A&W Commercial 1991

Commercial for A&W broadcast in 1991

Rooty, the Great American Root Bear, originated in Canada in 1974 as a counter to the competition to Ronald McDonald of McDonald's and first appeared in the United States in 1976. However, the character's introduction was almost aborted when marketing received focus group research results that reported a poor reaction to him. In reaction, the Marketing Director, acting on instinct about the appeal of the character, ordered the researcher to return to Toronto with the cover story that he never presented in that report. The researcher compiled and Rooty was presented to the franchisees as is. As such, Rooty proved a popular marketing success.

Throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, Rooty was the face of A&W, both the bottled drinks and the restaurant chain, on television and print advertising. His presence all but disappeared in the late 1990s, but in 2011, under new ownership, Rooty has come out of retirement. He has since been featured in print ads, on A&W's website, as the voice of their official Twitter account, and in a variety of YouTube and Vine videos. In 2013, Rooty became the first mascot to have an official LinkedIn profile, which was quickly shut down as Rooty was not considered "real" by the authorities at Linkedin.

Dodge Shadow Plymouth Sundance Commercial 1991

Dodge Shadow Plymouth Sundance Commercial 1991

The Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance are economical 3-door and 5-door hatchbacks that were introduced for the 1987 model year by the Chrysler Corporation. For 1991, a 2-door convertible variant was added to the Shadow lineup; this body style was not offered by Plymouth. The Sundance/Shadow replaced the Omni/Horizon models of their respective marque.

The first vehicle rolled out of Sterling Heights Assembly on August 25, 1986. In late 1988, production of the Mexican market version called the Chrysler Shadow began at Toluca Car Assembly. The Shadow/Sundance was also sold in Europe from 1988 to 1991 as the Chrysler ES. Production ended on March 9, 1994, with the Shadow/Sundance being replaced by the Dodge / Plymouth Neon.

2003 Ford Taurus Commercial

 

Canadian Commercial featuring the 2003 Ford Taurus

The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from the 1986 to 2019 model years. Introduced in late 1985 for the 1986 model year, six generations were produced over 34 years; a brief hiatus was undertaken between 2006 and 2007. From the 1986 to 2009 model years, the Taurus was sold alongside its near-twin, the Mercury Sable; four generations of the high-performance Ford Taurus SHO were produced (1989–1999; 2010–2019). The Taurus also served as the basis for the first-ever front-wheel-drive Lincoln Continental (1988–2002).

The original Taurus was a milestone for Ford and the entire American automotive industry, being the first automobile at Ford designed and manufactured using the statistical process control ideas brought to Ford by W. Edwards Deming, a prominent statistician consulted by Ford to bring a "culture of quality" to the enterprise. The Taurus had an influential design that brought many new features and innovations to the marketplace.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, sales of the Taurus declined as it lost market share to Japanese midsize sedans and as Ford shifted resources towards developing SUVs. The Taurus was withdrawn after the 2007 model year, with production ending on October 27, 2006. As part of a model line revision, the Taurus and the larger Ford Crown Victoria were to be replaced with the full-size Five Hundred and mid-size Fusion sedans; the Taurus station wagon would be replaced with the Ford Freestyle wagon, branded as a crossover SUV. During the 2007 Chicago Auto Show, Ford revived the Taurus and Sable nameplates, intended as 2008 mid-cycle revisions of the Ford Five Hundred; the Freestyle was renamed the Ford Taurus X. For the 2010 model year, Ford introduced the sixth-generation Taurus, marking a more substantial model update, alongside the revival of the Taurus SHO; in 2013, the Ford Police Interceptor Sedan was introduced as a successor for its long-running Crown Victoria counterpart.

Sci-Tech Center Watertown NY Local TV Commercial 1994

Local Ad for the Sci-Tech Center in Watertown NY as broadcast on WWNY in 1994

The Sci-Tech Center of Northern New York is a section 501(c)(3) corporation established in 1983 to help the public gain a better understanding of Science and Technology. This is done through participatory exhibits and programs in various scientific disciplines.

The Sci-Tech Center brings a wide variety of programs and activities to families throughout Northern New York.

2003 Kia Sedona TV Commercial

 

Recorded Off Air in 2003

The Kia Carnival is a minivan manufactured by Kia Motors, introduced in September 1998, marketed globally under various nameplates — prominently as the Kia Sedona — and currently in its fourth generation.

The first generation Carnival was introduced in 1998 and was marketed in a single, short wheelbase with rear sliding doors. Second-generation models were marketed (2006–2014) in short and long-wheelbase variants, both with rear sliding doors. A rebadged variant of the second generation was offered in North America as the Hyundai Entourage (2007–2009).[2] Beginning in 2010, the second generation model received updated equipment, including Kia's corporate Tiger Nose grille, as introduced by its then-new design chief, Peter Schreyer. Kia introduced its third-generation minivan in 2014, solely in a long-wheelbase format. The fourth generation was introduced in 2020 when Kia began using the Carnival nameplate worldwide.

Late Night Infomercials - Q Ray Bracelets - Early 2000s

Recorded onto VHS some early morning in the early 2000s

A short infomercial for Q-Ray magnetic bracelets 

Order Now!

In October 1973, corporate websites claim, that Manuel L. Polo began investigating the effects of different metals on humans, believing that some metals offered a benefit when worn. This led directly to his creation of the Bio-Ray (Biomagnetic Regulator), the first ionized bracelet.

In 1994, Andrew Park bought a Bio-Ray bracelet while visiting Barcelona, Spain. Believing that it had reduced his lower back pain, he was inspired to found QT Inc., which began manufacturing and selling Q-Ray bracelets in the United States by 1996.

Western interest in the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet rose as a result of an infomercial campaign by QT Inc. which ran from August 2000 through June 11, 2003. During this time many marketing claims were made regarding the product's alleged effectiveness, most notably regarding relief from pain and arthritis due to manipulation of a body's chi.

In a Marketplace interview, Charles Park, president of Q-Ray Canada, explains that the term "ionized" does not mean the bracelets themselves are ionized, but rather that the term comes from their secret "ionization process" which, he asserts, affects the bracelets in undisclosed ways.

These claims were the topic of a 2003 injunction by the Federal Trade Commission and later a high-profile court ruling in 2006. The court was unable to find any basis for QT Inc.'s claims related to traditional Chinese medicine, concluding that it was "part of a scheme devised by QT Inc to defraud its consumers".

1994 Toyota Camry Television Commercial

 

Recorded off-air from a Western New York State TV station in 1994

The Toyota Camry is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Camry has grown since the 1990s to fit the mid-size classification (wide-body)—although the two widths co-existed in that decade. Since the release of the wide-bodied versions, Camry has been extolled by Toyota as the firm's second "world car" after the Corolla.

Between 1979 and 1982, the Camry nameplate was delegated to a four-door sedan model in Japan, known as the Celica Camry. When Camry became an independent model line in 1982 with the V10 series, Toyota made it available as a five-door liftback in addition to the sedan. The subsequent Camry V20 series debuted in 1986 with a station wagon substituting the liftback body variant and Japan-only hardtop sedans making their debut. The company replaced the V20 in 1990 with the V30 sedan and hardtop, but this model series was exclusive to Japan. Automotive tax regulations in that country dictated the retention of a narrower body as used in previous Camry generations. However, overseas demand for a larger Camry resulted in the development of a wide-body XV10 sedan and station wagon that arrived in 1991. Japan also received the wider XV10 as the Toyota Scepter. The company then issued an XV10-bodied coupé in 1993 that was spun off in 1998 as an independent model line, titled Camry Solara.

When the Japanese market received a new narrow-body V40 series in 1994 to replace V30, the wide-body XV10 continued unchanged. Its replacement, the XV20, arrived in 1996—named Camry Gracia in Japan. It was not until the narrow V40 ended manufacture in 1998 that the Camry in Japan was to again mirror the cars sold internationally. Japanese sedans dropped the Gracia suffix in 1999, although it was retained by the wagon until its 2001 demise. From 1998, the Vista ended its Camry alignment and instead branched into an independent model line with the V50 series for an extra generation before the nameplate was withdrawn in 2003. The next wide-body model, the XV30, came in 2001. Now sold only as a sedan, it now offered two different front- and rear-end design treatments. Japan and most global markets received one style; a separate, more conservative version covered markets in East and Southeast Asia. With the XV40 of 2006, the Camry-derived Aurion become the donor model for the more conservative Camry sold in this region. The subsequent XV50 series, sold from 2011 until 2019, has resulted in even more markets adopting the alternative body panels, such as Japan and Eastern Europe. The current generation is called the XV70.

Lion's Club Blindness Prevention PSA 1994

Blindness prevention public service from the Lions Club that was broadcast in 1994, 

Put on by the Lion's Club.

The Lions Clubs plan and participate in a wide variety of service projects that meet the international goals of Lions Clubs International as well as the needs of their local communities.

Lion's focus on work for the blind and visually impaired began when Helen Keller addressed the international convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, on 30 June 1925 and charged Lions to be Knights of the Blind.

Toronto Lastman's Bad Boy Commercial - 2003

Melvin Douglas Lastman (born March 9, 1933), nicknamed "Mayor Mel" or "Mega-City Mel", is a Canadian businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1973 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other municipalities, was amalgamated with the city of Toronto. Lastman ran for and won the mayoral race for the new "megacity", defeating incumbent Toronto mayor Barbara Hall. Re-elected in November 2000, he served until his retirement after the 2003 municipal election.

He opened a small frame building at Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue in Scarborough, Ontario, selling used appliances, and then, at age 22, bought out Heather Hill Appliances and established Bad Boy Furniture in 1955.

Having adopted the nickname "the Bad Boy" for himself and developed Bad Boy Furniture into a chain of stores around the Toronto area. "Bad Boy" Lastman was associated with many publicity stunts, including traveling to the Arctic in the 1960s to "sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo." Lastman sold the chain in 1975 to run for the Ontario general election. The Bad Boy trademark was ultimately acquired by the large furniture chain The Brick but the new owners allowed it to lapse through lack of use until it expired.

In 1991, Lastman's son Blayne and business partner Marvin Kirsh re-launched the chain, over the objections of his father, who felt the economic climate was unsatisfactory. The store was soon memorable to most Southern Ontario television viewers who have seen its commercials. The ads feature Lastman in a cameo appearance, Blayne in a prison suit, and always ended with the line: "Who's Better than Bad Boy?... Nooobody!"

Poulan Lawn Tractor Commercial 1991

 

Commercial for Poulan Lawn Tractors and Mowers broadcast in 1991

Poulan was originally an independent American company based in Shreveport, Louisiana, founded as Poulan Saw Co. in 1912 by chainsaw pioneer Claude Poulan. Purchased in the late fifties or early sixties by the Beaird Company, also of Shreveport, it was known as Beaird-Poulan. The company was acquired by Emerson Electric in 1972 and was purchased by Electrolux in 1984.

The Poulan brand name is used primarily for outdoor power equipment, such as chainsaws, lawnmowers, and leaf blowers, aimed at the mid-level consumer market. Since Poulan is owned by Husqvarna, the two brands often share technologies. In recent years Poulan has offered a more upscale "Poulan Pro" brand employing a black and gold color scheme instead of Poulan's traditional green. As a result, Poulan products have been pushed even further upmarket.

CIZ 97.5 FM Watertown NY Commercial 1991

 

A Commercial for a local Watertown NY radio station promoting an upcoming Secret Show contest broadcast in 1991

WCIZ-FM (93.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Watertown, New York. It is owned by the Stephens Media Group and airs a classic hits radio format, which leans toward classic rock. Unlike some classic hits stations, WCIZ does not play pop or dance artists, such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, or Gloria Estefan.

Around early 2000, the station changed formats from classic rock to classic hits. WCIZ-FM went on the air in the summer of 1988. The station originally began broadcasting at 97.5 FM, later moving to 93.5 in 1997. It changed to its current frequency at 93.3 FM on the week of November 6, 1998. With the frequency move came a tower move from a site north of Watertown to sharing a tower east of the city with sister station WFRY-FM 97.5. Prior to WCIZ-FM's move to 93.5 from 97.5, the station was a CHR station known as WTNY-FM "T-93 FM" which began broadcasting on April 30, 1986.