The ’90s had some of the best products. Maybe we are biased because that is the decade we grew up in. However, we think not. We’ve gathered 40 of our favorite ads from the time period to share with you today. Watching these ads had so many different memories flooding back in.
While the 1990s really wasn’t that long ago, at this point, it kind of feels like a different lifetime. The world has changed so much since then. In fact, some of these fly ads that seemed cool at the time now come across as downright disturbing. Check them out for yourself and you’ll see what we mean.
1. Nerf Turbo Screamer Football
The advertisement hailed the Nerf Turbo Screamer as “the new sound of football”, but really, it was just an annoying whistling football that drove parents crazy. Every time you threw one, it made a shrill screeching noise capable of waking up the whole neighborhood.
2. Mentos
The Mentos mints ads from the early ’90s were all about sex appeal. The slogan was “The Freshmaker.” Take for example this commercial. It shows a woman popping a Mentos and ripping the bottom half off her dress to make it into a low-cut skirt.
3. JNCO Jeans
Who remembers these “way cool” jeans? Our favorites were the ones with the flared bottoms where you couldn’t tell whether the person was wearing a jean dress or pants. The common denominator among all JNCO jeans though was simply how baggy they were.
Source:
POPSUGAR
4. Macintosh Computers
The best part about the Mac computers from the ’90s were the different colors that they came in. Walking through a high school computer lab during that era was like getting hit with a rainbow. Some people were even lucky enough to have one in their home.
Source:
The90sLife
5. Super Soaker XP 105
Super Soakers were the pinnacle of squirt gun technology. The Sargent in the commercials was so intimidating too. He could get any one pumped up to go into battle out on the lawn.
6. Tommy Hilfiger
In an era were people could wear jean jackets and look great doing it, Tommy Hilfiger was king. In addition to the clothing, the company even launched their own perfume and cologne line. While the brand is still alive today, the style has definitely changed a little since then.
Source:
vintage-adverts
7. My Buddy and Kid Sister Dolls
My Buddy and Kid Sister dolls were really popular in the 80s. We bet you never thought that you would see both of them in the same commercial though, but that is exactly what happened. After Playskool took over the brand from Hasbro at the start of the ’90s, they started marketing the two dolls together.
8. Skechers
Skechers were the shoes that every one wanted. They were basically stylish platform shoes. If you rocked a pair of these, the additional one or two inches they gave you would make you the tallest kid in the school yard.
Source:
lookinthetunk
9. Easy Bake Oven
The Easy Bake Oven has gone through a lot of different iterations over the years. The ’90s model was able to produce some pretty cool baked goods, albeit in snack sized portions. It also was much faster than the older models. “Bakes in just 9 minutes,” it says in the ad.
10. Candie’s Jeans
Another brand of jeans that were popular in the late ’90s were Candie’s. They sold them at Gadzooks, a mall-based retailer of teenage clothing apparel. The selling point of Candie’s jeans were the bedazzled colorful bands around the cuffs and waistline.
Source:
fuckyeahugly90sclothes
11. TGIF
Nope, we aren’t talking about the restaurant chain. TGIF was a Friday night television lineup on ABC that included some of the best shows ever. Every Friday they would play Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step By Step, and Hangin’ With Mr Cooper.
12. Revlon Colorstay
This ad was from back when liquid lipstick first started to become popular. It came in all sorts of different sexy shades. You could even kiss your partner while wearing it without worrying about leaving lipstick marks on them, so the ad claims at least…
Source:
variedtreasures
13. Energizer Batteries
The Energizer Bunny commercials for the Energizer battery company were downright freaky. They released dozens of different variations and they just kept “going and going and going”. Technically, they stole the idea from Duracell who made the first pink bunny commercials in the early 80s. However, after their copyright expired, the Energizer Bunny took over and dominated the ’90s.
14. McDonald’s Snack Makers
McDonald’s probably should have stuck with Happy Meal Toys. However, in the ’90s, they actually sold little plastic machines for making fake french fries, frozen fruit snacks, and hamburgers. For example, the french fry one worked by inserting a slice of bread into the machine.
Source:
Peteneems
15. Stretch Armstrong
The Stretch Armstrong super hero toys featured a man in a black cut-off shirt and short-shorts. You could stretch his rubbery arms several inches before they ripped off. “How does he do that?” the criminals asked. It’s simple, he has been doing it since he was a kid.
16. Bongos
For a brief period of time, everyone was wearing jean overalls. We never realized how sexy overalls could be until we started looking at ’90s ads from Bongos. Actress and former model Liv Tyler was the face of the company.
Source:
spacecadet
17. Kellogg’s Coco Pops
“Give me give me Coco Pops. Give me give real coco,” they repeat over and over again in the jingle. It’s kind of disturbing. It advertises Coco Pops like it is some kind of drug that kids need to try. Once you start eating Coco Pops, you are basically addicted.
18. Polaroid I-Zone
Plaster Britney Spear’s smiling face on an ad and you could sell kids anything. The pop star’s endorsement of a product was like liquid gold. Everyone wanted a Polaroid I-Zone after this ad so they could be just like Britney, pasting random photo stickers on everything.
Source:
Elizabethany
19. Lite-Brite
Lite-Brites were actually a lot of fun. You could make all kinds of cool light up artwork with them. It was basically like plugging little colored Christmas lights into a Battle Ship board, and anything you could dream up was a possibility.
20. Jane by Sassaby
The makeup company Sassaby was fun. They named their foundation line “jane”. Essentially, they advertised that it would make “plain janes” beautiful. “There’s no such thing as a plain jane!”, they said in the ad, but here, buy our product anyway so you don’t accidentally end up looking like one.
Source:
Pinterest
21. Nickelodeon’s Gak
What is Gak? Gak is great stuff. It comes from the people who used to dump colored slime on everyone in their TV shows — Nickelodeon. Gak is basically Play-Doh, but much cooler. You can make fart noises with it.
22. L.e.i.
L.e.i. was all about embroidered jeans back in the day. The denim wear came with floral prints and other cool rebellious designs reminiscent of a bad tattoo artist’s catalogue. Although, supposedly, their brand represented life, energy, and intelligence.
Source:
Hello Giggles
23. Bagel Bites
If you put pizza on a tiny bagel, all of a sudden it becomes healthy. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bagel Bites goal is to get as many kids as possible surviving solely on Bagel Bites.
24. Herbal Essences
The guys from the famous ’90s boy band, NSYNC, all have great hair. It’s a trait that made them the perfect people to sell Herbal Essences hair products to the masses. Herbal Essences shampoo is simply “NCREDIBLE”.
Source:
Fanpop
25. Floam
Floam was very similar to Gak. However, instead of farting noises, Floam could produce cracking sounds. It also was bounceable. It “bounces higher than a kangaroo”, they said in the commercial.
26. Hard Candy
Hard Candy nail polish was pretty much unknown until Alicia Silverstone got involved. She talked about the brand on The Late Show with David Letterman, causing sales to skyrocket.
Source:
Fashion Grunge
27. SNICK
SNICK was the teenage version of Nickelodeon that ran every Saturday night and consisted of shows that were slightly too mature for younger audiences. You could hop on the big orange couch and watch classics like Ren & Stimpy, and Are You Afraid of the Dark?
28. L’Oreal Mega Gel
1990s hair styles for men were all about the gel. If you used enough L’Oreal Mega Gel, you could basically give yourself an extra 3 or 4 inches of height. Some put their hair in spikes. Others simply threw it all up like the model in this photo.
Source:
Vintage Ad Browser
29. Moon Shoes
Moon Shoes were pretty sweet. Honestly, who wouldn’t want a pair of “mini trampolines for your feet”? They were even better than the roller skating shoes that you could buy.
30. L.A. Looks
L.A. Looks hair styling product allowed you to look exactly like a beautiful Hollywood actress. It could completely change your look, giving you that California sunshine appearance without ever having to step foot in California.
Source:
BuzzFeed
31. Ring Pops
Kids were obsessed with these. They had so much fun wearing the edible candy rings around and pretending like they were rich with a giant rock on their finger. The coolest kids wore one on every finger, an activity that caused them to turn into wild animals running around on an epic sugar high.
32. Sun-In
This advertisement played on the natural tendency women have to compete with each other. Stop hating on the other girls for their pretty hair and copy them instead. Use Sun-In. “Stop hating them. Start being them.”
Source:
Michael Maldonado
33. Baby Alive
For some reason, kids loved baby dolls that had realistic features. We would have thought it might have been a little too real and freaky for the toddlers, but nope! Every little girl wanted a Baby Alive doll that could pee and suck on its thumb.
34. Lip Smacker
Lip Smacker came in all sorts of fruity flavors.The brand was loved by both kids and adults. It probably encouraged a lot of germ spreading, as everyone always wanted to try each other’s different flavors.
Source:
bunnycookie
35. Sega Genesis
Sega lasted until 1997 when they finally went out of business. They just couldn’t compete with Nintendo. Although, they tried their best. Their Sonic The Hedgehog games were pretty popular for a while.
36. Right Guard
The brand’s Pure Power Clear Gel transformed the underarm deodorizer industry. Forget that flaky white stuff. Using the regular old stick kinds of deodorants was something that uncivilized people did. If you wanted to be somebody, you used Right Guard.
Source:
Ebay
37. Socker Boppers
Socker Boppers are “more fun than a pillow fight”. They were basically inflatable boxing gloves that you could beat on your friends with, usually without any remorse. The only real risk was an occasional bloody nose.
38. Beverly Hills 90210
90210 was, and still is, the most desired zip code in Los Angeles. However, if you couldn’t actually afford to live there, you could feel like you did by wearing 90210 makeup. It made you look like rich star walking down the red carpet.
Source:
Jason Priestley
39. Reese’s
There might be no commercial more representative of the ’90s than the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ads. They made hundreds of these demonstrating how various people eat the delicious peanut butter chocolates. “There is no wrong way to eat a Reese’s.”
40. Lip Sparklers
Lip Sparklers were essentially half way between being chapstick and lipstick. The brand didn’t commit to either side. Their ad is downright creepy though. While the girl in the photo is likely trying to look seductive, it doesn’t come across that way.
Source:
BuzzFeed
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