. These are priceless.

[Hammock Rider]

The Eagle Man commercial was local to Chicago. I think it ran in the mid to late 80's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4-e4nlfdRI
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[Mr. DS]

More Bedding Barn madness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrB4ti3ORT4
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Love how the person throwing the stuff off camera arms can be seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMe6B5QMwkE&NR=1
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Jordan's Furniture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvYrTOyPwWgThis
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dude had a deal that all furniture sold during a time period would be free IF the Red Sox won the world series.  One year they did.  So now he has a sign at Fenway park that if someone hits with a homerun means the same...or was it a discount on future purchases.  Eh, dunno really. Never really shopped there.

Tarbox Toyota Of RI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68qOGf4IBik
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This guy's thick RI accent kills me.

[Flick James]

What is it about furniture stores? Is there some unspoken rule that if you own a furniture store you are required to make bad local commercials?

[Rev. Powell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjz04nzKvig&feature=related
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[Rev. Powell]

Hmm... a couple of comedians have embraced the "local commercial" culture and landed a TV show based on the concept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ILf_9RpHg
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Here's one of their actual "real" commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b5CKSqlz60&feature=relmfu
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[InformationGeek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcONhxo3K2k
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[El Misfit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm6f2CKQv1g
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Some of these Ain't Dere No More.

[Mr. DS]

New England Pest Control

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Z4TTr9Dig
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That blue bug has been in many movies.  Plus it is parodied on Family Guy.

[AndyC]

What is it about furniture stores? Is there some unspoken rule that if you own a furniture store you are required to make bad local commercials?

Pretty much. Here's one from Toronto that's a little more polished. This store has its own digitally animated mascots that don't make a whole lot of sense, and look like somebody with a copy of Blender worked all of an hour on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrRdDtHqTU4&feature=related
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The old guy, Mel Lastman, was mayor of Toronto for a couple of terms, after about 25 years as mayor of one of the adjoining cities that merged with Toronto in the 90s. As a publicity stunt for his store chain, he once went to the Arctic to sell refrigerators to Eskimos. As mayor of Toronto, he was known for sticking his foot in his mouth, like the time he was interviewed prior to a visit to Kenya, and made a joke about sitting in a pot of water with natives dancing around him. Oh, and he fathered a couple of illegitimate children with a former store employee.