#ThrowbackThursday Can’t Get Over…Ovaltine?

Yes. Ovaltine.

Of course! It had vitamins and minerals, disguised in a chocolatey taste!

Not since Ralphie drank so much Ovaltine so he could get the Little Orphan Annie decoder has someone been so disappointed about drinking anything. I mean, it isn’t Nestle Quik, but Ovaltine tries to make it fun for kids wary of impostor chocolate milk.

Meet Alan. His whiny approach to having to drink Ovaltine is hilarious.

This commercial is already setting him up to be a whiny baby.

Until he drinks it.

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Then the magic of drinking Ovaltine truly begins, and it everything you’d expect from 1985!

I mean, we’ve got kids excited, bike tricks made cheesy before RAD, Alan dancing like that kid in the Tic-Tac-Toe commercial, it is all so much, and all for impostor chocolate milk!

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WOW!

So…Ovaltine.

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Kids have been made to drink their Ovaltine since 1904, when it was introduced. Made with malt, whey, and sugar (there’s also a Rich Chocolate flavor without the malt), Ovaltine was one of those products you probably first heard of while watching A Christmas Story – Ovaltine actually did sponsor the children’s radio show Little Orphan Annie (1931-1940), as well as Captain Midnight (1938-1949) and its television show successor from 1954 until 1956 (those Secret Decoder ring badges/pins were a real thing).

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Image: Pinterest

On Seinfeld, there was a joke about it (“Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine. That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!”)

These days, Ovaltine is manufactured by Nestle in the United States, and Associated British Foods in Switzerland, China, Thailand and Australia. In Canada, Ovaltine comes in biscuit (cookie?) form, as well as powdered drink form, and is manufactured by Grace Foods.

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Image: Amazon

Well now. Learn something new everyday!

I’ve had Ovaltine before. I like the malt taste, but for me I’ve always preferred Nestle Quik chocolate powder. I don’t drink chocolate milk these days, but I would try those cookies, they remind me of Biscoff.

So if someone you love whines about Ovaltine consumption, and vitamins, minerals, and chocolate taste don’t get them…show them this commercial. Tell them Alan drinks it, and look at him!

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You’re welcome?

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Have a great Throwback Thursday!

5 comments

  1. Fantastic blog post! I drank Ovaltine several years ago. The Ovaltine commercials that I saw whenever I was younger were the ones where the people who were in it said “More Ovaltine Please!” at the end of the commercials.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Wow… I had completely forgotten about this stuff. I might have to buy some for old times sake. When I was a kid, the company my dad worked for made the glass bottles that Ovaltine came in and we used to get it free, so I drank a lot of it. I probably haven’t had any in 35+ years and I don’t really remember exactly what it tastes like anymore. I think it’s time to try it again, sadly now I’ll have to pay for it.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I had a similar “happy problem” when I was a kid. My dad was in sales – his company designed and built labs (he worked for several over the years), and the company that made the WWF ice cream with the cookie sandwich was one of his clients. He had good rapport with his contact there (my dad is a super nice guy, so that isn’t exactly difficult for him to accomplish), and they would send my dad home with lots of those cookies without the ice cream. They were sooooo good!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Wow! That’s awesome, you were lucky! We got Ovaltine and Mrs Butterworth, I would much rather have had ice cream cookie sandwiches.

        Liked by 1 person

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