The baby boomers. Us lot. Well, okay, anyone over the age of 40 who’s reading this then. We haven’t seen it all, but we have seen a lot. The world has changed vastly since the three day week, power cuts and Golden Nuggets cereal. Although I’m pleased to see Klondike Pete making a comeback in our cupboard. We are a fairly nostalgic bunch, even if we don’t like to admit it. Which brings me to the use of nostalgia within TV ads. The ones aimed at us. The first is Windy Miller staring in the ‘Oatso Simple’ commercial. His Uncle Guber, the naturist from Norway makes his first ever appearance. We accept this because he looks and acts like he was always there. Borrowing a slapstick scene from an Austin Powers film he eventually ends up with hot cereal in place I’m sure is rather unpleasant. ‘Preferring to keep things natural’ is the excuse for this marriage of the past and present and I think it’s a good one. It’s fun, warming and makes you think of your childhood, when food was additive-free and healthy. Or so we like to imagine. There’s even the lovely phrase: “He’s in the nip” to help take us back to the polite side of the sixties.
But then there’s John Lydon’s ‘Country Life’ debacle. I never wanted to give a hero of mine a bad review, but there is a valid reason. It’s basically Mr Rotten, as I still like to think of him, prancing about in a variety of ridiculous and over-blown British costume, telling us that he doesn’t buy British butter because it’s British. Claiming ‘It’s not about Great Britain it’s about great butter.’ Well this isn’t what he used to say at all. His claim was that he loves all things British apart from the monarchy. So really he should like the British milk and the British countryside that his says he doesn’t. It might seem minor to you, but for me it jarred with the past and didn’t echo it. In my opinion, if you are going to capitalise on our memories, I suggest you get you facts right. I won’t be buying Country Life because I don’t believe what they say. Although I do love his pronunciation of ‘But-aaargh’.
