When I was a kid there was an advert on TV for Dulux weather shield paint. You might remember it. It featured an old fella in a flat cap struggling up a hillside with a tin of paint, a ladder and a spade. We saw him digging some turf and trowling some concrete or plaster. Then we saw him painting something on the ground. Eventually, the camera pulled back to reveal a freshly painted Dulux Dog (actually an old english sheep dog) on the hillside.
Part of the VoiceOver to this ad, which was in a sort of Yorkshire accent, went along the lines of "Goes on smooth, seems to shrug off weather, and if a jobs worth doing....". Now don't ask me why, for I know not the answer, but for some reason that snippet of audio from nineteen-eighty-something-or-other has stuck with me for my entire life.
Strange how odd moments do that, and I'm sure you have some of your own, but I digress (Just for a change -Ed)
My point is, that whenever I find myself three quarters of the way through a job that has become.... shall we say, boring... then I find myself thinking of that line. Yesterday was a good example of this with my garage clearance and tidying excercise in full swing. Hot and thirsty work, and so enevitably, boring....
I thought of the fella in the flat cap, and said "Goes on smooth, seems to shrug off weather". To the casual observer, naturally I would have appeared to be an imbecile talking to himself. The problem with this, is that they weren't there, so they don't get it. Perhaps if I said the "if a jobs worth doing" bit instead, they might not look at me as if I was talking Chinese, but where's the fun in that? One day I'll say it in the company of someone who saw the ad and gets it. At that moment the ad will find it's rightful place in history as a "cult TV ad"
This bizarre train of thought I was riding, led me to hunt high and low across the interweb with our friend the Google. The result is a revelation. The Dulux ad lives....
Now pay attention, there are lots of interesting historical facts about this clip, although I want you to see the Ad first.
Skip to 2 minutes 15 seconds and enjoy....
By now, you'll almost certainly have watched the whole thing rather than just the ad in question, which means that at 3 minutes and 48 seconds you will also have seen one of the most iconic chocolate ads ever made. I say iconic, because dad's up and down the country would just love watching them.... Can't think why.
Of course kids loved watching them too (they have chocolate in them) but in my world of shrugging off weather, I managed to enjoy morphing the lyrics a little. Flakes in our our house consisted of "only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate (which), tastes like chocolate that's been tasted before"... Really not nice.
Also of note in this clip are the following facts. It's from the 10th of June, 1984 just after the England v Brazil match, which England won 2-0. It also refers to Channel 4 showing the original logo for that then new station. It has an ad with the now super famous Hugh Laurie. It refers to the European elections of June the 14th and it has the "Central" TV network logo. Finally, and most importantly, its the ad break just before "Spitting Image"
As we've brought back everything else from the 80's (Royal weddings, Conservative governments, Protests, Strikes and recessions) can we please, please, please bring back spitting image. It was the best use of rubber puppets to have a pop at he government that was ever made. But then, that'll be the ICI Acrylic in it.
This post originally appeared here: Posterous
Part of the VoiceOver to this ad, which was in a sort of Yorkshire accent, went along the lines of "Goes on smooth, seems to shrug off weather, and if a jobs worth doing....". Now don't ask me why, for I know not the answer, but for some reason that snippet of audio from nineteen-eighty-something-or-other has stuck with me for my entire life.
Strange how odd moments do that, and I'm sure you have some of your own, but I digress (Just for a change -Ed)
My point is, that whenever I find myself three quarters of the way through a job that has become.... shall we say, boring... then I find myself thinking of that line. Yesterday was a good example of this with my garage clearance and tidying excercise in full swing. Hot and thirsty work, and so enevitably, boring....
I thought of the fella in the flat cap, and said "Goes on smooth, seems to shrug off weather". To the casual observer, naturally I would have appeared to be an imbecile talking to himself. The problem with this, is that they weren't there, so they don't get it. Perhaps if I said the "if a jobs worth doing" bit instead, they might not look at me as if I was talking Chinese, but where's the fun in that? One day I'll say it in the company of someone who saw the ad and gets it. At that moment the ad will find it's rightful place in history as a "cult TV ad"
This bizarre train of thought I was riding, led me to hunt high and low across the interweb with our friend the Google. The result is a revelation. The Dulux ad lives....
Now pay attention, there are lots of interesting historical facts about this clip, although I want you to see the Ad first.
Skip to 2 minutes 15 seconds and enjoy....
By now, you'll almost certainly have watched the whole thing rather than just the ad in question, which means that at 3 minutes and 48 seconds you will also have seen one of the most iconic chocolate ads ever made. I say iconic, because dad's up and down the country would just love watching them.... Can't think why.
Of course kids loved watching them too (they have chocolate in them) but in my world of shrugging off weather, I managed to enjoy morphing the lyrics a little. Flakes in our our house consisted of "only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate (which), tastes like chocolate that's been tasted before"... Really not nice.
Also of note in this clip are the following facts. It's from the 10th of June, 1984 just after the England v Brazil match, which England won 2-0. It also refers to Channel 4 showing the original logo for that then new station. It has an ad with the now super famous Hugh Laurie. It refers to the European elections of June the 14th and it has the "Central" TV network logo. Finally, and most importantly, its the ad break just before "Spitting Image"
As we've brought back everything else from the 80's (Royal weddings, Conservative governments, Protests, Strikes and recessions) can we please, please, please bring back spitting image. It was the best use of rubber puppets to have a pop at he government that was ever made. But then, that'll be the ICI Acrylic in it.
This post originally appeared here: Posterous
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