Memory Check: TV in 1989

[ZippyRedPlumber]

Anybody remember Atari advertising their consoles in 1989 & 1990? I'd like to hear your guy's stories on Atari's ad campaigns post 1988.

[RJ]

[RJ]

 

 

 

[RJ]

I'll let someone else mention the infamous Jaguar cave" infomercial.

 

 

Oops.

[+x=usr(1536)]

I'm not 100% certain about this, but it's been ringing bells in my mind for years.

 

There is a definite recollection floating around in my head of seeing the 'Fun Is Back' advert on TV in Ireland.  The reason why I'm not entirely sure that my memory is correct: I can't recall how the 'under fifty bucks' line in the ad would have been / was handled, but I do remember it sticking out as being one of those things that was very clearly American in a way that didn't really relate to local conditions.

 

One possibility is that it may have been recorded on a tape that was sent to us from the US with commercials intact, which would explain pretty much everything.  Even then, I'm not convinced that that's the right answer.

 

In any event, while not console related, these adverts for the ST very definitely ran on UK television:

 

 

 

 

[RJ]

More Jaguar ads:

 

 

[Mockduck]

So, at that time I was growing up in rural southern Minnesota, and several of my friends were still very much using the 2600 as our main game console. We didn't have access to an NES, that was for the rich kids, although by 89 most of my friends and I were playing Atari for console and Apple IIe or Commodore 64 (or, due to me having one, the TI99/4a) for computer gaming. So, it was a split between didn't-seem-old-to-us Atari and didn't-seem-old-to-us PC. PC of course fueled entirely by pirated floppy disk games. 

 

When I'd go to the local Sears or the local computer stores they were still selling the 2600 Jr. at retail for a low price, something in the range of $50, but still on the shelves. The one I went to was also trying to sell the XE, they must have gotten a bunch of them. Meant that two of my friends eventually had one and I thought it was a pretty big commercial release since I was personally seeing them frequently. Had no idea it was a bomb until later. We just played Atari 2600 games on it other than the pack in Bug Hunt or whatever. 

 

So, I don't remember seeing many TV ads for Atari by the late 80's, it was all Nintendo by that point. But LOCAL ads and commerce was still definitely happening.

[zzip]

30 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

We didn't have access to an NES, that was for the rich kids,

Wait, wut?   All my poor friends had NES's by 1989/90

[Mockduck]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

Wait, wut?   All my poor friends had NES's by 1989/90

All I can say is that was the thinking of us rural southern MN kids at the time, we certainly weren't seeing it in each other's homes. Wouldn't be until 91-92 before the NES took over my region. I remember the one rich kid that lived near us on a lake had one, and he was real popular for a while. 

[ZippyRedPlumber]

9 hours ago, RJ said:

That's nice, but did they advertise this promotion on tv?

[ZippyRedPlumber]

9 hours ago, RJ said:

 

 

 

Love the 7800 ad, I know that aired in Australia but did the 7800 ad air here in the States?

[RJ]

Not sure. I'd entered the workforce by then so I didn't watch much TV.

[MrMaddog]

I remember seeing some commercials for both the 7800 & XEGS on the USA Network during the late 80's as well as the infamous "The Fun Is Back" ad for the 2600.

 

One time I was doing my paper route and one of my customers was a local downtown TV store, and there was a commercial that compared the original 2600 running Asteroids to the "new" 2600 that played Solaris.  Hadn't seen it since.

 

But yeah, there were just 'way' more commercials for Nintendo games...

 

 

[atarian1]

I remember seeing 2600/7800/XEGS commercials when cartoons were on and during mid-day movies and other syndicated shows (game shows, People's Court, etc). Not a lot, but enough that I remember getting excited seeing them.

[ZippyRedPlumber]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:51 AM, atarian1 said:

I remember seeing 2600/7800/XEGS commercials when cartoons were on and during mid-day movies and other syndicated shows (game shows, People's Court, etc). Not a lot, but enough that I remember getting excited seeing them.

Can you describe what the commercials are to your best knowledge.

[ZippyRedPlumber]

On 4/29/2021 at 6:31 PM, MrMaddog said:

I remember seeing some commercials for both the 7800 & XEGS on the USA Network during the late 80's as well as the infamous "The Fun Is Back" ad for the 2600.

 

One time I was doing my paper route and one of my customers was a local downtown TV store, and there was a commercial that compared the original 2600 running Asteroids to the "new" 2600 that played Solaris.  Hadn't seen it since.

 

But yeah, there were just 'way' more commercials for Nintendo games...

 

 

You mean this. Note: this was partially found by myself a few forums back.

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by ZippyRedPlumber

[King Atari]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:51 AM, atarian1 said:

I remember seeing 2600/7800/XEGS commercials when cartoons were on and during mid-day movies and other syndicated shows (game shows, People's Court, etc). Not a lot, but enough that I remember getting excited seeing them.

 

1 hour ago, ZippyRedPlumber said:

Can you describe what the commercials are to your best knowledge.

 

Not meaning to leapfrog over atarian1 here, but in my experience that's exactly where Atari ads of the late-80s were commonly found; granted, video game spots in that era generally weren't seen during network prime time anyway, but those midday/early evening hours really seemed to be where Atari was often focused. As far as the 2600/7800/XEGS consoles go, it seems to me that the last 'big' (relatively speaking) television push Corp. gave them was in late-1987; for example, ads for all three aired fairly heavily during local evening M*A*S*H reruns here that Christmas season. Atari & M*A*S*H? Now you're speaking my language! (The 2600 was "The Fun is Back!", the 7800 was "More Games at Half the Price!" and the XEGS was the anti-Nintendo "toy robot?!" spot - nothing too out of the ordinary or unique where this subject is concerned.) I don't remember what it aired during, but there was also a Toys-R-Us ad spotlighting the 2600 & 7800; I *think* it was that very same Christmas season, but it could have been 1986. As far as late-80s Atari goes though, I'm not sure they were ever more visible than they were in 1987, especially during Christmas (for obvious reasons).

 

Needless to say, ads for Nintendo were more plentiful (also for obvious reasons), and of course they seemed, to me anyway, to show up during the 'big' kids shows of the time more than Atari did. The Sega Master System, while not up to NES levels, was also seemingly more visible than Atari was. I'm not saying 2600/7800/XEGS spots didn't commonly air during those too, or that they didn't air during more "prime" kids hours, but generally speaking...?

The Atari sports and 7800 "Choice of the Experts" commercials were from 1988, weren't they? Even so, to me their post-1987, pre-Lynx/Jaguar television advertising seems like it was almost non-existent.

 

To get back to the question in the original post, in 1989 and 1990 I can't think of any Atari TV advertising - except for the Lynx, in 1990. (Atari did have that 7800 "Pick a Fight After School" print campaign during the era, which should have also been seen on television, but as far as I know never was.)

 

Regarding the Lynx, there was that spot (the inexplicably violent one) featuring Gauntlet and Electrocop around '90, and Batman Returns in 1992, but Atari television advertising didn't seem to gather anything resembling steam until the Jag and the numerous spots for it. (My favorite? The one for Troy Aikman NFL Football in 1995, not because I care all that much about the game - I don't really - but rather because the Jaguar version was seen alongside the Genesis and SNES versions at the very end, something I can't recall happening very often.)

Edited May 1, 2021 by King Atari

[Razzie.P]

My channels were very limited as a kid, but I did manage watch Saturday morning cartoons which is where I'd imagine video game commercials would be, and for the life of me, I don't recall seeing any video game ads on TV at that time.   The first TV ad I ever remember seeing was either Zelda or Tyson's Punchout, obviously a bit later on.