Loose Parts by Dave Blazek for October 26, 2021

You don’t look so good in the comparison ads, but at least you get lots of free advertising.

Let me guess: his name is John Smith.

Next job at Acme….

Back in the 50’s and 60’s advertisers would compare their products on TV to Brand X.Until someone trademarked “Brand X” and actually made some products.

the other guys…….

But then they promoted him to 5-Star Generic, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Stuff.

Tide rejected his application?

One out of 5 doctors recommended that he go to work there.

He thought he was joining Spandex.

The company’s biggest seller is supplies for the tenth dentist.

tough sell

“Brand X, Brand X, it’s simple and plain, Brand X, Brand X, it’s different but all the same!”

It must be about 50 years since commercials stopped comparing the advertised product to “Brand X” and decided to just refer to the competition by name. But my favorite take on the “Brand X” comparison was its use by the “Joker brand” — as advertised by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 Batman movie.