Once upon a time, commercials werenât just background noiseâthey were events. They made you laugh, made you remember, sometimes even made you spit your drink across the room.
But not anymore.
Now we live in a world where funny is offensive, clever is risky, and memorable is a liability.
Letâs talk about the two ads that represent what weâve lost: A fire-breathing dragon⌠and a pair of size 19 bowling shoes.
đ The Dragon That Saved Dinner
In the early â60s, La Choyâs canned Chinese food was on life support. Corporate suits were ready to pull the plug.
Enter Jim Henson, handed just two weeks to save the product.
His answer?
Delbertâa full-sized Muppet dragon with googly eyes, a bad attitude, and a flamethrower for a mouth.
He stomped through grocery aisles.
Knocked over shelves with his tail.
Blew fire on frozen dinners and declared:
âLa Choy makes Chinese food⌠swing American!â
And damn itâit worked. Sales spiked. Henson earned his stripes. That was real creativity. No spreadsheets. No HR filters. Just one man, one dragon, and a last-chance Hail Mary of glorious chaos.
đł The Miller Ad That Was Too Hot for Prime Time
Letâs set the scene:
Guy walks into a bowling alley, all chill, no agenda.
âSorry, pal. Only size 19 left.â
Now, any rational man might call it a night. But this guy? Heâs here to bowl and sip a cold Miller Genuine Draftâso he shrugs, grabs the canal boats, and heads to the lane.
Cue that slow-motion swagger.
He plops down, pops open a Miller, takes a long cool sip, and starts sliding those monster shoes on. As he lifts his leg to lace up, the camera drops low.
Size 19. Gigantic. The manâs foot looks like it belongs on Bigfoot’s cousin.
Two lanes over, a couple of babes eye his MGD, no big deal, nice try dude. He leans back with his cold MGD, crosses his feet on the table to relax and that’s when the babes really take notice. His feet look like goal posts.
We all know what those girls are thinking.
âIf thatâs his foot sizeâŚâ
No words. Just Miller music and the winnying of a horse, perfectly timed. The kind of silent joke that speaks louder than any punchline.
It was funny, bold, and instantly iconic. It was the cherry on topâthe kind of subtle, layered visual gag that modern ads wouldn’t dare attempt because it assumes the viewer is actually paying attention.
Miller yanked it. Canned. Memory-holed. Like it never happened. Another victim of the cancel culture.
And just like that, one of the cleverest beer ads ever aired vanished because some corporate risk manager had a nervous twitch.
That was the line. And Miller dared to cross itâfor a moment.
Back when beer was beer, men were men, and commercials didnât need a trigger warning.
And of courseâŚ
They banned it.
Because someone in a conference room clutched their pearls and cried:
âWe canât imply penis size through footwear and horses!â
Why not? It worked.
It was funny. It was fast. It respected the viewerâs intelligence. And most importantlyâit sold beer.
You know, the actual point of the commercial.
đŞ Death by Fear. Death by Corporate.
These two ads represent two eras:
đ One where creatives were trusted to take bold swings.
𧽠The other where every joke needs to be triple-checked by HR, Legal, DEI, ESG, FTC, and your Aunt Karenâs knitting circle.
Delbert saved a product. The bowling shoe guy? He couldnât even save his airtime.
What we have now is a world of ads engineered not to offend anyone, which guarantees they wonât entertain anyone either.
đď¸ Chatrodamus Sees the Truth
The dragon had fire.
The bowling guy had swagger.
The audience had a sense of humor.
Today? We get preachy messages, talking reptiles, ask your doctor and emotional piano music selling car insurance.
And letâs be honestânobody swoons over a gecko and no one wants to be first to try all those new drugs with a littany of side effects, any of which can kill you.
đĽ So Hereâs to the Forgotten Legends
To Delbert, the dragon who torched mediocrity. To Bowling Guy, whose feet were too big for a safe-space world. To every ad that dared to be funny, inappropriate, or genuinely human.
We didnât just lose a laughâwe lost our balls.
Chatrodamus Predicts:
In the future every commercial carries a rating similar to the motion picture rating system. S for suitable for all idiots, B for banned in slavic countries, P for political correctness and G meaning start the tevo.