Sales Pitch, Jolt'n Joe Di Maggio was among the early sports starts to hawk their wears on TV commercials
Spokesmen change, but hawking remains the same. Today’s super stars indorse everything from golf clubs to breakfast cereals, but it's not anything new. Some of our past generation's sports heroes made some extra cash by hawking products on TV commercials. It was 1956 when a young Mickey Mantle sat behind a stack of pancakes, looking right at home in a contrived TV-studio kitchen.
As he liberally poured a clear, gooey stream of Karo syrup over his griddle cakes for the cameras, Mantle expounded on the benefits of dextrose food energy in a growing kid's diet. With a trusting smile and words as sweet as the sugar-coated pancakes he was about to eat, Mantle told the viewing audience: "I've been using Karo syrup on my pancakes since I was no higher than a baseball bat."
In a sincere tone, he added: "Plenty of pep and energy, kids. Plenty of Karo syrup." It was the same year that Mantle had just won baseball's Triple Crown. With a batting average of .353, 52 home runs and 130 RBIs, Mantle had earned enough celebrity status to join the ranks of sports stars earning extra income by endorsing products on television, then a new medium. At a time when baseball and football stars were idolized, companies made good use of their names by hiring them to sell everything from shaving cream to cigarettes.
When New York Yankee star Roger Maris topped Babe Ruth's home-run record in 1961, he guaranteed himself a popular place on TV's ad circuit. The Pressman Toy Company was among the first to employ Maris to sell its newly created "Roger Maris Action Baseball" game, and Paper-Mate had Maris pushing the merits of owning the new "husky" line of firm-grip pens designed especially for sportsmen.
Trading in on their popularity with the kids didn't originate with Mantle and Maris. The "Sultan of Swat" himself, Babe Ruth, made extra money back in the 1920s by lending his name and image to the Fro-Joy ice cream company, telling kids: "If you want to grow big and strong, eat Fro-Joy ice cream every day."
During the 1950s and 1960s, baseball and football heroes were employed by a multitude of companies to sell products designed for the man of the house. Using a stadium or locker room as a backdrop, America's sports figures were often seen relishing the taste of a cigarette or a tall, cool beer. With only one television set per household, Dad generally controlled nighttime TV viewing.
So it was only natural that evening commercials were aimed at his buying power. Daytime ads were designed to appeal to Mom and the kids, since they were generally home during those hours. Commercials for Ovaltine, Maypo, Bosco and Wheaties appeared daily during commercial breaks. In the '60s, bright-eyed and muscular "Broadway Joe" Namath became the charismatic spokesmodel for Ovaltine and was responsible for coining the popular ad phrase: "It's my ol' pal Ovaltine."
It was during the 1950s that sports stars were utilized to sell cigarettes. Olympic high-jump champion Walt Davis could be seen taking long drags from a Kent cigarette while an announcer claimed, "More scientists and more educators smoke Kent, with the 'micronite' filter, than any other cigarette; so, it makes good sense for everybody to smoke Kents." Brooklyn Dodger announcer Red Barber explained to his TV audience how his favorite smokes, Old Gold cigarettes, were "a treat" instead of a "treatment."
This was Old Gold's rebuttal to the new cigarette brand, Kools, and their soothing menthol filters. Even Kathie Lee's husband, Frank Gifford, commented on the delights of smoking while he and his then-wife, Maxine, rode in a dune buggy and puffed on Lucky Strikes. Joe DiMaggio (otherwise known as "Mr. Coffee"), wasn't immune to attaching his name to a product, but he did draw the line at soliciting cigarettes or beer.
He preferred to sell wholesome food products, and one of DiMaggio's earliest commercials featured him enjoying a large bowl of Buitoni macaroni covered in sauce and sprinkled liberally with Parmesan cheese. What else? Later of course, he became famous for his "Mr. Coffee” commercials. I think most fans bought a new coffee machine every time DiMaggio came out for a new model.
Today, the sport of basketball seems to have cornered the adulation of the buying public. Greats like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal earn millions of dollars endorsing products. The four-digit amounts earned by the sports stars of the early 1950s pale in comparison.
But if modern-day TV viewers look closely, they will find a few faces from the past in today's commercials. Former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath traded in his glass of Ovaltine in later years, to endorse the virtues of a tube of Flex-All muscle rub. Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto was once the spokesman for "Dial 1-800 Loan-Yes", later replaced by Cy Young award winner Jim Palmer.
And popular Monday Night Football announcer Frank Gifford threw away his cigarettes to breathe fresh ocean air with wife Kathy Lee Gifford for Carnival cruise commercials.
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