Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Toonfomercial: Remember Bucky Beaver? (1950's)

I remember watching a cable broadcast of "Grease" (1978) and there's a scene where the Pink Ladies are watching TV, and a commercial comes on promoting Ipana toothpaste, featuring Bucky Beaver. I'm like, how come I've never heard of Ipana? At the time, the only toothpastes I knew came from Colgate, Proctor & Gamble (Crest), and Lever Brothers (now Unilever), which at that time put out Aim, Pepsodent, and Close-Up, all of whom have since been sold to other entities.

The same can be said of Ipana, which was a product of Bristol-Myers, better known now as a pharmaceutical retailer that no longer has any marketable items on the shelves. They divested their wide range of products, including Ipana, Bufferin, Excedrin, et al, several years back. In fact, you can't find Ipana anywhere in the US, because it's not made for American consumption anymore. It's made and sold overseas.

Digression over. Let's take a look at a sample Ipana commercial with Bucky Beaver.



Actor-singer Jimmie Dodd (The Mickey Mouse Club) was the voice behind Bucky. Like, who knew?

6 comments:

Chris Sobieniak said...

It's funny how history can change how products are bought and sold anymore. I'm glad if Pepsodent is even still out on the shelves at Dollar Tree these days (having a mom who often brought up that jingle to me).

Ipana was also involved in an animated cartoon produced by Walter Lantz in the late 30's, itself based on a comic strip 'Reg'lar Fellers" by Gene Byrnes entitled "Boy Meet Dog", though in a subsequent release through Castle Films, its obvious product placement, a billboard showcasing Ipana's ad campaign at the time, was clipped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAJGRGYxc98

I see you can still order Ipana here if you like.
http://www.maxill.com/us/products/ipana.html
http://www.buckybeaver.ca/ipana.php

hobbyfan said...

I may just pull "Boy Meets Dog" down the line, just for kicks. Thanks, Chris.

Chris Sobieniak said...

At least you're not a mental giant, lacking in your dental knowledge!

hobbyfan said...

Not when I see my dentist twice a year.....

Chris Sobieniak said...

Oh boy!

Reminded I didn't go to a dentist since I was a teen, and I went last April after I discovered my very first cavity (I'll be 40 this year)! I say I did pretty well!

hobbyfan said...

It helps that my office health insurance pays for my semi-annual dental appointments....