ABBA - 5 TV Adverts for National

[38911bytefree]

National Lifetime Quality like you won't see anymore. Welcome crap.

[drkam6]

Now these are quite rarities!

[1959MsJenny]

Fantastic!! I still have my National Rice Cooker and National Dishwasher purchased in the mid 70s. Both still work!!!!!! How's that for quality..

[amsc76]

I love these National commercials. Thanks for posting them.

[figbat1]

oklayful what do you think of the fooies?

[oklayful]

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss­ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss­ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss­ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss­sssssssssooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­ooooooooooooooooooooooooooobor­ing

[oklayful]

dont listin to oklayful by the way, oklayful is dead

[oklayful]

@oklayful i hate you you demented freek lol jokes

[oklayful]

this is killing me sssssssssssssssssooooooooooooo­oooooooo boring

[oklayful]

i realy dont like this song

[Coolestmovies]

A couple of years ago, I ordered a DVD of an old Australian comedy show called Funky Squad (which aired late nights here in Canada back in the 90's) and was pleasantly surprised to find these commercials (and many others from the 70's, when the show was actually set) inserted into some of the breaks. Any chance you collected these from the same disc?

[AnthonyUK]

I would laugh if there was ever a brand of consumer electronic goods and domestic electrical items called Abbasonic!

[LadyTwentySeven]

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha !!!! Hilarious! What a jewel! Thanks for posting!

[koovah]

my National rice cooker and VCR from the 80s still works

appliances today most likely only last 3 years, 5 if you're lucky

[videohead2008]

Hm, maybe National car rental could use it today... :-)

[sisterjanet4]

I freakin knew this ad existed! No one I talked to about it remembered it or even believed it was real...

[brettsomers]

Panasonic/National did indeed make some nice items in the 70s and even today.

Is that Bjorn sweeping with the National vacuum? How progressive.

[Kashiradesu]

I'm almost sure he's Benny, not Björn =O Björn's haircut is different, and his shirt is the same Benny wears on the same ad.

[bladesmark2]

@brettsomers Nah that was Benny with the vacuum.

[timshatsui]

I tried my best to buy a 'National' Rice cooker whilst in Hong Kong in 2004 and ended up with a panasonic because they were being phased out, I was so dissapointed, but I am twisted so there you go!

[tiadaid]

Oh Panasonic & National are one & the same

[tokyoisfun]

Same company made Matsushita, National and Panasonic brand products. Recently they are all called Panasonic. Wonder how much ABBA made from this...

[54spiritedwill54]

WOW... what a rare treasure! xD

[Davideo101]

Every time I eat rice out of my National Brand Electronic Rice Cooker I will think of ABBA...

Can you say bent over a chair?

[SVI4004]

My National VCRs and ghetto blasters still kicking on like new :)

[sam0xin]

YEAHHH....National gone ...Panasonic gone...National Panasonic gone...even Bush gone...ABBA - TIMELESS,FOR GOOD,FOREVER !  VIVA A B B A !

[albear972]

This is better than the movie, Mamma Mia! seriously!

[Noiseworker]

I love that they're barely concealing their embarrassed laughter.

[yugalicious]

as dumb as shit yet still managed to get a few words of english out...

[videohead2008]

LOL!!!!

[marsgal42]

The first one of this bunch was one of the 1970s ads they slipped in to Funky Squad.

[GSF02]

Sell outs! Lol

[chelsea1802]

I think we have a really oldNational brand Microwave LOL. I love ABBA!

[AnthonyUK]

These ads should be included as extras on ABBA DVD's!

[AnthonyUK]

It was Panasonic in rest of the world!

[pomomatthew]

Isn't this an Australian advert though?

[AnthonyUK]

In Australia it was known as National BUT slowly became Panasonic and when the factory closed over there that's what it has been known as ever since.

[anthrass]

Almost correct. The change from "National" to "Panasonic" occured quite quickly in Australia if not Japan (in the '80's some time). Panasonic's last factory in Australia closed in 2006.

Regards,

Anthony.

[pace4815162342]

pretty poor effort, track, everything.. SHAME ON YOU all...

[SaraMarie41]

*sees what Björn is packing in his suitcase* good thinking always come prepare. in some coutries, seeing high-profile celebs in tv ads were a common sight. there was an ad for a sofe drink featuring the A*Teens

[80sDiscofan]

They say when an artist is forced to squeeze a word that doesn't belong in a song, their career is going downhill! Well...I guess ABBA were the exception! A little sad but that was the 70's for you.

[wildbilltexas]

I used to play my ABBA 8-Tracks on a Panasonic (National in the USA) player, so this is so appropriate.

[timpows]

I believe it was National in Australia. The US has Panasonic

[gbop63]

they were paid $30,000 for this commercial. Stig was paid $7500, Bjorn was paid $7500, Benny was paid $5000, Ana-Frid was paid $5000, and Agnetha was paid $5000. The arrangement was so because of the song writing rights. I know this because my friend worked at national in the advertising dept. so he shared cool trivia with me. Kinda neat but maybe not to some but I thought you might enjoy that little tidbit.

[tvfilmglamdirector]

Always good to hear some insider info, nudge-nudge, wink-wink!

[gbop63]

THis info was all true believe it or not...your choice

[tvfilmglamdirector]

pergaps you mis-understood, I believe...I know also!....

[gbop63]

oh, sorry. lol.

[mmoscowguy]

really? for such little money?

i thought they were paid millions to turn their song into advert as they were always against that...

[MLPedrao]

Cada vez mais eu me surpreendo com o ABBA.

Prá mim a melhor banda.

[AlwaysGutom]

hey, is that ad shown also in the philippines because it also carries the national brand

[arnoldmcguire335]

If you lived in the 70's you might have catched it too but i didn'[t see it since I was bron '89.

who knows? ask your grandparents or parents if they saw it too during that time.

[chippychipmunk2010]

i love abba but i just about killed myself having to listen to that damn national song

[angel585]

Funny seeing Benny and Frida use walkie-talkies at such a short distance when they could have just shouted their message to one another :p

[swissprincess1974]

Haha yeah!

[heine71]

National - Just slightly ahead of our time in Australia and Japan!

[michaelleacy]

They didn't sell out. Abba were very aware of promotion and certainly didn't do this for the money (well, not the money they got paid anyway). This was a way of getting Abba on the TV and promoting their music

[caa1000]

I found another ad for National TV, cross promoting the movie "Milo & Otis"/"The Adventures Of Chatran" and is under user TVNETWORKS. I did not knew that National TV was Panasonic!

[ProductionX]

National and Panasonic are several brand names used by Matsushita Electronic Industrial Co..  Originally, the "National" brand was created in the 1920's, but due to it's generic and common usage outside Asia, products produced by Matsushita went under the name "Panasonic" in the US starting in the 50's, later to become a global brand in itself.

[CondeTERRAN0VA]

Hoje nem Panasonic.

[buckaroobanzai84]

Around about the same era, a chain of petrol stations in the UK called National used the Smurfs to advertise their brand...How weird is that?

[25NewC]

slightly ahead of our time? slightly AHEAD?! It's WAY BEHIND!!!

[MeanDevilGuy]

LOl, it's so funny cause when you see the "Technology" they were protomoting it's like today's iPods lol.

Anyways, ONLY CRAP FRID (FRIDA) IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! her laugh and smile are sooooooo breath taking. Yes, I meant "IS" Since she is still alive and still is one of the most beautiful woman of her age.

[frida1965]

I totally agree with you, just look at her shine!!

[WookieCookie]

It always saddens me when I see artists sell out.  Great historical clip. Thanks for posting.

[buckaroobanzai84]

They were hardly selling out by doing those ads, as they were a commercial group anyway. They could hardly be compared with someone like Tom Waits.

[flash999999999]

These ads were filmed in Australia and broadcast on Australian commercial TV networks in the late 1970s.

National was the business name that Panasonic traded under in Australia until the early 1980s. Panasonic scored a great coup to engage ABBA and use Fernando for this campaign. ABBA were huge in Australia, probably even bigger than The Beatles. Fernando stayed at #1 on the Australian charts for months after it was released.

[ProductionX]

Heh, Matsushita Electric, the company that uses brand names like National had originally used "Panasonic" for North America until it started to be used in Europe as well as Japan in recent years. Nowadays they mostly use the "National" brand for non-audio/visual appliances in Japan (like light bulbs and rice cookers).

[JeffD8382]

Oh WOW... what a rare treasure! Thanks for sharing!