There was a commercial for a cologne/aftershave called “Hi-Karate” that basically showed a guy beating up his date. I never saw the sense in that one at all.
There was another for a beer (can’t recall which) that had a guy that punched a girl for trying to take a sip of it. That one was also really bizarre.
Then there was the ad for BiC lighters. There was a pimp(?) in the back seat of his limo who said, “When I wanna call my chick, all I gotta do is flick my BiC!”
There was a cool Stroh’s beer commercial that showed a bunch of WWII Rat-Paterol Brits (in North Africa, presumably) pretending to find a case of Stroh’s beer in the desert. It played up the idea they were parched from the sun and a bit delusional, seeing hallucinations of the invisible beer. You could hear the bottles being opened, the beers poured, etc. At the end of the commercial, a frostglass of Stroh’s shimmers into view on the sand. Great commercial!
There’s a famous Samsonite luggage commercial that showed a gorilla (I think it was actually a guy in a suit) that was throwing a suitcase around in his cage for the duration of the commercial (30 or so seconds) without the thing flying open nor suffering any appreciable damage.
Then there were the commercials for L’eggs and Nair hair remover with leggy gals in short-shorts showing off for the cameras. Southwest airlines also featured stewardesses in very short-shorts. (Hot pants, Daisy Dukes, whatever you wanna call ‘em...)
There was the commercial for Calgon Laundry Detergent that featured a Chinese couple...that ran a laundry. I can evenremember how it went…
White lady at the counter: “How do you make your shirts so clean, Mr. Lee?”
Husband looks around and whispers: “Ancient Chinese secret!”
Wife behind curtain turns to the camera: “My husband—some hot-shot! Here’s his ‘ancient Chinese secret’: Calgon!” (She describes Calgon)
Wife walks out, waving empty box: “We need more Calgon!”
White lady, leaving, turns: “Ancient Chinese secret, huh???”
Sheepish husband smiles...
I didn’t think it was _that_ bad. For the times, anyway. But I don’t think you could make it today.
There were a number of commercials for boys in the 60’s that featured some sort of plastic weapon they could shoot whiffle balls and what not at their friends. Doubt you could get away with that today.
…Was there ever a commercial for Jarts? (A lawn game featuring those huge—and dangerous!— lawn darts? Yes, throwing huge, sharp, metal-tipped darts around the yard amongst family and friends. What could possibly go wrong?)
Most everyone else names the other ones I can remember. I’m sure more will come to me later.
Speaking of Chinese, I referenced this ad earlier today.
Chinese Laundry Detergent Ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRM_9aNw8O8
The overwhelmingly vast majority of us understood that incoming Jarts had right-of-way. The banning of Jarts was one of the very earliest warning signs that we are ruled by lunatics.