Palmolive dishwashing liquid: "Madge the manicurist" (Robina Beard) - Australian TV commercial

[MattTheSaiyan]

Sometimes I wish there was a pay cable channel dedicated to showing old classic TV commercials from around the world!

[Writeowl]

"It's called outraaageous red!" Brilliant, but we only had B/W back then, LOL.

[arielgirl]

It's called DISHWASHING Madge!

[johnmccnj]

Woah. It's Kath and Kim. O.O

[kookooboy]

I didn't know the character of Madge was a franchise!

[fruju2003]

It seems to me that the customer in this one is a young housewife (late 20's/early 30's) as opposed to the usual middle-aged housewife (late 30's/early 40's). I wonder if they were trying to aim at a younger market.

[fromthesidelines]

Once Colgate-Palmolive discovered that "Madge the Manicurist" was selling Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid like crazy by the end of the '60s, they insisted their foreign subsidiaries adapt the same campaign in their countries; in some cases, the original American ad copy was adapted as well.

[bongomanfromdalou]

Robina is Jan Miner, the American Madge, with a distinctive Australian accent! Her delivery is just as fun to listen to as Jan's was in America! In fact, I swear this commercial was lifted from the American copy with a few tweaks to make it Australian...and this same theme was used around the world!

[StSwithinsTV]

When I watched this as a kid I never realised that the customer had her fingers in the bowl because she thought she was soaking in nail treatment goo. I thought Madge made everyone do this because she was mean. Her screechy burst of laughter at the end was scary and reminded me of the witch from the Wizard of Oz.

[heine71]

Too bad Jan Miner, the American Madge, never met her Aussie or British or French-Canadian counterparts.

[blackwhimsy]

Indeed. Robina was as much a television icon in Australia as her US version.