Do You Recognize These 1970s Ad Slogans?

In 1972, Secret deodorant debuted the slogan, “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.” The slogan was the brainchild of Carol H. Williams, who went on to run her own advertising agency but pitched the line while working for the Leo Burnett agency in Chicago. Williams later became the first Black woman with a creative agency background to be inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

AT&T debuted its classic “reach out and touch someone” tagline in 1971, although it really blew up in popularity around 1979 and was dubbed by “Entertainment Weekly” as one of the “50 Best Commercials of All Time.” The slogan emphasized AT&T’s long-distance calling program and started in print ads before being set to music on radio and television.

Milt Moss was a comedian and actor who appeared on shows hosted by Johnny Carson, Milton Berle, and Merv Griffin, but he’s best remembered for his role as a man expressing regret over a big meal. In a 1972 Alka Seltzer commercial, Moss declared, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing,” while sitting on his bed and looking directly into the camera as his wife slept peacefully.

Several animated animals feature in the original Tootsie Pop commercials that endeavor to solve “how many licks” it takes to get to the center of the candy, but it’s the owl who gets impatient and takes a big bite at the end. At the beginning of the commercial, Mr. Turtle says that he’s “never made it to the end” of a Tootsie Pop.

“You deserve a break today” debuted for McDonald’s in 1971 and was later named “jingle of the century” by “Advertising Age.” The jingle was written by Chicago ad agency Needham, Harper & Steers, and sung by ad writing legend Barry Manilow. The concept wasn’t even McDonald’s first choice at the time: The company originally approved an island-based theme, but that turned out to be too close to a jingle for a Midwestern root beer chain.

“Quality is our recipe” is a slogan that Wendy’s has used continually since 1969, but in 1977, it added another slogan, claiming, “We fix ‘em 256 ways.” Wendy’s based the pitch around the idea that its burgers could be customized in more ways than at any other fast-food restaurant, and paired the tagline with its “Hot ‘N’ Juicy” slogan.

Barry Manilow had a hugely successful career as a jingle writer before he ever wrote a pop music hit. Manilow won a Clio award for his body of work in the advertising field, writing Band-Aid’s “Stuck on Band-Aid” song, KFC’s “Grab a Bucket of Chicken,” and State Farm’s “Like a Good Neighbor,” among others.

Though it evolved to be associated with the credit card in general, the slogan “don’t leave home without it” was specifically written for American Express travelers’ checks. The ad firm Ogilvy & Mather created the campaign in the mid-1970s, with a series of commercials starring actor Karl Malden. Since then, many famous faces have starred in the campaign, including author Stephen King, The Who frontman Roger Daltrey, and the entire Cleveland baseball team from the movie “Major League.”

In 1974, McDonald’s tried its first hip-hop jingle, with an ingredient-by-ingredient breakdown of its Big Mac: “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.” The slogan first appeared in print in newspapers, before being set to music by musical artist Mark Vieha.

In 1971, State Farm recorded a jingle containing a slogan that would be used actively in advertisements for over 50 years: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Like so many iconic jingles of the ’70s, this one was written by Barry Manilow. The catchy song was also recorded by Weezer and released in 2010.

Ace Hardware is responsible for one of the most subtly changing but long-lasting ad slogans: What began as “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man” in the 1970s became “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks” in 1989. As of 2023, “Housesmarts” host Lou Manfredini served as Ace’s “Helpful Hardware Man” and spokesperson.

Bill Backer was the creative director for Coca-Cola in 1971, with the McCann Erickson advertising agency. After a flight to London diverted in Ireland due to fog, he noticed previously angry passengers bonding and telling stories over Cokes, and it inspired him to come up with the jingle, “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.” He worked with songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway to complete the concept, and a band called the New Seekers recorded a version that became a Top 10 hit.

If you have a cat that can pronounce “Fancy Feast,” you have a viral video just waiting to be made. But the actual 1974 slogan was, “Meow Mix: tastes so good, cats ask for it by name.” The song that went along with it was a bunch of “meows” dubbed over a video of cats with their mouths moving. According to declassified CIA reports, the song was used, playing on a loop, to aid interrogations.

Actor John Gilchrist has worked on movies such as “The Notebook” and “Speed 2,” but he will always be best known as Mikey, a child who was a picky eater but really liked Life cereal. The “Mikey Likes It” commercials ran for 13 years, and his brothers in the commercial were his actual brothers.

As the song goes, “My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R, my bologna has a second name it’s M-A-Y-E-R.” The song was written by Jerry Ringlien, who was Oscar Mayer’s vice president of marketing and was responsible for bringing back the Wienermobile. In 1973, the first commercial with this jingle aired with 4-year-old actor Andy Lambros singing while fishing.