Classic Saturday Morning Commercials #6 (1969-70)

2 more from the 16mm vault: Paul Frees does ALL the V/O for Funny Face, Jack Gilford plays Trix rabbit in the long-running CrackerJack campaign.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Funny
• Face
• Paul
• Frees
• Jack
• Gilford
• Cracker
• Jacks

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw By the way, what was the best prize you ever got in a box of Cracker Jack--do you remember?

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw I realize parents may not be with their children 24/7. But even so, somehow I and most others (including yourself, presumably) who were kids when I was managed to grow to adulthood in spite of peanuts and non-paper prizes being included in boxes of Cracker Jack.

I don't think it necessarily has to result in losing "a few children along the way," just more responsible parenting and not expecting private enterprise or the state to act as nannies.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw I think, as with many other circumstances and things these days, it boils down to parents monitoring what their small children eat, and it not being a private company's or the state's responsibility to lessen the quality of things for everybody just because of what "might" happen, in less than ideal circumstances, to a small minority.

[LightenUpMcGraw]

@gymnastix - I think we can all agree that if we have to lose a few children along the way to keep Crackerjack at its best then thats a small price to pay.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw I'm guessing the cheaper prizes made of paper are due to litigation (or the fear of it) from objects made of breakable materials, and that could be swalowed by a small child.

And we know how peanuts are viewed as practically contraband these days, on account of hyper-sensitivity re: peanut allergies.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw  I don't think there needs to be two different kinds of Cracker Jack, a deluxe and a regular, though. If it costs more to include good prizes and some more peanuts, then CJ should just increase the product price by a dime or so, to cover the costs.

I think kids and/or their parents would gladly pay a modest price increase of Cracker Jack for better prizes, and a maybe a tablespoonful more of peanuts.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw I recall once getting a compass in a box of CJ, made of aluminum or tin, glass or hard plastic for the compass face, and rubber. It looked like a rubber tire surrounding the compass. But at least that was a more tangible prize than a paper sticker.

The best prizes I got in a bag of CJ, in recent times, were some miniature baseball cards of baseball legends, still made of paper, but hard paper at least, almost like a big stamp.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw Even cereal boxes still occasionally have better prizes than what CJ offers these days. I once received a DVD of four episodes of "The Donna Reed Show" in a box of cereal (TOTAL, I think) a few years back, and a watch (cheap, but a watch nonetheless) in another brand of cereal another time, and a plastic pedometer in a box of "Special K."

The prizes in CJ should be made of material more durable than paper, and, as you wrote, at least be three-dimensional.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw But my biggest complaint, like yours, is the CJ prizes today are a big gyp! Paper prizes do not constitute a good surprise for a kid.

[gymnastix]

@LightenUpMcGraw And there were many more peanuts (although, even in the "good old days," still never enough peanuts to my liking).

I'll bet even "back in the day" you still wanted more peanuts than you got. But sometimes different boxes had more penauts than others.At least that's how I remember things.