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Tuesday 9 August 2011

Old Commercials

Meg's note:  Yesterday was officially the first day since I started this blog that I posted no content.  Sorry.  I was mucho tired and uninspired.  Please forgive me!

The other night, Ross and I were talking (surprise, surprise) and for some reason those coffee commercials with the British couple came up.  I couldn't remember which coffee it was advertising.  I started out thinking of them as the Folger's Couple, but after a little googling I found that it was actually the Taster's Choice Couple.

I asked Ross if they had those commercials over here- sort of a stupid question now that I think about it given that the couple was British.  Whatever.  I'm going to use the fact that they don't have Taster's Choice over here as my defence for that one.  Anyway- Ross responded that, in fact, the Nescafe Gold Couple commercials originated here.   They were later re-made for the US version of the product.



So, the commercials appear to have started in the same way in both countries, they did diverge as they went on.  The American version included a vote in the end to decide whether the woman should end up with her ex-husband or with the Taster's Choice Man (aka Anthony Steward Head; aka The Librarian from Buffy).  I remember loving these commercials when I was a teenager, especially Mr. Head's sexy accent (foreshadowing!).  

And now for a few facts and figures via Anthony's website:

a handy chart I made

Interesting, huh?  So this is my question:
Considering that they entirely reshot the series and included different story lines, product names, and even character names- why did they keep the same 2 actors in the leading roles?  I mean, I'm surprised they didn't switch to American actors while they were at it.
Not that I'm complaining!  I mean perhaps the advertisers knew how good the chemistry between the 2 leads and didn't want to mess with a good thing.  It's better judgement than I generally attribute to ad geniuses.

What are your favourite old commericals? 
Did you love these Taster's Choice ads too?

2 comments:

  1. I have a memory that you guys are in Manchester - if that's right, I hope you're being and keeping safe!

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  2. Thanks Betsy! We are in North Manchester, safe and sound at home. It sounds like it's kicking off, but we're not worried about it getting close to where we live. Hope you are safe as well!

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