Jingles of Yore

I was thinking about jingles. A catchy advertising jingle is a deadly and terrible thing.

I do not, and never have, bought Skippy peanut butter, but I can still remember the "everybody's Skippy-dippin'" song from...I want to say about 1984. Maybe later. Maybe it was the early 1990s.

Fortunately, the internet knows: here it is, from 1989. I was sort of close. Sometimes it runs through my head when I'm spreading non-Skippy peanut butter on something. Thanks, Skippy.

Also, "Trust Woolite (wo-wo-wo-wooliiiite!) in your machine)."

And that Reese's Pieces jingle! Actually, to this day I kind of like that one. "Time pieces. Chess pieces. Mantlepieces. Reese's Pieces."

Sorry, I totally can't find it online. Man, that was the one I really wanted to see, too. Internet, you have failed me!

I actually may have fewer of these things lodged in my memory than many people, because there were long stretches of my formative years during which we didn't watch TV. Nevertheless, the ones that linger, sure do linger.

And I was thinking about one jingle that I've never even heard vocalized, but which I still recall from the time I found it when I was looking up (in a book!--because the internet existed, but I didn't yet know that you could use it to look up every darn thing you ever wondered about) the origins of the phrase "hit the spot."

So I was in the library, in college, and I found this book of phrase etymology, and it included as an example of early use of the phrase,

Pepsi Cola hits the spot,
Twelve full ounces, that's a lot.

This was, let's see, going on 14 years ago, and I still think of that bit of doggerel every time I hear that something hits the spot. Thanks, Pepsi.

I couldn't find a recording of that radio jingle, but you can see on this page that I'm not misremembering it (although I didn't have the whole thing).

I don't know if these are good advertising jingles from the standpoint of their producers, since I don't use Skippy, and very rarely eat Reese's Pieces (I prefer my candy to be chocolate) or drink Pepsi (or any other variety of soda--it's just not my beverage of choice).

I do have some Woolite in the closet, though. It must have been the "wo-wo-wo-wooliiiite!" that got me. And do I still think of that ditty every two years when I wash something by hand?

Yes, I do. Thanks, Woolite.

So the little jingles may be memorable, but effective?

Enh. Middlin'.

I can't really think of anything very recent that sticks in my head the same way these ones do. I'm not sure if I don't pay as much attention to commercials these days, or if the jingles aren't as catchy, or if my brain is just too full of old ones to remember any new ones.

Or, possibly, I'll remember this decade's horrible tunes 20 years from now.

.