Vintage Commercials – Part Two – Technology

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Throwback Thursdays – (Thursday Edition)

In today’s tv commercial retrospective we take a look at some “state of the art” technological advancements of the past, including the Atari console, a Radio Shack cell phone, one of the first Macintosh personal computers, and a bonus cell phone ad from all the way back in 2006. 8 years is a near eternity in the technology world, but this Sprint commercial still as brilliant now as it ever was.

[cvg-gallery galleryId=’17’ width=’640′ height=’480′ mode=’showcase’ limit=’4′ /]

Why is the Sprint ad so awesome? Instead of focusing on the “cutting edge” technology, which is generally only cutting edge for about a week until the next product advancement, they focused on engaging with the viewer on a personal level.  It’s simple, funny, and everyone knows at least 2 guys just like the ones in the commercial they can identify with.  This commercial could still work now as a selling tool for Sprint phones.

The other commercials however, are funny in a totally different way.

Can you imagine trying to get on an airplane today with that Radio Shack phone?  

1980s Radio Shack phone

image courtesy of Oak tree Vintage

old Atari and Nintendo consoles

Atari was a teeny bit before my time, but seeing this does make me reminisce over the original Nintendo system.  The Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt combo was like 3 birthdays wrapped in a Christmas tree.

How did anyone ever get anything done on those computers? Between the screen resolution and display size my eyes would hurt by 10am.

macintosh computer

*Coming up next Thursday : some commercials about the “ideal woman” in the 1950s.

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