Author Topic: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging  (Read 640306 times)

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Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2380 on: October 03, 2020, 02:14:08 PM »
Shingles Plaster Chips and Pringles Potato Chips



Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2381 on: October 08, 2020, 08:52:07 AM »
Bandage compared to Vantage cigarettes...



Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2382 on: October 08, 2020, 05:25:03 PM »
Shingles Plaster Chips and Pringles Potato Chips



Sorry to see I’ve fallen behind again on the classics....

Shingles - a definite classic.  Great product graphics to start with, so the parody doesn’t have to stretch things much.  Nice concept with the little shingle roof and what have you.  Pretty sure I snagged this one back in the day.

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2383 on: October 08, 2020, 05:30:20 PM »
Bandage compared to Vantage cigarettes...


One of my favorite cigarette parodies.  When I started smoking in my teens I dabbled in different brands, and remember trying these.  They nailed the hollowed-out filters, which I remember well.  But overall the general graphics, hapless little guy character and the broken, taped-up cigs are all nice little details combining to make an unspectacular but above-average Wacky.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2384 on: October 13, 2020, 11:39:02 AM »
I noticed the images are missing on all the comparison posts. Is that glitch happening for everyone?

Offline mikecho

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2385 on: October 13, 2020, 11:56:01 AM »
I noticed the images are missing on all the comparison posts. Is that glitch happening for everyone?
It is for me.

Offline drono

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2386 on: October 13, 2020, 12:39:24 PM »
It looks like maybe the cert expired on the image posting site.

Funny, I was going to post the image of the message, but it doesn't show!

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Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2387 on: October 13, 2020, 07:29:05 PM »
I noticed the images are missing on all the comparison posts. Is that glitch happening for everyone?
I’d lost the images when I first read this earlier today, but now they’ve reappeared.

On with the reviews!  ;D

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2388 on: October 13, 2020, 09:07:17 PM »
Jean Nutty compared to Jean Naté



Offline Baked Bears

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2389 on: October 14, 2020, 09:27:12 AM »
A lot of work went into those bubbles!

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2390 on: October 14, 2020, 05:33:21 PM »
Jean Nutty compared to Jean Naté


Really like this one too.  The product was very familiar, I think there were a ton of TV commercials for it back then.  I think it’s still made today, but nowhere near as popular as it once was.  A lot of these sundry items fell out of favor in a manner similar to perfumes and colognes.  Enjoli, Charlie, and My Sink for that matter!

Anyhoo, back to the Wacky.  Nice goofy dunce character, very well rendered bottle, cap and bubbles.  The original art to this must look amazing.  Too bad the Abrams books left out the 15th and 16th.

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2391 on: October 14, 2020, 10:19:47 PM »
Jean Nutty compared to Jean Naté



This is a great gag, with funny matching taglines.  And awesome bubbles!  Also a cool, funny character to lively up a pretty dull product bottle.  One of my favorites from the 15th, and I still call the product by the Wacky name.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2392 on: October 15, 2020, 11:22:46 AM »
Fear Out Iron-Ons and Far Out Iron-Ons compared.



Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2393 on: October 15, 2020, 06:57:06 PM »
As the lone Topps parody with monster characters, I’ve always liked this one.  Replacing the transfer images of the series along the bottom of the pack with images of various clothes-pressing irons is a bit far to go for a simple play on words though.  Maybe using images of other various movie monsters would have worked better.  This type of tweaking would make good use of the Wonky concept, like a “what if?” reworking of existing titles.  There’s been numerous suggestions throughout this thread on other titles as well.  How cool would it be to have the artists take a survey of forum members to have select titles reworked this way?

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2394 on: October 19, 2020, 08:49:04 PM »
Earth Barn and Earth Born shampoo...



Offline BustedFinger

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2395 on: October 20, 2020, 09:23:08 AM »
As the lone Topps parody with monster characters, I’ve always liked this one.  Replacing the transfer images of the series along the bottom of the pack with images of various clothes-pressing irons is a bit far to go for a simple play on words though.  Maybe using images of other various movie monsters would have worked better.  This type of tweaking would make good use of the Wonky concept, like a “what if?” reworking of existing titles.  There’s been numerous suggestions throughout this thread on other titles as well.  How cool would it be to have the artists take a survey of forum members to have select titles reworked this way?
I would say the irons along the bottom actually tie in well with the gag "Groovy pictures of irons for monsters to put on their shirts".
Giving "The Hobby" the finger since 1999!

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2396 on: October 23, 2020, 08:07:06 AM »
Earth Barn and Earth Born shampoo...



Weird little character on this one, looks like something out of ‘Cats’ the musical.  If I remember correctly this is a title difficult to find without some black ink streaking/smudging in the border area.

Another peculiarity I’ve noticed is a slight mismatch with the real product labeling. Makes me wonder if the product looked slightly different at the time Earth Barn was made.  The ‘Earth Bum’ parody in the next series is a more accurate match with the packaging shown here. Also odd to see the same product spoofed twice in back-to-back series in the first place.

Offline koduck

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2397 on: October 23, 2020, 11:30:59 AM »
Weird little character on this one, looks like something out of ‘Cats’ the musical. 

That's some funny sh*t

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2398 on: October 24, 2020, 10:46:08 AM »
Catgobite 212 compared to Calgonite 211. Sorry for the tiny pixelated image of real product...the best I could find. I do have a nice, quality image of the Calgonite box without the 211 designation.



Offline freetoes

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2399 on: October 24, 2020, 12:41:48 PM »
Catgobite 212 compared to Calgonite 211. Sorry for the tiny pixelated image of real product...the best I could find. I do have a nice, quality image of the Calgonite box without the 211 designation.



This is actually one of my favorites from this series. There was just something about the image of the cat stuffed into a glass that I found hilarious.

Series 15 as a whole marks a short-lived resurgence, before the final fadeout.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2400 on: October 29, 2020, 05:47:53 AM »
Petley Flea Bags vs. Tetley Tea Bags...



Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2401 on: October 29, 2020, 06:24:31 AM »
Petley Flea Bags vs. Tetley Tea Bags...



I always liked this one, partly because we always had it around the house, and the gag and scratching dog made me laugh.  C'mon, flea bags??  And the tiny little dog fleas?  That just brings back the jingle about "tiny little tea leaves."
 Too funny.  I was disappointed when my mother switched to Salada because it wasn't as funny calling them flea bags without the Petley part.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2020, 06:26:59 AM by RawGoo »

Offline sco(o)t

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2402 on: October 29, 2020, 07:23:58 AM »
Petley Flea Bags vs. Tetley Tea Bags...



This one always makes me think of the classic WB cartoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGwA7zmbryY
aka Scot Leibacher (no trademark)

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2403 on: October 29, 2020, 07:40:16 PM »
I always liked this one, partly because we always had it around the house, and the gag and scratching dog made me laugh.  C'mon, flea bags??  And the tiny little dog fleas?  That just brings back the jingle about "tiny little tea leaves."
 Too funny.  I was disappointed when my mother switched to Salada because it wasn't as funny calling them flea bags without the Petley part.
Well said.  The ‘tiny little dog fleas’ part resonated with me too because I would always sing the jingle in my head whenever I saw the product back then, and that just made it funnier.

Easy to see why there would be blowback from Petley at the time.  Infestation at its finest.

Offline mikecho

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2404 on: October 30, 2020, 10:37:21 AM »
I always liked this one, partly because we always had it around the house, and the gag and scratching dog made me laugh.  C'mon, flea bags??  And the tiny little dog fleas?  That just brings back the jingle about "tiny little tea leaves."
 Too funny.  I was disappointed when my mother switched to Salada because it wasn't as funny calling them flea bags without the Petley part.
I know what you mean; with this it's too easy to get in your head "I like those tiny little flea leaves in Petley flea!" It's also amazing that this Wacky turned out to be the one that ultimately killed the OS run where dozens of others could not.

Offline roughwriter

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2405 on: October 30, 2020, 10:49:52 AM »
I know what you mean; with this it's too easy to get in your head "I like those tiny little flea leaves in Petley flea!" It's also amazing that this Wacky turned out to be the one that ultimately killed the OS run where dozens of others could not.

Ummm...Killed the OS run? There's a brand new Old School set due out any minute! Its alive and well as far as I know. Did I misunderstand the comment?

Offline mikecho

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2406 on: October 30, 2020, 10:59:56 AM »
Ummm...Killed the OS run? There's a brand new Old School set due out any minute! Its alive and well as far as I know. Did I misunderstand the comment?
You're right; in that sense, maybe I should've said "temporarily killed".

You've also got your abbreviations mixed up here. OS is Original Series, while OLDS is Old School.

But I can see where you're coming from; I myself personally consider OLDS to be the official continuation of the OS run we never got until now, first for the 1970s in OLDS 1-7 and, as of now, the 1980s with OLDS 8-9.

Who knows? Maybe the 1990s is coming next? The possibilities seem to be endless!
« Last Edit: October 30, 2020, 12:47:32 PM by mikecho »

Offline freetoes

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2407 on: October 30, 2020, 12:19:13 PM »
OS meaning Original Series.

https://casetext.com/case/tetley-inc-v-topps-chewing-gum-inc

It seems to have been the 1982 Album Sticker version that prompted the suit. Tetley claimed to have had no knowledge of the Series 15 card.

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2408 on: October 30, 2020, 12:49:39 PM »
I can’t remember anymore - was it ever established that C&D fatigue ultimately brought the OS run to a close?  I know it necessitated choosing from a wider variety of product types, beyond supermarket items, but that seemed to be working ok in the later series.

Offline Fanatical_and_Sickly

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2409 on: October 30, 2020, 01:01:43 PM »
I can’t remember anymore - was it ever established that C&D fatigue ultimately brought the OS run to a close?  I know it necessitated choosing from a wider variety of product types, beyond supermarket items, but that seemed to be working ok in the later series.
doesn't seem like that would be the case, as 4th series got slammed with them when it came out, and included the General Mills C&D. That would have been any easy place to give up, as that one really caused havoc. Likely just reduced sales/profits compared to the heyday didn't make it worthwhile any more.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2410 on: November 01, 2020, 08:27:46 AM »
Gums and Jaws



Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2411 on: November 01, 2020, 08:54:15 AM »
Having never seen Gums at the time of the 15th but having the checklist to ponder unseen titles for years thereafter, it never crossed my mind that the parody could have been for anything having to do with a movie, let alone a pocket paperback book.  So different from anything seen to that point, yet totally understandable in hindsight given the Jaws craze of 1975.  Probably a case where the book was a virtual unknown prior to the movie, but after the movie run, run another printing and slap the movie poster art on the cover and you’ve got what I’m sure must have been the hottest book on the planet at the time.

Having said all that, what do I think of it?  Just meh I guess.  Don’t love it, don’t hate it.  More than anything it has always just felt very oddball to me.

Offline Fanatical_and_Sickly

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2412 on: November 01, 2020, 10:02:06 AM »
This is where Wackys jumped the shark  :P

Offline sco(o)t

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2413 on: November 01, 2020, 11:13:31 AM »
Having never seen Gums at the time of the 15th but having the checklist to ponder unseen titles for years thereafter, it never crossed my mind that the parody could have been for anything having to do with a movie, let alone a pocket paperback book.  So different from anything seen to that point, yet totally understandable in hindsight given the Jaws craze of 1975.  Probably a case where the book was a virtual unknown prior to the movie, but after the movie run, run another printing and slap the movie poster art on the cover and you’ve got what I’m sure must have been the hottest book on the planet at the time.

Having said all that, what do I think of it?  Just meh I guess.  Don’t love it, don’t hate it.  More than anything it has always just felt very oddball to me.


I have to, respectfully, disagree with  the comment that the book was virtually unknown before the movie. The book JAWS was a really big deal before it was a movie. It was on The New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks  and in it's first year of publication JAWS sold 5.5 million copies (that's more books than there are people in Finland). Most of my friends had read the book before the movie was announced.  I remember The Godfather being a similar scenario.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2020, 02:48:56 PM by sco(o)t »
aka Scot Leibacher (no trademark)

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #2414 on: November 01, 2020, 04:50:09 PM »
No problem, I’m sure you’re right, what would I have known being all of 8 years old at the time.  I guess I was just predicting the most likely scenario rather than knowing firsthand.  Surprising to hear nevertheless.  I wonder how the books did before some of my other favorite films of that era, such as French Connection and Taking of Pelham One Two Three.