Nostalgia Now: Childhood Commercials

Imagine this: you are in third grade, and you just got home from another hard day at school. You run to the TV to find something to watch before you are called over for dinner. You land on Nickelodeon, and the show you are watching cuts to the ads. Normally, ads are what cause people to grab the remote with speed and begin flipping through their alternative options. But for you, the ads are where the entertainment begins because of one thing: commercials.

I was recently on Instagram, and my friend posted a meme on her story of the Pillow Pet commercials. I was so taken aback because it brought back all my memories of the commercials that graced my childhood. I remember wanting so badly to call the number on the screens and begging my mom to just purchase me something, whether it was Kinetic Sand, Chia Pets, or even Furby's. I had little knowledge of what made the toys so special, but the moment I saw the colorful and energetic commercials, they were all I wanted!

Beyond the toys, the commercials of this time had a magic to them that cannot be replicated! It is hard nowadays to find media that brings the same pull of the song—

from the Reese's Puffs commercial. There was something enticing about hearing, "Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs, eat em' up, eat em up'..." and watching the colorful graphics fly by. I remember hoping that I would one day be lucky enough to win Cole and Dylan Sprouse Danimal's competition (which I am still not sure if anyone won). So, whether you watched commercials dreaming of your parents buying you a Fushigi Ball or believed that you were going to submit videos of you dancing to the Disney Channel that would lead to you landing the role of a guest star on "Shake It Up", moments like these call for all of us to feel a bit of Nostalgia Now!