Classic ‘tastes great, less filling’ beer ads had something sorely missing from today’s

Paul Hornung. Whitey Ford. Tom Heinsohn.

Sports fans of a certain vintage will recognize those names as stars of football, baseball and basketball, respectively, from the 1950s and 1960s.

Their commonality is not just that, or that all three recently passed away.

The three were also part of one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever to air on television, one that represents a gold standard for humor in ads.

Go ahead, bellow the words “tastes great” or “less filling.” You’ll get a good fix on when the person you’re addressing began watching televised sports (provided, of course, that they ever did) by the look of recognition or befuddlement on their face. If they’re in the former category, they’ll even be able to tell you the sponsor behind that (to them) memorable slogan – Miller Lite beer.

The point of this discussion is not the beer itself, although given the year we’ve been having a cold one or three is welcome compensation and comfort. In keeping with this column’s frequent fascination with and discussion of advertising, the focus is more on what that campaign says about marketing of its time and what’s lacking today.

The Miller Lite commercials featured a universe of stars not just from the major sports but from less well-known competitive activities like bowling and billiards, an author (Mickey Spillane) and even a sportswriter (Sports Illustrated’s Frank Deford) and a real comedian (Rodney Dangerfield).

The ads were funny and hugely effective.

Not only did they punch home a simple message without tiring or annoying the viewer (watch a bunch of them in a row and you’ll catch on quickly to a product message that is repeated in every ad). They created a national catch phrase instantly identifiable to audiences (“tastes great, less filling”). More importantly to the people paying the bills for those ads, they help propel light beer to the leading category within that beverage. Funny ads maybe entertaining to those of us in the audience, but if we don’t remember the name of the sponsor or go out and buy the product, then it’s not effective as an ad.

That’s a point worth remembering as we consider the vast landscape of advertising. We are just now coming off a seemingly endless political campaign featuring billions of dollars in advertising spending, almost all of it unmemorable and certainly all of it unfunny. One wonders what success a candidate might have if he or she broke from the crowd and tried ads with humor.

But no politician wants to be the first in that direction, lest they be dismissed as a flake and not serious. So they all rely on the same template. The ads supporting a candidate feature warm, soft colors and friendly voice tones. Ads going after an opponent are one done in stark black-and-white tones and ominous voice and music. In short order voters tune them all out.

Politicians shouldn’t be singled out for unimaginative advertising. Cars still charge along snowy mountain roads or on elevated highways resembling the now-demolished Alaskan Way viaduct in Seattle. Soft-drink ads feature impossibly fit youths having far more fun and active lives than the rest of us will ever achieve. Burger ads are shot from below to make the sandwich appear to be the size of the Tacoma Dome.

We might not be seeing much humor in ads in the months ahead. Even in a happy time, which this is decidedly not, comedy is hard. Very few can do it consistently well although Geico seems to be able to come up with amusing ad series. In a hypersensitive time in which taking offense is a national participatory sport, no advertiser wants to be caught on the wrong side of a controversy. Better to play it safe and conventional.

There also might not be much national appetite for humor in ads at the moment, what with the pandemic stalking the land. The Thanksgiving-to-Christmas advertising season is normally punctuated with ads leaning toward the sentimental, nostalgic, romantic and emotional anyway, but with Americans feeling battered and bruised over the last 10 months, viewers might want to see even more of that.

The whole face of advertising is undergoing a remake as well, along with the media channels that deliver it. The Lite Beer ads appeared at a time of three national broadcast television networks and no internet. Today advertisers have a much broader universe in which to market their products and services. The likes of Geico notwithstanding, there might no longer be a call for a national unified advertising message because there’s no single way of getting that message to consumers, and no single mass market at the other end waiting to hear it.

In a way that’s a shame because advertising is not just a way of paying the bills. Done right and well, it’s an art form, albeit one easily dismissed as a low form of it. But even low art forms are asked to change with the times.

This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 7:00 AM.