You know those commercials that advertise something without actually revealing the product until the very end, and you’re confused because it just doesn’t seem to be the type of way that product/service should be advertised?
Yeah, today’s commercial is sorta like that. Because it makes sure you see the name of the product it is advertising, and sings about it in the jingle.
Nestle had a whole advertising campaign over the course of many years, focused around their slogan “N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle’s makes the very best…chocolate!” – their advertising has run the gamot of Third Rate Rawlf Puppets singing the slogan (shudder) to very 1980s singers singing the slogan. All products in their chocolate lineup had the slogan, but it was the mid-1980s attempt at drama that really put it over the top.
The year was 1986. The product was Nestle Alpine White, and the commercial has all the visual stylings of a Harlequin Romance Novel cover complete with the most dramatic rendition of the Nestle jingle.
If they weren’t shoving visuals of candy in your face, you’d think you were watching some ridiculous after-11 pm movie on Showtime.
The advertisement is called “Sweet Dreams,” and if you grew up in the 1980s, you remember this commercial. It’s hard not to remember.
(Trust me on this one.)
The commercial was shot in mid-1986 by advertising agency (now a marketing communications company) J. Walter Thompson. Thompson has been pioneering brands since 1864, and Nestle has been one of their brands, with a relationship going 81-plus years. They’re also the advertising agency behind the controversial Sarah Michelle Gellar-led commercial for Burger King (the one where she sweetly rips McDonald’s a new one), Toy R Us and their not wanting to grow up (they’re a Toys R Us Kid!), and even the bologna song.
The video borrow imagery from Maxwell Parrish’s painting, “The Dinky Bird,” from 1904.
Observe:
Sorry not sorry if that offends you. The commercial was the one who copied it, I just state the facts!
So while the commercial lives on in advertising glory, even spawning a few more versions between 1986 and the early 1990s, all visually stunning, but not the original…
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…the Alpine White candy bar no longer lives on.
Them’s the breaks.
Alpine White was discontinued in 1993, leaving behind an advertising legacy mired in sweeping visuals, Harlequin Romance-type covers, and so much snow.
Sweet dreams of nostalgia indeed.
Have you ever tried the Nestle Alpine White candy bar in any of its forms? Or is it not as good or memorable as the commercial that promoted it? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you!
Tomorrow on Flashback Friday…more candy, now without Harlequin Romance-inspired commercials of sweeping visual grandeur.
Have a great Thursday!
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