This is great stuff skorch!

Love seeing those Fun Factory ads again!

The Spaulding ad: seemed like it was on the back cover of EVERY comic book in the early 80's. Remember that one too well

The ad for selling seeds I remember for a particular reason: I used to read where the kids at the top of the ad were from and they never came from my home state RI. In fact, back then there was never any reference to RI in the media. Today, of course you have the Farelly Bros. with their movies and Family Guy...anyway this one time a kid appeared in that ad and he was from RI! Somehow this was important to me and I even remember his name (Ben Snow)

I always wanted to get the Sea Monkeys.

Many moons ago my monster-obsessed uncle gave me a comic book with this monster-filled Aurora models ad on the inside the back cover. For some reason it really blew my mind. I had a memory of it for many years but never saw it again until the internet happened.



~Penny~

WOW Penny where have you been? Have not seen you here in ages!

Communing with eldritch spirits (100 proof) of course! What else?

~Penny~

I think the one thing that drew us to these ads was our imagination as kids. As adults we just hopefully know better than to buy something from a comic book.

I knew as a 7 year they really weren't X-Ray glasses, but I had to have them just in case.

Next to the crappy toy soldiers I purchased, perhaps the most disappointing item were The Rookies TV Show Walkie-Talkies. On the ad they showed 2 kids talking to each other across a park. In reality they were two cheap plastic things connected by a string. Two soup cans and some thread would have worked better. There was no sympathy from my parents though!! They warned me.

Yeah, it's funny the way they'd prey on kids' imagination. I guess the BBB didn't take much of an interest in the fact that these people were misrepresenting crap since it was only kids that were being victimized and the money amounts were pretty small. Maybe they thought of it as a good way for kids to learn the valuable lesson that it it looks too good to be true, it probably is. While I was also burned by the toy soldiers, I was "lucky" enough to have almost never been able to indulge myself in purchasing any of these things. I didn't feel lucky at the time when I wasn't able to buy all this "awesome" stuff, but because of that, these things were able to live on as super cool toys and great deals in my imagination.




One of the other products advertised in comics that I DID actually get was Sea Monkeys. I put water in the little "aquaruim" and put in the "eggs". Before anything could happen my sister accidently knocked over the whole thing! I was devastated. My colony of those cute little sea monkeys was destroyed. It was hard to imagine those cute little critters from the comic book ads being dead. My sister felt bad too. But, wouldn't you know, in the inch or so of water that remained, a grand total of ONE sea monkey managed to survive and flourish. I felt almost as badly for him/her to have to be alone in the Sea Monkey world that he populated as I did for all the ones that never had a chance and lost their young lives on my floor.

Looks like you can still get Sea Monkeys today! Anyone who missed out on the experience, or who wants to let their kids get in on the classic fun, can now check out the neat stuff we used to see in comics online! Funny, but it doesn't seem like the site tells you anywhere that the sea monkeys are actually brine shrimp (or something to that effect). It's as blissfully cheerful as the old ads were--just a lot more interactive. Check it out!

http://www.sea-monkey.com/

I love the Sea Monkeys so much! Thanks for the link!

Ever see the Wacky Package for Sea Monkeys?

LOVE IT! Thanks for posting that! It rminds me of The Garbage Pail Kids!