Skoal, Brotha!
by Scipio Tex on Jul 22, 2010 5:51 PM CDT
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PrintIn more innocent times, tobacco advertising was pervasive and the debate over which nicotine product was best enjoyed on the beach was hotly contested. It was furiously debated on the internet media of its day - the CB radio, bathroom stalls, and Oui magazine editorials.
There were pluses and minuses.
Dipping:
Eye-watering taste and ample saliva makes for memorable kisses, ladies
Immediate nicotine high to smooth out your morning downers
Spit cup provides conversation piece for foxes
Wind has no impact on enjoyment
Accidental swallows while playing volleyball acts as appetite suppressant
Lip cancer - best cancer?
Smoking:
Looks elegant, particularly when paired with astrological sign pendant gold chain
Keeps away sand flies
Smoker's cough announces presence with authority to ladies
Sun combines with smoke to age women ten years in forty minutes - no more getting carded at bars
If she smokes, she pokes
Beach = giant ashtray
Can drink beer while smoking
It was a battle for hearts and minds.
Only people who lived through that time can recall the intensity of the beach nicotine debate. I was too young - I have to rely on oral histories.
The black community, huge beach goers and committed smokers in the dip vs. smoking debate, were suddenly put into play by an ample-thighed battering ram backed by a persuasive marketing campaign.
How popular and influential was Earl Campbell back in the late 70s?
So popular that he ALMOST CONVINCED BLACK PEOPLE TO DIP.
The ending of the commercial is particularly pleasing.
Not only the Skoal, brotha brand identification, but the fact that all athletes commercials from that time period are concluded by a hot girl walking across the screen while the athlete dutifully follows her, presumably to nail her against a Mello Yello vending machine. As a kid, every single Bob Hope College Football All-American show (which I watched with rapt attention as a child, for reason unknown) would end with the All-Americans following a lady off the stage after Bob had introduced each with witticisms such as:
"Hugh Green. DL. Pittsburgh. Hugh is so fast, coaches time him with a radar gun."
Awkward silence.
"A radar gun!"
More awkward silence. Laugh track.
(Hot chick saunters by in evening wear)
Hinted strongly that All-Americans gang bang her off-camera.
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“Not only the Skoal, brotha brand identification, but the fact that all athletes commercials from that time period are concluded by a hot girl walking across the screen while the athlete dutifully follows her, presumably to nail her against a Mello Yello vending machine.”
It’s Earl we’re talking about here so…he DID.
by bevorebel on Jul 22, 2010 6:22 PM CDT reply actions
Man, if I would have known that Earl dipped, I would never have quit!
by uthookem on Jul 22, 2010 6:35 PM CDT reply actions
Gave up my Westlake Copenhagen habit for smoking at college, cause hippy chicks don’t dig dipping when you’re discussing Sontag at a Friday night keg party.
Here’s a tip: any chick that talks female poetry at a party, doesn’t shave. Anywhere.
by Bateshorn on Jul 22, 2010 7:07 PM CDT reply actions
Don Draper doesn’t wear any damn zodiac pendants.
by Woody Bombay on Jul 22, 2010 7:27 PM CDT reply actions
That Earl Campbell commercial made my day.
by Phenomenal Smith on Jul 22, 2010 9:49 PM CDT reply actions
I’ve been wanting to share this video of magnusbleueveigner for awhile but just couldn’t find the right opportunity.
I think this is a marriage made in … West Virginia.
by Vasherized on Jul 22, 2010 10:13 PM CDT reply actions
I could never not watch the Bob Hope specials, even though the jokes were painfully corny. Hope was always an emcee and a wise-cracker rather than a true comedian. His talent was for humbling himself and getting you to laugh at his awkwardness.
The guy hustled. He came in through Ellis Island and completely adapted himself to his new country. Early on, he tried to make it as a boxer under the moniker “Packy East”. You can guess how that worked out.
Picking one person to tell the story of the US in the twentieth century, you could do worse than Bob Hope (1903-2003). Guy was everywhere that mattered.
by parlin on Jul 23, 2010 2:21 AM CDT reply actions
Good Lord, Scipio.
The title alone, much less the “almost convinced black people to dip,” is killing me. Fantastic work as always.
by Cricketslayer on Jul 23, 2010 3:49 AM CDT reply actions
Skoal brother might be the best marketing line ever.
by Triston27 on Jul 23, 2010 9:02 AM CDT reply actions
I finally got around to watching the Bob Hope thing.
Good to see Jerry Gray.
by Sailor Ripley on Jul 24, 2010 2:07 AM CDT reply actions
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