Saturday morning TV: US network television adverts from the 1970s and 80s

Posted on June 28, 2015 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Saturday mornings for many pre-internet kids growing up in the 70s, 80s and 90s often meant a whole morning dedicated to watching TV shows. Cartoons like Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, the Smurfs, Spider-Man, Bugs Bunny and Wacky Races were all regular fixtures and dominated the schedules of US network giants such as ABC, NBC and CBS.

US. New Mutants. 1985.

US. Weird War Tales. 1980.

US. Iron Man. 1979.

NBC a DC Legion of Superheros 306 1983 POST

US. Legion of Superheroes. 1983.

US. The New Mutants. 1985.

US. Weird War Tales. 1974.

US. Weird War Tales. 1976.

US. The Invincible Iron Man. 1979.

ABC Kids Saturday DC Legion of Superheros 306 1983

US. Legion of Superheroes. 1983.

US. Legion of Superheroes. 1984.

US. Secrets of Haunted House. 1981.

US. Weird War Tales. 1981.

Further reading: List of United States network televison schedules

New ads: Playmobil, Play-Big, Atari, Transformers and Tenté

Posted on June 11, 2015 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

This week’s ads feature toy, comic and video game brands from the 1980s and come from Denmark, France, the US and the UK.

Denmark. Anders. 1980.

Denmark. Anders. 1981.

UK. Death’s Head. 1989.

US. Legion of Superheroes. 1983.

France. PIf Gadget. 1981.

Non-toy ad Tuesday: The gift of the cat… TDK, Smarties, Slim Jim and Kiri

Posted on June 8, 2015 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Most cats offer captured mice, birds or other small creatures as gifts for their owners. But not Wooof, our office cat. Wooof recently came back up from the basement with no less than twelve vintage adverts clutched between his teeth. Thanks Wooof! We’ve been running short of material for our Non-toy ad Tuesday segment for weeks. Go take the afternoon off and hang out with your mates at the cool cat bar or wherever it is you crazy kids go to these days.

Twelve ads… unfortunately three of these had teeth marks and cat saliva all over them and were deemed by our quality control as ‘gross’. Another two ads were stuck together with bubblegum, another had holes cut out to make an improvised mask, and another was home to a family of woodlice. That left only five ads suitable-ish for publication. So, please, enjoy these five ads from the basement. They’re cool, they’re 70s, they’re 80s. They’ve been in a cat’s mouth.