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Looking at old ad breaks on YouTube, it got me thinking of how many different unrelated adverts used the Coasters' old tune of Yakety Yak in their adverts. I suppose that it is a very original tuneful song that can be used to insert different lyrics just like advertisers have.
Another point to make is the similarity that tune has in both name and how it sounds with Yakety Sax - the Boots Randolph composition which was more famous in Britain as being the Thames theme tune of The Benny Hill Show. Funnily enough, when I was at the Leicester Curve last month waiting to watch Grease the Musical, either before it was to due to start, or during the interval, I heard the Yakety Yak tune played in the foyer which sounded as if was a crossover with the Benny Hill Show theme as they sound so similar.
Anyway, from what my memory tells me (as well a little help from my "YouTube" friend), here is a list of adverts that used that tune - bear in mind that there could be some forgotten ones that also used it as well which are not in the list:
1) Radox (1985) - A woman fetching wood, and shopping and all that into a car boot, not to mention jogging in a park which obviously made her tired and wanting a bath full of hot water and Radox. They had "oh my back" after Yakety-Yak was sung.
2) Walkers Say Cheese (1987) - Forgotten brand of crisp-alike snacks made by Walkers, which portrayed various historic figures such as Marilyn Monroe and John F Kennedy as well as Brian Clough. The singer sings "Walkers" in lieu of Yakety Yak, and then "Say Cheese" after it.
3) Green Shield Stamps (1988) - Argos more or less replaced them in the 1970s, but the stamps had made a comeback in the late 1980s. Cue a few 1950s style sub-Happy Days and Shakin' Stevens group dancers on set, and after Yakety Yak is sung - "Green Shield's Back" after it. A petrol station advert might have also used the song and their adverts, unless I thinking about this one - it was forgotten by myself until an LWT ad break downloaded on YT revealed it.
4) Dalepak (1989) - Frozen food, mostly seen in freezer centres and the odd branch of Asda - obviously, the Dalepak name was sung after Yakety Yak.
5) Chat Magazine (1990) - My late mother used to read the magazine, and it was a colour tabloid newspaper format for its first five years (even adopting a tabloid-alike price of 18p at first until it increased to a magazine price). Around the time when it officially became a glossy magazine around April 1990, and it tried to compete with Take a Break as a puzzle and competition magazine (complete with write on, wipe off cross puzzle on a red clipboard), they also used Yakety Yak as well, trying to rhyme Chat with the song.
6) McCain Micro Chips (latter half of the 1990s) - Probably the best remembered of them - McCain used this for a few years in the latter half of the 1990s, showing rooms moving around to the next one, and kitchen scenes of families putting the box of Micro Chips in the microwave and all that - cue nurse coming home after her shift from the hospital and putting a box in the microwave. Unlike the previous adverts, Yakety Yak was changed to Quicketty-Quick to almost rhyme with Micro Chips.
There must be a few more, but the midst of time has buried it with regards to personal memory and archive evidence of old ad breaks - it is such a "maddening" tune and one can understand how so many advertisers over the years have chosen it to coincidentally advertise their products with it, using their own words in time to the lyrics. Obviously, one wouldn't write a tune specially for an advert if it was only going to be used for a few weeks and then finishes it purpose. I could have sworn that Coalseal Windows had used that tune along with so many others on to advertise on Trent FM and Gem AM in Nottingham in the mid 1990s as well. And of course, even Clive Anderson used the tune for his …Talks Back series on Channel 4.
Wikipedia mentions the Radox and the McCain Micro Chips ones, but others have been officially forgotten by them - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakety_Yak
I know that this doesn't mean much to people on here, but I thought that I would mention all these just in case it triggers off any memories by any members on here.
Another point to make is the similarity that tune has in both name and how it sounds with Yakety Sax - the Boots Randolph composition which was more famous in Britain as being the Thames theme tune of The Benny Hill Show. Funnily enough, when I was at the Leicester Curve last month waiting to watch Grease the Musical, either before it was to due to start, or during the interval, I heard the Yakety Yak tune played in the foyer which sounded as if was a crossover with the Benny Hill Show theme as they sound so similar.
Anyway, from what my memory tells me (as well a little help from my "YouTube" friend), here is a list of adverts that used that tune - bear in mind that there could be some forgotten ones that also used it as well which are not in the list:
1) Radox (1985) - A woman fetching wood, and shopping and all that into a car boot, not to mention jogging in a park which obviously made her tired and wanting a bath full of hot water and Radox. They had "oh my back" after Yakety-Yak was sung.
2) Walkers Say Cheese (1987) - Forgotten brand of crisp-alike snacks made by Walkers, which portrayed various historic figures such as Marilyn Monroe and John F Kennedy as well as Brian Clough. The singer sings "Walkers" in lieu of Yakety Yak, and then "Say Cheese" after it.
3) Green Shield Stamps (1988) - Argos more or less replaced them in the 1970s, but the stamps had made a comeback in the late 1980s. Cue a few 1950s style sub-Happy Days and Shakin' Stevens group dancers on set, and after Yakety Yak is sung - "Green Shield's Back" after it. A petrol station advert might have also used the song and their adverts, unless I thinking about this one - it was forgotten by myself until an LWT ad break downloaded on YT revealed it.
4) Dalepak (1989) - Frozen food, mostly seen in freezer centres and the odd branch of Asda - obviously, the Dalepak name was sung after Yakety Yak.
5) Chat Magazine (1990) - My late mother used to read the magazine, and it was a colour tabloid newspaper format for its first five years (even adopting a tabloid-alike price of 18p at first until it increased to a magazine price). Around the time when it officially became a glossy magazine around April 1990, and it tried to compete with Take a Break as a puzzle and competition magazine (complete with write on, wipe off cross puzzle on a red clipboard), they also used Yakety Yak as well, trying to rhyme Chat with the song.
6) McCain Micro Chips (latter half of the 1990s) - Probably the best remembered of them - McCain used this for a few years in the latter half of the 1990s, showing rooms moving around to the next one, and kitchen scenes of families putting the box of Micro Chips in the microwave and all that - cue nurse coming home after her shift from the hospital and putting a box in the microwave. Unlike the previous adverts, Yakety Yak was changed to Quicketty-Quick to almost rhyme with Micro Chips.
There must be a few more, but the midst of time has buried it with regards to personal memory and archive evidence of old ad breaks - it is such a "maddening" tune and one can understand how so many advertisers over the years have chosen it to coincidentally advertise their products with it, using their own words in time to the lyrics. Obviously, one wouldn't write a tune specially for an advert if it was only going to be used for a few weeks and then finishes it purpose. I could have sworn that Coalseal Windows had used that tune along with so many others on to advertise on Trent FM and Gem AM in Nottingham in the mid 1990s as well. And of course, even Clive Anderson used the tune for his …Talks Back series on Channel 4.
Wikipedia mentions the Radox and the McCain Micro Chips ones, but others have been officially forgotten by them - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakety_Yak
I know that this doesn't mean much to people on here, but I thought that I would mention all these just in case it triggers off any memories by any members on here.
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