One of the holiday traditions at our house is to watch an old VHS tape I have that is filled with holiday specials from the ’80s. It’s a full six-hour tape, and most of the specials still contain the original commercials. Below are my five favorites from this tape.
1. Honey Nut Cheerios: Scrooge
The cereal wasn’t necessarily my favorite (forget honey, give us the sugar!), but this commercial is perfect. Scrooge and the set look authentic enough, the bee would fit in perfectly with some of the characters in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, and the music is fantastic.
2. York Peppermint Patties: Ski Jump
Although they weren’t a favorite and I probably never ate them from January through November, York Peppermint Patties were a staple around our house during the holidays. And it was fun to stand on the sofa and re-enact this ski jump.
3. McDonald’s: Hardnose Mrs. Hatcher
I realized as an adult that this isn’t even a holiday commercial. It clearly takes place at the end of a school year (“It’s been a year”). Still, McDonald’s was smart enough to know we’d hear this great song, see the red bow on the gift, and just connect it to Christmas somehow. Look, it’s on the tape, so it qualifies.
4. Pillsbury: Runaway
We talked about this on our podcast recently and how “running away” seemed like much more of an option for kids in the ’80s compared to kids today. Despite the fact that a kid today probably has much better gadgets to help them survive for a few hours in the woods or wherever kids go when they “run away,” we just don’t hear about it as much now. Either way, the kid in this commercial is super smart, threatening his way into some sweet chocolate chip cookies. I wonder how many kids tried this after seeing the commercial.
5. Oreo Cookies: Santa
Here you get the classic Oreo jingle combined with the Christmas-sounding background vocals and an electronic version of a bell choir. Everyone can relate to the idea of trying to stay awake and catch Santa in the act. And if Santa actually enjoys my favorite cookie, that’s just the bow on top.
Coming soon: The top five ’80s Christmas commercials that I left off of this list, according to people who read this.
Snow in Southtown Christmas Podcast 