How was Kool-Aid Man advertised?

[williamc]

My best friends (two brothers) growing up had Kool-Aid Man. I remember them sending Proofs of Purchase and waiting for it to arrive in the mail.  What I don't remember is how they knew about the redemption offer in the first place. I know it was advertised in comic books, but I wonder if Kool-Aid ever made mention of it on their drink packages or store displays.  I don't recall seeing pictures of anything like that online though.

[Leonard Smith]

Speaking from personal experience, there was a cardboard display near our supermarket's Kool Aid shelf.
Attached to said display were instructions as well as the required mail-in coupons.

My mother ended up buying several large quantities of Kool Aid (Kool Aid was big back then...we always had a pitcher in the fridge) so we could meet the proof of purchase requirement quickly.

 

We sent out for it and a few weeks later we got the game in the mail.  I don't recall if you had to cover postage or anything like that, but I do know that it took a lot of proof of purchase points, so we ended up buying the larger quantity packs since their points were worth more.

 

Fun fact - the supermarket that we saw this cardboard display was a tiny locally-owned store.  Not a bigger chain.  So distribution wasn't just limited to folks in larger cities with big name supermarkets.

[zzip]

I'm pretty sure there were TV commercials for it.   I vaguely remember seeing them and remember noticing how different the 2600 version looked from the Intellivision version.   

[Mockduck]

I mostly remember seeing a full page ad in the comic books of the time, I was buying Marvel so don't know if it was DC as well, but there was a few months where they did a big Marvel ad buy, so it was in a lot of comics at the time.

[djpowerplayer]

Kool-Aid man is a good game I love it. Best part is the intro when he smashes through the wall just like in the commercials. It's too bad I cannot say the same about the A-team because for some reason I put them both in the same category. Mr.T and Kool-Aid man... that's one lethal combo.

[Leonard Smith]

10 minutes ago, djpowerplayer said:

Kool-Aid man is a good game I love it. Best part is the intro when he smashes through the wall just like in the commercials. It's too bad I cannot say the same about the A-team because for some reason I put them both in the same category. Mr.T and Kool-Aid man... that's one lethal combo.

I see.

So what was your experience with discovering this game in the 1980's?
Commericials? Comic books?  Magazine ads?  Store displays?

 

 

[Deteacher]

IIRC, we saw an ad in comic books for KAM game.  We sent in the required proofs-of purchase, waited about 6-8 weeks and got the game.  One of my favs, to this day!

[roadrunner]

 

[Rom Hunter]

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-kool-aid-man_7770.html

[Leonard Smith]

Haha, they even show the generic looking shipping container.

This was in the days before regular UPS and Fedex deliveries to our home, so it was a HUGE deal when it arrived.  

[tremoloman2006]

Not only was it advertised in comic books, Koo-Aid Man had his OWN comic!

 

 

I got my copy by collecting proof of purchases.  Still have it, too!

 

 

[Atarian7]

I sent in points to get a Kool aid man comic book.  It never arrived.

[williamc]

5 hours ago, Leonard Smith said:

Speaking from personal experience, there was a cardboard display near our supermarket's Kool Aid shelf.
Attached to said display were instructions as well as the required mail-in coupons.

Aha, I figured something like that had to exist, but I've never seen pics of one.  Given that there are communities of both Atari collectors and Kool-Aid collectors online, I'm surprised.  Would love to know what it looked like.

 

I have that comic issue.  I think I found it in a thrift store or in a comic shop's cheapie bin.  I didn't realize it was a mail-away promo, nor did I realize until just now that Kool-Aid Man has doomed those kids to a horrible death via explosive decompression.  I know he's committed to his busting-through-walls shtick, but sometimes it's just not appropriate.

[RodLightning]

 

[Danjovic]

Q-Suco (and later Ki-Suco), was a very popular drink in Brasil. The translated brand name can be interpreted as "What a Juice".

Do not remember a video game related campaign, though.

[TeddyBear89]

Not to hijack the thread but since you guys have your thinking caps on about such things.......what was the Parker Brothers promotion that required cutting and mailing in the proof of purchases from the printed manuals?

 

Several of my original Atari 2600 and Intellivision Parker Bros game manuals have had the proofs cut and for the life of me cannot recall why.  My mother worked in the electronics department at a Kmarts in the 1980's so I have no doubt it was some type of free cartridge promo.

 

I know there was a Popeye contest (where you could win the actual arcade game) but wouldn't think that would involve sending in Qbert, Frogger, etc. proof of purchases.  Any help?  This is my life's last unsolved mystery!

 

[zzip]

1 hour ago, TeddyBear89 said:

Not to hijack the thread but since you guys have your thinking caps on about such things.......what was the Parker Brothers promotion that required cutting and mailing in the proof of purchases from the printed manuals?

 

Several of my original Atari 2600 and Intellivision Parker Bros game manuals have had the proofs cut and for the life of me cannot recall why.  My mother worked in the electronics department at a Kmarts in the 1980's so I have no doubt it was some type of free cartridge promo.

 

I know there was a Popeye contest (where you could win the actual arcade game) but wouldn't think that would involve sending in Qbert, Frogger, etc. proof of purchases.  Any help?  This is my life's last unsolved mystery!

They were always running promotions and contests.    I remember having to call an 800 number an listen to a recording for some of them.    If they were collecting proof-of-purchase for Popeye, is it possible they just wanted you to prove you bought multiple Parker Bros games?    They can't expect you to buy multiple copies of Popeye

[Rom Hunter]

17 hours ago, TeddyBear89 said:

Not to hijack the thread but since you guys have your thinking caps on about such things.......what was the Parker Brothers promotion that required cutting and mailing in the proof of purchases from the printed manuals?

 

Several of my original Atari 2600 and Intellivision Parker Bros game manuals have had the proofs cut and for the life of me cannot recall why.  My mother worked in the electronics department at a Kmarts in the 1980's so I have no doubt it was some type of free cartridge promo.

 

I know there was a Popeye contest (where you could win the actual arcade game) but wouldn't think that would involve sending in Qbert, Frogger, etc. proof of purchases.  Any help?  This is my life's last unsolved mystery!

 

That Proof of Purchase had to do with the game's warranty:
http://www.atarimania.com/2600/boxes/hi_res/popeye_standard_i_7.jpg


 

[Supergun]

Regarding Parker Brothers, I don’t recall at the moment what exactly I did to get it, but I remember doing something that resulted in my getting a Super Cobra patch in the mail.

[Flojomojo]

On 4/20/2022 at 3:24 AM, Rom Hunter said:

That Proof of Purchase had to do with the game's warranty:
http://www.atarimania.com/2600/boxes/hi_res/popeye_standard_i_7.jpg


 

That’s hilarious, considering how these Atari bricks were and are so durable. I wouldn’t want to cut the corners off my game manuals, either. 

[williamc]

Did the Parker labels fall off back then too? I wonder if the warranty covered that...

[TeddyBear89]

This "missing corner mystery" extends way past the very popular Qbert, Frogger and Popeyes that Parker Brothers sold.  A brief search on Ebay shows that it was happening with several other games as well.

 

I too doubt that product protection-minded parents actually cut and mailed in the proof just to ensure their warranty. 

 

The mentioned Super Cobra contest (wasn't the grand prize an actual flight jacket?), win a Popeye arcade game....but what else warranted the desecration of these manuals?

 

 

[zzip]

5 hours ago, TeddyBear89 said:

This "missing corner mystery" extends way past the very popular Qbert, Frogger and Popeyes that Parker Brothers sold.  A brief search on Ebay shows that it was happening with several other games as well.

 

I too doubt that product protection-minded parents actually cut and mailed in the proof just to ensure their warranty. 

 

The mentioned Super Cobra contest (wasn't the grand prize an actual flight jacket?), win a Popeye arcade game....but what else warranted the desecration of these manuals?

There's a bunch of Parker Bros videogame TV commercials on Youtube,  maybe some will have info on contests they ran?   The ones I viewed didn't,   but I remember PB was heavily marketing their games and ran a bunch of contests.

[Rom Hunter]

As I said, that Proof of Purchase corner in the manual, had nothing to do with Parker Brother contests (the contests even state: 'no purchase required').

It had to do with the warranty.

If something was wrong with your cart, you could either sent it back to Parker with the original receipt or a corner piece of the manual.

That's it.

Edited April 23 by Rom Hunter

[djpowerplayer]

On 4/18/2022 at 12:08 PM, Leonard Smith said:

I see.

So what was your experience with discovering this game in the 1980's?
Commericials? Comic books?  Magazine ads?  Store displays?

 

 

By the time I got ahold of Atari Nintendo was the big thing I was born when Atari crashed so I got mine for free. It was actually the Coleco Gemini model from Sears but now I prefer using the Atari Jr.