In 1985 Maxell built a bunch of life-size robots for its bad floppy ad
buttondown.comI found a Maxwell robot video ad but I think it's just actors in robot outfits https://youtu.be/CKloQVH_72M
Honda was more impressive then with Asimo which was a real robot https://youtu.be/DerM1GNtg5A
Meanwhile in the UK we had robotic aliens advertising instant mashed potato.
While watching the second video, Futurama theme song started playing in my head :-)
Why is it referred to as a 'bad' floppy ad. I thought it was cool.
The "bad" is referring to the floppies, not the ad. The ad with the robots at dinner was about buying Maxwell floppies (which were considerably more expensive than no-name floppies) because otherwise the machines might "eat your files". A modern equivalent would be buying a SanDisk SD card over cheaper alternatives.
Same. Still a great pleasure to see those ads from the past. Nothing compared to ads today.
I don't recall ever using a Maxell floppy, but their cassettes were the best.
For anyone not familiar with this classic ad:
Semi random fact, but there's actually a Vaporwave artist that used a number of Japanese Maxell advertisements in a distorted/looped manner for the better part of a whole album....
blank vhs covers were kinda beautiful
Are your ears alight?
I vaguely remember these but I more clearly remember the Samsung ad which featured a similar looking robot in a dress turning letters on a gameshow, implying that Samsung would still be around even after Vanna White was replaced by a machine. Vanna White sued, claiming a breach of her publicity rights (despite her name, the name "Wheel of Fortune", or her actual likeness not being used) and actually prevailed in court, establishing a precedent in the United States that very broadly protects celebrities' rights to control whether and how they are represented.
Was it this one?
https://paleofuture.com/blog/2013/2/20/robot-vanna-trashy-pr...
It's now 2026 and Vanna White still has not been replaced by robots, but that must have been a successful ad in 1988 for people to remember it decades later.
> Except the glaring mistake of putting “3½” microdisk” in the copy when there are 5¼” floppies on the table.
The MF 2-DD box shown is 3.5, I think they just used the bigger disks on the table because they are much better props for the video.
If you look at the first image in the article, the one with a floppy on a serving tray, it looks like an 8 inch floppy to me. I think the floppy disks in the board room might also be 8 inch floppy disks