In 1985 Maxell built a bunch of life-size robots for its bad floppy ad
buttondown.comI 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It's now 2026 and Vanna White still has not been replaced by robots, but that must have been a successful ad in 1988 for people to remember it decades later.
I 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.
And we had good skeletons - in 1985, Aardman Animations created this advert for VHS cassettes https://youtu.be/ffa1E9k3H4k
I can hear the voice of Derek Gyller without even clicking the link.
While watching the second video, Futurama theme song started playing in my head :-)
Maxell. No w.
Interesting to see this statement at the top of the article. Long live the web fighting back. Not sure I have seen many (any?) sites with this. Calls for some sort of acronym or logo that others can adopt without having a long sentence at the beginning of many pages:
"This newsletter does not contain ads, sponsored posts, or affiliate links. Open and click tracking are disabled. And there is no paid upgrade or AI generated content. Enjoy!"
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.
Maxell. No w.
Same. Still a great pleasure to see those ads from the past. Nothing compared to ads today.
Looks like the whole site revolves around calling ads "bad'. An approach that, itself, is rather bad. Especially in this instance.
I don't recall ever using a Maxell floppy, but their cassettes were the best.
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....
Thanks! The album is Fuji Grid TV
https://vaporwave.wiki/wiki/Vektroid#fuji_grid_tv
(TIL Vaporwave has a wiki. We live in awesome times.)
blank vhs covers were kinda beautiful
Very nice job. Thanks for that.
For anyone not familiar with this classic ad:
Are your ears alight?
> 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