Don’t Change the Channel on This Quiz About Classic Commercials

Chart-topping singer Dinah Shore urged audiences to “See the USA in your Chevrolet” in this campaign. Thanks to the emergence of new highway systems, more Americans were heading out on family road trips, and Chevy wanted to be their brand of choice. Chevrolet dominated the market in the 1950s, selling more cars than any other brand, which was partly due to these successful ads.

This was the opening of a 1970s Burger King jingle that introduced the “Have It Your Way” slogan. The home of the Whopper allowed diners to customize their orders — something that McDonald's did not offer at the time. In the series of ads, cheerful Burger King employees sang, “Ooh, hold the pickle, hold the lettuce / Special orders don’t upset us / All we ask is that you let us serve it your way.”

There's no doubt about it — Choo Choo Charlie's favorite candy is Good & Plenty. Although the licorice brand has been around since the 1890s, it didn't gain a mascot until the 1950s. In the ads, a young railroad engineer named Charlie sang, “Love my Good & Plenty / Don't know any other candy that I love so well!” Charlie soon began popping up in comic books and board games around the country.

Although NBA star Michael Jordan became the face of Nike in the mid-1980s — around the same time that the “Just Do It” campaign debuted — it was 80-year-old marathon runner Walter Stack who starred in the first ad of the campaign. The 1988 commercial featured Stack running across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge while describing his impressive 17-mile-a-day running regimen.

“Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya / Brylcreem, you look so debonair.” This jingle was featured in various 1950s ads for the hairstyling product. In the commercials, men used a small dab of the cream to keep their hair perfectly in place, even while wearing a hat.

Though the ad debuted in October 1979, Coca-Cola’s “Hey Kid, Catch!” commercial spiked in popularity after airing during Super Bowl XIV in 1980. The advertisement featured a 9-year-old fan interacting with Pittsburgh Steelers star “Mean” Joe Greene. The child offered a dejected Greene a Coke, which rejuvenated the athlete, who then tossed the kid his game jersey as a thank you, uttering the line, “Hey kid, catch!”

Today, the slogan for Life cereal is “Life is full of surprises,” but in the 1970s, it had a different tagline in its commercials. The ad featured three real-life brothers gathered around the breakfast table. Mikey, who supposedly hated everything, took a bite of the cereal and enjoyed it. His brother then shouted, “He likes it! Hey Mikey!” across the table. The “Hey Mikey!” commercial won a Clio Award, and the phrase was quoted in American households for years.

Before the 1950s, toy commercials were directed toward parents, not children, but Mattel changed toy marketing forever with a 1959 Barbie ad. The spot debuted during “The Mickey Mouse Club” and featured various types of Barbies and a catchy jingle. The commercial helped launch Barbie nationwide.

“Ad Age” named this 1971 McDonald's slogan the jingle of the century. The fast-food giant wanted to be seen as an escape, so an idea was born: Convince customers that they deserve a break at McDonald's. The first ad in this campaign featured a jubilant chorus of McDonald's employees cleaning their restaurant while belting out, “You deserve a break today.”

Now a hallmark of Super Bowl commercials, the Budweiser Clydesdales made their first appearance during the 1986 game — but it was brief. It was the brand’s 1996 Super Bowl commercial that really skyrocketed the horses to fame. This comical ad featured the Clydesdales playing football, delighting NFL fans around the country.

In this 1969 ad, a curious young boy famously asked several animals, “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?” After he received discouraging answers from Mr. Cow, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Turtle, Mr. Owl finally answered the boy — but not in the way he expected. Mr. Owl concluded that it takes only three licks, but only because after the third lick, he bit the candy off the stick.

Wendy’s introduced three unlikely spokeswomen with its 1984 “Where’s the beef?” campaign. In the debut commercial, an older woman hilariously inspected a burger that was all bun. In response to the puny patty, one of the actresses exclaimed, “Where’s the beef?” The narrator then promised Wendy’s customers “more beef and less bun.” The tagline became a pop culture sensation through the ’80s.

Alka-Seltzer’s famous jingle was written after a medical discovery in the 1960s — a doctor concluded that two Alka-Seltzer tablets worked better than one. The new jingle explained this by mimicking the sound the tablets make in a water glass: “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is!” Not only was the jingle catchy, but it also explained to consumers how to use the product.

The 1971 Coca-Cola commercial “Hilltop” featured more than 1,200 people from around the world standing atop a hill and singing a song with phrases such as, “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,” and “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.” The hopeful message resonated with audiences: Coca-Cola received more than 100,000 letters in support of the ad, and the song was constantly requested on radio stations across the U.S.

Who knew lunch meat could inspire such a catchy jingle? Oscar Mayer’s “My bologna has a first name” commercial debuted in 1973 and had kids — and adults — around the country humming its snappy tune. The commercial became one of the longest-running TV commercials in the U.S., proving that Oscar Mayer really does have a way with “B-O-L-O-G-N-A.”