Author Topic: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging  (Read 640464 times)

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Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1330 on: September 12, 2018, 05:03:30 AM »
Biva and Viva...



Offline Zenergizer

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1331 on: September 12, 2018, 07:31:38 AM »
nice, solid gag!

Offline sco(o)t

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1332 on: September 12, 2018, 01:02:18 PM »
I always liked this one for a bit of an abstract reason. By naming in BIVA,  I think most people will think of a beaver just because the name is close enough and not many other similar sounding words. They didn't hit us over the head with the gag and call it BEAVER towels.
aka Scot Leibacher (no trademark)

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1333 on: September 12, 2018, 05:10:51 PM »
Kind of interesting how you'll see certain product types in multiples in a given series, or consecutive series.  Like they found a previously untapped or underutilized product type and go to it more than once to take advantage.  Two different hostess products and two different towel/tissue rolls in this series, cans of soda or beer in 7-8-9-10-11 after doing mostly bottles in earlier Series, more toy and game products in the later series, that sort of thing.  You can find various little trends in product types if you look for them.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1334 on: September 12, 2018, 10:10:20 PM »
Kind of interesting how you'll see certain product types in multiples in a given series, or consecutive series.  Like they found a previously untapped or underutilized product type and go to it more than once to take advantage.  Two different hostess products and two different towel/tissue rolls in this series, cans of soda or beer in 7-8-9-10-11 after doing mostly bottles in earlier Series, more toy and game products in the later series, that sort of thing.  You can find various little trends in product types if you look for them.

I'm not looking forward to the series with the batch of magazine parodies. None of those will have matches to an exact issue's cover. It was all creative liberty.

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1335 on: September 13, 2018, 02:23:40 AM »
That may not be true in every case.  Though I did not research all the magazines, I found that Umbrella from the 13th has a Vampirella counterpart with a very similar cover.  That issue is from 1973 or 74, but remember that all the magazines from the later series were originally planned to be part of an all-magazine 11th series.  While a bunch were subsequently pushed back into the 13th, 14th and 15th, all issued 1975, the associated parodies were likely created at least a year earlier.

Conversely, I could not find a real-product counterpart matching Vague magazine from Old School 6, so I too wonder if some of the magazine parodies are completely imagined.  I don't recall Dave ever posting the real product images from OS6 as he normally has on prior series; I'd be interested to see if Vague was a close match to the real product used.

Offline mikecho

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1336 on: September 13, 2018, 10:13:16 AM »
That may not be true in every case.  Though I did not research all the magazines, I found that Umbrella from the 13th has a Vampirella counterpart with a very similar cover.  That issue is from 1973 or 74, but remember that all the magazines from the later series were originally planned to be part of an all-magazine 11th series.  While a bunch were subsequently pushed back into the 13th, 14th and 15th, all issued 1975, the associated parodies were likely created at least a year earlier.

Conversely, I could not find a real-product counterpart matching Vague magazine from Old School 6, so I too wonder if some of the magazine parodies are completely imagined.  I don't recall Dave ever posting the real product images from OS6 as he normally has on prior series; I'd be interested to see if Vague was a close match to the real product used.
If you, or anyone else, want to find out more about the unmade Wacky Magazines series and see images of them, go to lostwackys.com and you'll find a whole section on them. I hope this helps you out.

UPDATE: Here's the magazine titles that were intended to be in the 11th series, but were dropped:

*Tomb Magazine (Time Magazine, released in OLDS 5),
*Rotting Zone (Rolling Stone, still unreleased (hopefully that'll change, someday)),
*Schnozmopolitan (Cosmopolitan, released in 1982 Album series, FB 1, and ANS7 (the last one as a foil sticker).

Now here's the unmade Wackys from the magazine series that I've seen in the aforementioned section:

*Creep (Creem),
*Eater's Digest (Reader's Digest),
*Foodoplay (Photoplay),
*Grumpy Dumpty's Magazine (Humpty Dumpty's Magazine),
*HenHouse (Penthouse),
*Madamgazelle (Mademoiselle),
*Roman's Day (Woman's Day),
*Salami Street Magazine (Sesame Street Magazine),
*Song Hates Magazine (Song Hits Magazine),
*True Confetti (True Confessions),
*Zit Parader (Hit Parader).

Those are just the ones that I've seen on the website. Who knows how many other roughs for this unmade series may be out there, still undiscovered?

I also think that any one of these would be perfect for future OLDS releases. What do you guys think?
« Last Edit: September 21, 2018, 04:30:33 PM by mikecho »

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1337 on: September 15, 2018, 04:29:53 AM »
Kentucky Fried Fingers and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Not sure why they didn't thicken the red stripes to put the "It's Chicken Lickin' Good" gag inside. Maybe there is another container design out there with thinner red stripes? I couldn't find one.

A really nice classic gag, but it bugs me that the chicken head illustration is not centered in the white space. I also think the fingers coming out of the top should have been breaded and not floating in the green steaming acid.


« Last Edit: September 15, 2018, 04:39:29 AM by Swiski »

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1338 on: September 15, 2018, 05:50:46 AM »
Biva and Viva...



I always liked this one as a kid - might have had something to do with being able to say "dam"   >(

I also was living near Pittsburgh, and we had family in Beaver County, so I really got the main gag.  Great gag, they nailed the packaging, and I still like it a lot.

Offline koduck

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1339 on: September 15, 2018, 07:14:01 AM »
I always liked this one as a kid - might have had something to do with being able to say "dam"   >(

I also was living near Pittsburgh, and we had family in Beaver County, so I really got the main gag.  Great gag, they nailed the packaging, and I still like it a lot.

"Annoying" is the funniest part of the gag. I mean, how can anyone possibly be annoyed by a beaver?

Offline bigtomi

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1340 on: September 15, 2018, 05:49:19 PM »
I mean, how can anyone possibly be annoyed by a beaver?
Au contraire mon frere! Beavers can be quite annoying to some of us. Their dam building can wreak havoc to property.

https://www.attickings.com/beavers-hardest-working-nuisance-youll-ever/

Offline koduck

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1341 on: September 16, 2018, 07:07:53 AM »
I guess it would depend on the beaver. I've always found them to be very helpful  ;)




Offline vahsurfer

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1342 on: September 16, 2018, 07:08:52 AM »
Squirrels are cute too - They do LOTS of damage though!

#StayFurry

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1343 on: September 21, 2018, 04:21:54 PM »
Kentucky Fried Fingers and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Not sure why they didn't thicken the red stripes to put the "It's Chicken Lickin' Good" gag inside. Maybe there is another container design out there with thinner red stripes? I couldn't find one.

A really nice classic gag, but it bugs me that the chicken head illustration is not centered in the white space. I also think the fingers coming out of the top should have been breaded and not floating in the green steaming acid.



Bumping this to catch people up.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1344 on: September 21, 2018, 04:23:04 PM »
Choke up and Close Up...



Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1345 on: September 21, 2018, 05:59:40 PM »
Thanks for putting the defibrillator to this thread.  It's the one I look forward to seeing updates on the most.

Now that I'm seeing the real product it occurs to me that I may have used this toothpaste quite a bit as a young lad.  I remember the smiling mouths and I definitely remember using red gel toothpaste with a cinnamon flavor.  I don't remember liking it much.  More of a mint guy.

Does it make much sense to randomly throw an ape on there and hope for some laughs?  Probably not.  Keep the mouths, change them to frowns or scowls, and put some crud on the teeth.  Call it 'Close Down', as in shut those mouths off to that awful toothpaste.

Offline DrSushi

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1346 on: September 21, 2018, 08:04:17 PM »
Thanks for putting the defibrillator to this thread.  It's the one I look forward to seeing updates on the most.

Now that I'm seeing the real product it occurs to me that I may have used this toothpaste quite a bit as a young lad.  I remember the smiling mouths and I definitely remember using red gel toothpaste with a cinnamon flavor.  I don't remember liking it much.  More of a mint guy.

Does it make much sense to randomly throw an ape on there and hope for some laughs?  Probably not.  Keep the mouths, change them to frowns or scowls, and put some crud on the teeth.  Call it 'Close Down', as in shut those mouths off to that awful toothpaste.

Great concept! I never liked Choke Up much, the gags feel forced and the art never grabbed me.

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1347 on: September 22, 2018, 05:17:13 AM »
Kentucky Fried Fingers and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Not sure why they didn't thicken the red stripes to put the "It's Chicken Lickin' Good" gag inside. Maybe there is another container design out there with thinner red stripes? I couldn't find one.

A really nice classic gag, but it bugs me that the chicken head illustration is not centered in the white space. I also think the fingers coming out of the top should have been breaded and not floating in the green steaming acid.



Guess I missed this one when you first posted it.

I've always liked this because of the main gag, and that fantastic chicken with a tie.  I still call it by the Wacky name, and was disappointed when the company changed to "KFC."

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1348 on: September 22, 2018, 05:29:44 AM »
Choke up and Close Up...



I never really got this one.  Maybe if there was a picture of someone choking while brushing their teeth, and the taglines referenced that it's the toothpaste that that'll make you choke it would make more sense.

Offline koduck

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1349 on: September 22, 2018, 07:20:17 AM »
I never really got this one.  Maybe if there was a picture of someone choking while brushing their teeth, and the taglines referenced that it's the toothpaste that that'll make you choke it would make more sense.

I think by the 7th series (maybe sooner), they were starting to run out of 1st-rate concepts. Not to say there weren't some really great ones in the latter series, but producing 16 series in 4 years must've been a huge challenge.


Offline Baked Bears

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1350 on: September 23, 2018, 07:44:00 AM »
Choke up and Close Up...



This gag doesn't have anything to do with toothpaste, per se, save for the "Choke-up" / "Close-up" play on words (and the ape's teeth which are in direct - and even subversive - contrast to the gleaming, perfect teeth featured on the actual product.)  "Choke up" means "to be unable to speak, act efficiently, etc., as because of fear, strong emotion, tension, etc."  Thus the menacing ape and the taglines, "super-frightening toothpaste" and "fang flavor" all make sense in this context, that being that this scary toothpaste will render you speechless out of fear.  Maybe not so much now, but at one time apes were considered scary.  An ape figured prominently in Poe's Murders at the Rue Morgue, and King Kong was considered a classic Hollywood monster (right up there with Frankenstein and Dracula,) as opposed to Peter Jackson's sympathetic ice skating Kong.  Additionally, I'm sure many of us here as children have pounded our chests in imitation of a frightening, savage gorilla (before we found out they were actually docile, cannabis-smoking creatures living in communion with nature.)

Also, Norm's ape is a good illustration IMO.


« Last Edit: September 23, 2018, 07:58:45 AM by Baked Bears »

Offline mikecho

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1351 on: September 24, 2018, 11:48:28 AM »
This gag doesn't have anything to do with toothpaste, per se, save for the "Choke-up" / "Close-up" play on words (and the ape's teeth which are in direct - and even subversive - contrast to the gleaming, perfect teeth featured on the actual product.)  "Choke up" means "to be unable to speak, act efficiently, etc., as because of fear, strong emotion, tension, etc."  Thus the menacing ape and the taglines, "super-frightening toothpaste" and "fang flavor" all make sense in this context, that being that this scary toothpaste will render you speechless out of fear.  Maybe not so much now, but at one time apes were considered scary.  An ape figured prominently in Poe's Murders at the Rue Morgue, and King Kong was considered a classic Hollywood monster (right up there with Frankenstein and Dracula,) as opposed to Peter Jackson's sympathetic ice skating Kong.  Additionally, I'm sure many of us here as children have pounded our chests in imitation of a frightening, savage gorilla (before we found out they were actually docile, cannabis-smoking creatures living in communion with nature.)

Also, Norm's ape is a good illustration IMO.


Is that juvenile gorilla really smoking a cigarette, or is that Photoshopped? I can't tell. Also, does the genus Cannabis actually have any native species in Africa? If so, I've never seen, or heard of, gorillas smoking it in real life. That's got to be a gag.

Offline Baked Bears

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1352 on: September 24, 2018, 02:15:01 PM »
Is that juvenile gorilla really smoking a cigarette, or is that Photoshopped? I can't tell. Also, does the genus Cannabis actually have any native species in Africa? If so, I've never seen, or heard of, gorillas smoking it in real life. That's got to be a gag.

It's not a cigarette; It's a joint.  Gorillas (and other apes - chimpanzees, baboons) have been smoking as long as man.  They can even roll their own.  Opposable thumbs are the key factor.  That, and a steady supply of rolling papers (for which they collect and trade fruit such as mangoes, figs, melons, and kiwanoes.)  Interestingly enough, apes share their cannabis harvest (which is steady, due to the African equatorial climate) - even among other species of apes, thus it is not that uncommon to find the following:



Offline Soremel

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1353 on: September 24, 2018, 02:29:49 PM »
Bumping this to catch people up.

I always loved the detail and bright colors in this painting! I don't know if I was reading too much into the gag when I was a kid, but the fingers, in the upper-left, look like they are mimicking the 70's Yellow Pages "Let your fingers do the walking" ad. Also, the hand on the far right always looked like it was gearing up to flip the bird! (Just my take on this one!)


« Last Edit: September 24, 2018, 02:36:32 PM by Soremel »

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1354 on: September 24, 2018, 02:40:58 PM »
I always loved the detail and bright colors in this painting! I don't know if I was reading too much into the gag when I was a kid, but the fingers, in the upper-left, look like they are mimicking the 70's Yellow Pages "Let your fingers do the walking" ad. Also, the hand on the far right always looked like it was gearing up to flip the bird! (Just my take on this one!)



I like your observations on the fingers!!  I didn't know about flipping the bird back then, and never thought of it as an adult.

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1355 on: September 30, 2018, 05:10:07 AM »
STD and STP. Today if they were to do the STD parody, it would be about Sexually Transmitted Diseases.



Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1356 on: September 30, 2018, 07:22:56 AM »
STD and STP. Today if they were to do the STD parody, it would be about Sexually Transmitted Diseases.



During renovations in one of the buildings I work in, I was temporarily located in a small office that was used by people working with STDs.  I've been moved back into my regular office, but to this day, I still have the Wacky on my printer.......

Good gag, some good taglines, but I don't get "Makes Racers Edgy."  The certainly nailed the can.


Offline bigtomi

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1357 on: September 30, 2018, 11:04:35 AM »
I don't get "Makes Racers Edgy."
Though not on the package, STP had a slogan during this time "The Racer's Edge" (meaning, advantage).

Offline drono

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1358 on: September 30, 2018, 02:24:59 PM »
Though not on the package, STP had a slogan during this time "The Racer's Edge" (meaning, advantage).

As a kid growing up in Virginia, I listened to all the NASCAR races on the radio.  I remember a commercial from the '70s for STP that had lyrics "Petty's his name, racing's his game, STP, it's the racer's edge," but I can't seem to find that anywhere on the Internet.

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1359 on: September 30, 2018, 02:35:57 PM »
Though not on the package, STP had a slogan during this time "The Racer's Edge" (meaning, advantage).

Thanks!  Now it makes sense.

Offline bigtomi

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1360 on: September 30, 2018, 04:40:59 PM »
I remember a commercial from the '70s for STP that had lyrics "Petty's his name, racing's his game, STP, it's the racer's edge," but I can't seem to find that anywhere on the Internet.
Not exactly what you're referring to, but from 1971:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uglA5-S9XXo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uglA5-S9XXo</a>

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1361 on: September 30, 2018, 05:56:43 PM »
STD and STP. Today if they were to do the STD parody, it would be about Sexually Transmitted Diseases.



As young kids my brothers and I were into slot cars, Hot Wheels / Matchboxes and building model cars, planes, tanks, etc using the little tube of glue and Testor's bottles of paint.  One of the most fun parts, where racing cars were involved, was taking that sheet of tiny advertisement decals and applying them to the body to make it look like a real stock car.  Many of those decals were gasoline and motor oil companies, such as STP, Pennzoil, Unocal 76, etc.  Kind of wish Wackys had tackled more of these vintage metal oil cans in their parodies.  Several recognizable and iconic brands went by the wayside.  Oh well, maybe Old School 7, 8, 9,...

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1362 on: September 30, 2018, 07:39:14 PM »
As young kids my brothers and I were into slot cars, Hot Wheels / Matchboxes and building model cars, planes, tanks, etc using the little tube of glue and Testor's bottles of paint.  One of the most fun parts, where racing cars were involved, was taking that sheet of tiny advertisement decals and applying them to the body to make it look like a real stock car.  Many of those decals were gasoline and motor oil companies, such as STP, Pennzoil, Unocal 76, etc.  Kind of wish Wackys had tackled more of these vintage metal oil cans in their parodies.  Several recognizable and iconic brands went by the wayside.  Oh well, maybe Old School 7, 8, 9,...

I think Gulp and Smell were the only two other gas-oil products.

Offline RawGoo

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1363 on: October 01, 2018, 02:59:01 AM »
I think Gulp and Smell were the only two other gas-oil products.

How about Leek?

Offline Swiski

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Re: Gag Criticism, Variation, and Packaging
« Reply #1364 on: October 01, 2018, 08:55:31 AM »
How about Leek?

Oops. Forgot about that one.

 

anything