Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - From Bonanza to Batman: When Fictional Characters Endorse Real Products

Episode Date: January 11, 2025

In our first episode of 2025, we explore a strange aspect of advertising.Specifically, when TV and movie characters endorse products. Not the actors themselves - but the characters they portray.It's a trend that started in the early '60s with the Andy Griffith Show and Bonanza.Today, it includes characters like Breaking Bad's Walter White and even Phil Dunphy from Modern Family.Sometimes it's funny - and sometimes it bends the time/space continuum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beetleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the beetles, worked with them, loved them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beetleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actress Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell

and Beatles confidant Astrid Kerscher. But coming up, I talked to Mae Pang who dated John Lennon in the mid 70s. I talked to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth, who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dionne, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing.

So thank you for making this series such a success. And please do me a favor. Follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't have to be a fan of the Beatles. amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please do me a favor, follow the Beetleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan. You just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. In a darkly comedic look at motherhood and society's expectations, Academy Award-nominated Amy Adams stars as a passionate artist who puts her career on hold to stay home with her young son. But her maternal instinct takes a wild and surreal turn as she discovers the best, yet

fiercest, part of herself. Based on the acclaimed novel, Nightbitch is a thought-provoking and wickedly humorous film from Searchlight Pictures. Stream Nightbitch January 24th, only on Disney+. A new year means a new start. And if you really want to start the new year off right, treat yourself to a better sleep. A new year, a new mattress, a new you. The quality of your sleep affects everything.

And if you order a Douglas mattress today, you can claim your free comfort sleep bundle. It includes two memory foam pillows, a waterproof mattress protector, and an entire cotton sheet set. And on top of all that, you get 50% off a premium accessory. Still not convinced? Take advantage of the risk-free 365 night in-home trial. Douglas will ship you the mattress for free, try it for a year, and if you don't love it, Douglas will pick the mattress up, send you a refund, and donate it for free. Canadian Living named it Canada's best mattress, and I couldn't agree more. We love our Douglas mattress. So do over 250,000 satisfied owners.

Made by Canadians for Canadians. Visit Douglas.ca slash under the influence to take advantage of this offer exclusive to Canadian listeners only. Douglas mattress, Canada's best mattress. This is an Apostrophe podcast production. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. Just wanted to let you know that this episode is the beginning of our 20th season on CBC. New decade, new episodes and even a new theme song. Thanks for listening all these years. We're going to show you our big news to the Baker. That's a spicy meatball. What love doesn't conquer, Alka sells her will.

What a relief. When the movie American Graffiti turned out to be a big surprise hit in 1973, TV network scrambled to find shows that had a nostalgic late 50s, early 60s storyline. Producer Gary Marshall had just the show up his sleeve. He called it Happy Days. Marshall not only modeled it on American Graffiti, he also hired the movie's star, Ron Howard, to be the star of his new sitcom. Happy Days made its debut as a mid-season replacement on the ABC network at 8 p.m. on Tuesday January 15th 1974.

Saturday, Monday, Happy Days. Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days. Thursday, Friday, Happy Days. Happy Days was set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The main cast comprised of Ron Howard is Richie Cunningham, a clean cut 1950s high schooler. He had a Bobby Sox sister named Joni, and his parents owned a hardware store.

Richie had a friend named Pottsie, played by Anson Williams, and a friend named Ralph, played by Don Most. But there was one more character, played by Henry Winkler. He was a tough, ultra-cool leather jacket-wearing guy named Arthur Fonzarelli, otherwise known as Fonzie. You see how nervous you just got?

Yeah, but I thought you were gonna kill me. Hey, that's the point. I intimidated you. That's because I've got a majestic bearing. I've got style. I've got an attitude. I've got a tough voice. Guys feared him. Girls dreamed of him. And soon, Fonzie would not only become the most popular character on the show, it would become iconic.

According to Ron Howard's memoir, Happy Days found a dedicated audience right away, finishing at number 16 in the ratings. It was up against Maude in the time slot, but Happy Days took such a bite out of Maude's audience that CBS moved Maud to Monday Nights instead. None of the Happy Days cast fully grasped how popular their show was until just before the second season started. ABC sent Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Anson Williams, and Don Most out on a promotional tour across the country. That's when the actors realized they were attracting a huge crowd of screaming teenage girls everywhere they went. When they made a live appearance at the flagship Neiman Marcus location in Dallas, the store was completely overwhelmed by a turnout of over 20,000 screaming fans, who all wanted Fonzie. The security team there was completely unprepared.

At one point, Henry Winkler and Don Most were trapped. The crowd of fans outside the store was getting louder and wilder, and there were 20,000 of them standing between the Happy Days actors and their car. It was Fonzie-mania. Don Most looked at Winkler and said, we'll never make it to our car. That's when Winkler said, yes we will. He strode out to the crowd, which made them scream even louder. And then Winkler did something he had never done in public before. He put on his Fonzie voice and addressed the crowd.

He said, I want to tell you something now. And the crowd went silent. He said, you are going to part like the Red Sea. We are going to walk to the car Sea, we are going to walk to the car, and you are not going to touch us. Then he snapped his fingers like Fonzie always did on the show. In that moment, 20,000 kids obediently opened up a pathway right to the car. Winkler and most were able to make a safe getaway that day. All it took was for Winkler to stay in character.

The world of marketing often asks actors to stay in character. That's when commercials are created where actors are asked to endorse products, not as themselves, but as their movie or TV character. Sometimes staying in character makes sense for their product, oftentimes it's tongue-in-cheek, and sometimes it bends the time-space continuum. An interesting trend began on television back in the 1960s. As TV became the dominant medium, loyal audiences watched their favorite programs every week without fail.

They came to identify with the characters, not the actors behind those roles, but the actual fictional characters they portrayed. Advertisers, with their antennae finally tuned, were quick to pick up on that and found ways to employ those characters in commercials, even when it didn't make any sense. From 1959 to 1973, the TV show Bonanza ran on NBC. Unlike most Westerns of its time, Bonanza wasn't about gunslingers roaming the Wild West. It centered on a family called the Cartwrights. Patriarch Ben Cartwright, played by Canadian Lauren Green, was a thrice-widowed wealthy landowner who had three sons, each by Canadian Lauren Green, was a thrice-widowed wealthy landowner who

had three sons, each by a different wife. Adam, Big Hoss, and Little Joe. In the first season, every episode began with Ben and his three sons riding horses along a road galloping toward the camera. And if you looked closely, you could see the tire tracks from the camera truck on the road behind them. Oh well, it was the early days of TV. In Bonanza, Ben Cartwright owned a thousand square mile ranch called the Ponderosa near Virginia City in Nevada. And every week, the upstanding Cartwrights battled drifters, bigots, swindlers, and a wide range of bad guys.

In 1962, Chevrolet was a major sponsor of Bonanza. Besides running commercials within the program, Chevrolet created a two-minute commercial to introduce their new line of cars and trucks. And here's where it gets a little strange and hilarious. In this next commercial, Lorne Green, in his full Ben Cartwright Bonanza costume, complete with cowboy hat and holster, stands in a barn beside a new Chevrolet and invites you to visit your Chevrolet dealer.

Drop into your Chevrolet dealers as soon as you can, and take one of these new 1962 Chevrolet's out for a ride. And when you do, I think you'll agree with me that this is a bonanza of beauty and value. Did Ben Cartwright's horse know about this? In this next clip from 1966, Lorne Green, again in full Ben Cartwright's horse know about this. In this next clip from 1966, Lorne Green, again in full Ben Cartwright wardrobe, is standing in front of a Frontier General store. And Ben Cartwright, marketer extraordinaire,

gives Chevrolet dealers a little lesson in advertising. Our theme, put more impact into our selling. And we're here to explore ways to suck home an idea, an advantage, a feature, not just knowing an advantage, not just saying it, but putting genuine enthusiasm and fire into it, smacking it home so it stays remembered. Now what makes this so amusing is that all these Bonanza commercials bent the time-space continuum. The Cartwright family lived in the 1860s, and this was 1966, 100 years later. But who's counting? counting.

That's one of my favorite TV theme songs of all time. It belonged to the Andy Griffith Show, which ran from 1960 to 68. It starred Andy Griffith as widower Andy Taylor, who lives with his young son, Opie, played by a very young Ron Howard. They live in a sleepy little town of Mayberry, North Carolina. Andy is the sheriff in a town where nothing much happens. Mostly, he just has to cope with the loopy and colorful folks who live in Mayberry. In this black and white commercial,

Opie comes running into Sheriff Andy's office to talk to his father about a coffee pitch. Hey, Paul! Guess what I am? Boo-boo-boo-boo-boop-boop. Boo-boo-boo-boo-boop-boop. Oh, you're that Perkins jar of instant Maxwell House coffee. It's a good thing, too,

because it's time to tell the folks about instant Maxwell House and why it's so good." The actors deliver the pitch in full character on the actual set complete with a laugh track. Andy and Opie were beloved characters in early 1960s television, so when they pitched a product, people took it to heart. And viewers didn't seem to mind the characters breaking the sacred fourth wall and talking directly to them. One of my favorite shows as a kid was The Munsters. It ran from 1964 to 1966, then played in reruns for years. The show centered on a family of friendly monsters who somehow take up residence in a small town. Herman Munster is a huge Frankenstein creature.

Wife Lily and Grandpa are vampires. Son Eddie is a werewolf, and niece Marilyn is the only normal person, and, hilariously, the rest of the family thinks she's the ugly duck. The Munsters live in a spooky house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. And believe it or not, at one point the ghoulish but lovable Munster family promoted... Marine Land. This you've got to see.

The Munsters at Marine Land. Yep, the Munsters drive up to Marine Land in their hearse. You can help the Munsters pick out a pet for Eddie. And of course the rest of the family is enamored by the most terrifying marine life. Of course Herman, Grandpa and Lily insist on something lovable, like a shark, a barracuda, or an octopus. It was a strange moment of worlds colliding. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]

From 1965 to 1971, there was a sitcom called Hogan's Heroes. ["Hogan's Heroes. Believe it or not, there was a sitcom based on a World War II prisoner-of-war camp. The American inmates of this Nazi prisoner-of-war camp would conduct an endless series of espionage campaigns right under the noses of the bumbling German officers. Hijinks ensued. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when this sitcom idea was pitched.

But against all odds, it became a top rated show. It had 10 Emmy nominations and two Emmy wins. All of Hogan's fellow prisoners had specialties like a radio operator, a demolitions expert, and a cook named LeBeau. In this next commercial, the prisoners of war promote a little jello when Chef LeBeau whips up a tasty dessert in the barracks. Not colonel Hogan, full of dessert. Oh, I pass, I'm too full. But colonel, jello gelatin. Yay! Not Colonel Hogan. Full of dessert. Oh, I pass. I'm too full. But Colonel Jello Gelatin.

Yay! If you say so, there's always room for Jello. The light dessert with fresh fruit taste. As they enjoy their Jello dessert, the German commandant, Colonel Klink, bursts in with Camp Guard Sergeant Schultz. Silence! How dare you use my helmet for... jello? The light dessert with fresh fruit tape?

Would you care for a dish? Now give me the little dream whip, Anton! Once again, Hogan easily tricks his captors by seducing them with a little jello and a dollop of dream whip. Sergeant Schultz is not a word about this to anybody. Laugh Track included. Don't worry about this to anybody. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, McDonald's created a commercial to promote their double cheeseburger reunion, as the fast food retailer was bringing back its double cheeseburger and pairing it again with a large order of french fries.

The commercial begins with Don Adams from the sitcom Get Smart, Grandpa from The Monsters, Eddie Haskell and Mrs. Cleaver from Leave It to Beaver, Gilligan from Gilligan's Island, and Jed Clampett all pulling up to McDonald's in the Beverly Hillbillies' old jalopy. It was a 60s sitcom reunion. McDonald's is bringing back all your old favorites for a reunion. A big double cheeseburger reunion. It's great to be back.

We're reuniting the big taste of two all-beef patties. Ooh-wee! And golden melted cheese. My, that's a lovely double cheeseburger you're eating, Mrs. Cleaver. Thank you, Eddie. Together with a new large order of crisp golden french fries. I love french food. So hurry, it's only for a limited time.

Oh! It's McDonald's big double cheeseburger reunion. Y'all come back now, here? When we come back, Batman makes a limited time. It's McDonald's Big Double Cheeseburger Reunion. Y'all come back now, here? When we come back, Batman makes a bat pit. In a darkly comedic look at motherhood and society's expectations, Academy Award-nominated Amy Adams stars as a passionate artist who puts her career on hold to stay home with her young son. But her maternal instinct takes a wild and surreal turn

as she discovers the best, yet fiercest, part of herself. Based on the acclaimed novel, Nightbitch is a thought-provoking and wickedly humorous film from Searchlight Pictures. Stream Nightbitch January 24th, only on Disney Plus. In the year 2000, the use of characters in commercials jumped from TV to the movies. The Dark Knight, Batman, and his loyal butler, Alfred, hot off the big screen, showed up in an ad for OnStar, the subscription-based

service from General Motors that provides in-vehicle emergency assistance. The commercial begins with Batman entering the Batcave. Good evening, Batman. Alfred. I've stepped up safety in the Batmobiles, huh? Really? Should a villain steal it, someone will track it. If your airbag goes off, an advisor will assist you.

If you're stranded, satellites will help locate you. And where have you put all these things? Just press the OnStar button, sir. Well done, Alfred. My pleasure, sir. OnStar, how can I help you, Batman? Holy ad budget, Batman! Those OnStar commercials had big production values.

From 1985 to 1992, there was a TV show called MacGyver, produced by Henry Winkler, by the way. Angus MacGyver was a secret agent but refused to carry a gun. Instead, he used his wits, resourcefulness, and his incredible knowledge of science to get out of all sorts of trouble. Fourteen years later, actor Richard Dean Anderson reprised his role as MacGyver in a fun tongue-in-cheek Super Bowl ad for MasterCard. In keeping with the long-running MasterCard campaign, it checks off all the things MacGyver

can buy with his MasterCard. First, we see MacGyver's hands are tied behind a chair, but he uses a pine tree air freshener to cut the rope. Air freshener, 129 on debit MasterCard. Then MacGyver uses a sock to zip line down a power line to break out of the room. Tube sock, $4. Then MacGyver, MacGyver's his way out of trouble using his ingenuity.

Paperclip, ballpoint pen, rubber band, tweezers, nasal spray, and a turkey baster, $14. He manages to escape just in time before the entire complex blows up. The little things that get you through the day, priceless. There are some things money can't buy. For everyday stuff, there's debit mastercard. Richard Dean Anderson said he had turned down many MacGyver commercials in the past, but

this parody of the whole MacGyver thing just made him laugh. I was a big fan of Breaking Bad. If you haven't watched the show, it's about a quiet chemistry teacher named Walter White. He discovers he has terminal cancer, so he teams up with a drug-dealing student to begin manufacturing and selling meth to secure his family's financial future. Over the course of the series, the soft spoken Walter White turns into a vicious drug lord. As show creator Vince Gilligan once said, Walter White goes from Mr. Chips to Scarface. So it was interesting that e-surance chose to create a 2015 Super Bowl

commercial using the meth-dealing Walter White character. The commercial takes place in a pharmacy, where a woman asks for her prescription, and instead of her regular pharmacist, a menacing Walter White pops up in his full yellow meth-making outfit. Hi. Hi. Hi. Um...

Um, my doctor called in a prescription. Uh, yes, yes. You're not Greg. I'm sorta Greg. We're both over 50 years old. We both used to own a Pontiac Aztec. We both have a lot of experience with drugs. You don't hear that a lot in commercials.

Then Walter White puts a bottle of pills on the counter. That's not my prescription. It's sort of your prescription. Yes it is. No. Take it. No. Take it.

No. Take it. No. Take it. You'll thank me later. Then e-surance makes its pitch. Sort of you isn't you. e-surance helps make sure you only pay for what's right for you.

That's someone sorta like you. e-surance, backed by Allstate. An amusing ad based on a deadly serious show. A few years later, TV teamed up with the movies in another Super Bowl commercial. Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, aka Sarah Jessica Parker, made an ad for a beer brand. As fans may know, Bradshaw's favorite drink in the TV show was a Cosmopolitan. But when she sits down in her favorite fancy restaurant, she orders something different. No one there can believe their ears. The restaurant screeches to a halt.

Carrie Bradshaw is actually having a Stella Artois. Then someone else walks into the restaurant. It's the Dude from the movie The Big Lebowski, aka Jeff Bridges. In the film, the Dude's favorite drink is a white Russian, but not tonight. Wild night, huh? White Russian? No, Gary, give me a Stella Artois. Again, everyone in the restaurant stops dead, as nobody can believe that the dude has ordered a beer.

Specifically, a Stella Artois, or Artois. He sits at a table across from Carrie Bradshaw. Excuse me. Good choice. Well, changing can do a little good. And that dude abides. The campaign was titled Change Up the Usual. The strategy was to convince people to change up their usual beverage order and have a Stella Artois instead.

When we come back, Phil Dunphy from Modern Family pitches Real Estate. In a darkly comedic look at motherhood and society's expectations, Academy Award-nominated Amy Adams stars as a passionate artist who puts her career on hold to stay home with her young son. But her maternal instinct takes a wild and surreal turn as she discovers the best, yet fiercest, part of herself. Based on the acclaimed novel, Nightbitch is a thought-provoking and wickedly humorous film from Searchlight Pictures. Stream Nightbitch January 24th only on Disney Plus.

["The Real Estate Agent"] If you were a fan of the sitcom Modern Family, you'll know that the dad, Phil Dunphy, was a real estate agent. Correction, Phil Dunphy was a realtor. Love being a real estate agent. First of all, I'm not just a real estate agent. Correction, Phil Dunphy was a Realtor. I love being a real estate agent. First of all, I'm not just a real estate agent, I'm a Realtor. I'm a member of a national association, a brotherhood. Sworn to the Realtor code of ethics, that's what this R stands for. So the National Association of Realtors saw a fun opportunity and hired actor Ty Burrell, or should I say Phil Dunphy, to

star in a series of ads for Realtors. Many things differentiate a Realtor from a real estate agent. For one, a Realtor follows a strict code of ethics. No problem, because I was a highly decorated junior wilderness trooper who cannot lie. Okay. Truth is, by highly decorated, I mean the other kids put makeup on me while I was asleep, but it was only because I built the best fire. Okay, it was because I brought a picture of my dog, my mom, brushing my hair. See? Ethics!

The campaign was titled Phil's Ossophies, where Dunphy opines on the real estate industry. Like all the commercials we talked about today, it was a very amusing take on the character. As Phil Dunphy once said, success is 1% inspiration, 98% perspiration and 2% attention to detail. The world of advertising has many arrows in its quiver. TV commercials, YouTube videos, websites, celebrity endorsements, and a funny thing called character endorsements. It isn't the actor endorsing the product, it's the character the actor plays who is endorsing the product.

When real estate agent, air quotes, Phil Dunphy does commercials for realtors, you get the connection. When Carrie Bradshaw suddenly changes her famous drink order, you get the idea. When MacGyver charges a bunch of handy doodads to his MasterCard, you get the joke. But then there's the Cartwrights from the 1860s promoting Chevrolets in 1966, and Hogan's heroes hawking jello in a prisoner of war camp, all played perfectly straight in character. It demonstrates how much times have

changed. Back in the day, characters from TV shows and movies felt like our friends. There were only a handful of TV stations back then and we all invited those characters into our living rooms and watched the shows together. It was a universally shared experience. And we happily suspended our disbelief because the shows were so familiar and comforting and made us smile. Today we're a little too jaded for that. All the recent commercials we talked about today featuring TV and movie characters were

done with tongue planted firmly in cheek. We get the joke and enjoy it. Strangely, they may be as effective as those old 1960s commercials. We just view them through a different lens when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the TearStream mobile recording studio, producer Debbie O'Reilly, Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine, under the influence theme by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick, and James Attengarden. Tunes provided by APM Music. This podcast is powered by A-Cast.

And let's be social. Follow me at TerryOInfluence. Want to read next week's fun fact? Just go to apostrophepodcasts.ca and follow the prompts. See you next week. Fun fact! Hi, this is Jeff from Auckland, New Zealand. Fonzie's leather jacket, worn by Henry Winkler in Happy Days, now hangs in the Smithsonian Museum. In a darkly comedic look at motherhood and society's expectations, Academy Award-nominated Amy Adams stars as a passionate artist who puts her career on hold to stay home with her young son. But her maternal instinct takes a wild and surreal turn as she discovers the best, yet fiercest part of herself.

Based on the acclaimed novel, Nightbitch is a thought-provoking and wickedly humorous film from Searchlight Pictures. Stream Nightbitch January 24th, only on Disney+. There you are, alone in your car, waiting at a red light. Suddenly, there she is, pressed against your window,

holding a homemade cardboard sign. Can you really tell what it says about her? Don't let homelessness assumptions get in the way of homelessness solutions. Go to canadacandoit.ca. Help the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.