It's a Saturday morning some time in 1985 your all excited to catch up with He-man, the Autobots and G.I. Joe's but, Just as Cobra Commander's dastardly plan is about to succeed, they cut to a commercial and you see...
Two crash test dummies that make safety education fun? This has never happened before, usually seat belt safety public service announcements were dull and depressing but, now you had two cool new mascots that you could look forward to just as much as He-Man or Optimus Prime. Vince was the more seasoned half of the duo having been a Dummy for years, he was tired of being torn apart to teach about safety belts because he believed no one was paying attention. Larry was the rookie, always optimistic and always believing he was making a difference.
The commercial above is not actually from 1985 but, that was the first year they ran. Created by Jim Ferguson and Joel Machak for U.S Department of Transportation under the production of Leo Burnett. The original idea Ferguson had was that living dummies are hiding from the horrors inflicted on them, and are dragged out and forced to test the cars. Machak suggested a more lighter comedy approach. Ferguson wrote the commercials and Machack worked as creative director. Burnett hired Wanda Watkins to design the costumes and, hired William Dear to direct them.
Of course if your going to have an ad campaign that you want to catch on, you have to have great voice talent behind the characters. Comic legend Jack Burns who wrote many episodes of both Hee Haw and The Muppet Show was hired to voice Vince. Famed voice actor Lorenzo Music the voice of Garfield and Peter Vankmen in The real Ghostbusters was hired to voice Larry.
With everything else in play they needed a rememberable slogan and Jim Ferguson came up with the icing on the cake, "You Could Learn A Lot From A Dummy, Buckle Your Safety Belt."
The ads were an instant success. The early ones just focused on Vince and Larry in the crash test center crashing cars but as the commercials went on they would be put into different situations and places.They played hockey, hosted game shows, rapped, sang the blues and, even had an infomercial. These dummies really did do everything but, no matter what they were doing they were always teaching us the dangers of not buckling up.
With the success of the commercials it was not long before celebrity guest stars started to appear in them.There was a celebrity roast commercial that included many popular older comedians including Joan Rivers. There was a Commercial featuring Iron Maiden. There were a couple of commercials that had clips of the Andy Griffith show so that Vince and Larry were being pulled over by Barney Fife (Don Knotts). There was even one with Ray Charles. I would bet good money there were other celebrity guest star commercials but, finding information on these ads is almost impossible, trust me I have been researching for years.
Besides on t.v. Vince and Larry were everywhere, there were radio ads, news paper ad's, banners that hung in malls, billboards, they were printed on plastic grocery bags, they had t-shirts and, anything else you could think of, with not only the normal slogan but, any play on words they could come up with. They sure were very creative when it came to coming up with new slogans.
By the early 90's they had already become pop icons and in 1991 Tyco rolled out a toy line based on Vince and Larry. Vince and Larry, the Crash Dummies consisted of several vehicles and dummies. Most of the dummies in the line appeared in one of the commercials. The line included Vince, Larry, Daryl, Spare Tire, Skid The Kid and, Hubcat & Bumper, (A cat and a dog). The were two cars both coming with a free exclusive dummy. The red car featured in most commercials came with Dash and the blue version that was made up to be a student driver car that, was also seen in one of the commercials came with Axel. There was also two motocycles.
With the release of the toy line t.v. stations were less willing to air the commercials not wanting to promote the toys, that along with the fact that the toys were a chocking hazard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pulled the rights from Tyco. Tyco renamed the two main characters and changed there colors, dropped Vince and Larry's name out of the tittle and the line continued, becoming one of the best selling toy lines of 1992, spawning several video games and even one of the first computer generated cartoon pilots. Had the line not quickly declined in popularity in 1993, we would of seen a theatrical motion picture. even though there names got changed this line only did as well as it did due to it's tie with the popular commercials.
This toy line is how I came to love the dummies I may have been born the year the line was released but the fact that the figures were peg warmers at K.B Toys and Toys "R" Us for years insured I got most of the series. I may have never had a Vince or Larry to play with but I was still excited every time one of there commercials would pop up on t.v.
The entire campaign along with the characters Vince and Larry were retired in 1999, fourteen years after there first debut. They had a great run, they reached a kind of popularity that is almost unheard of for a series of commercials. Of course the campaign that replaced it was dull and depressing but, in there time Vince and Larry did make a difference. During their run seat belt usage went from only 14% to 79%. The dummies are acknowledged to have saved around 85,000 lives.
Considered historically important enough for Roger White an associate curator for the Smithsonian to hunt down the costumes and props used in the commercials and in 2010 Vince and Larry were officially conducted into the National Museum of American History collections so, that they will always be remembered for what they accomplished in there 14 years.
But does Vince and Larry really have to be just another relic in a museum? With so many 80's properties being rebooted today, is it time to bring them back? Seat Belt safety may not be a huge problem any more but, we do have lots of accidents due to texting. You can't tell me there isn't anything they can do with that. I mean if Jem and The Holograms can get a new movie in 2015, why can't we bring back Vince and Larry?
Do yourself a favor search out the old commercials, have a good laugh and remember,
"YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A DUMMY,
BUCKLE YOUR SAFETY BELT."
The commercial above is not actually from 1985 but, that was the first year they ran. Created by Jim Ferguson and Joel Machak for U.S Department of Transportation under the production of Leo Burnett. The original idea Ferguson had was that living dummies are hiding from the horrors inflicted on them, and are dragged out and forced to test the cars. Machak suggested a more lighter comedy approach. Ferguson wrote the commercials and Machack worked as creative director. Burnett hired Wanda Watkins to design the costumes and, hired William Dear to direct them.
Of course if your going to have an ad campaign that you want to catch on, you have to have great voice talent behind the characters. Comic legend Jack Burns who wrote many episodes of both Hee Haw and The Muppet Show was hired to voice Vince. Famed voice actor Lorenzo Music the voice of Garfield and Peter Vankmen in The real Ghostbusters was hired to voice Larry.
With everything else in play they needed a rememberable slogan and Jim Ferguson came up with the icing on the cake, "You Could Learn A Lot From A Dummy, Buckle Your Safety Belt."The ads were an instant success. The early ones just focused on Vince and Larry in the crash test center crashing cars but as the commercials went on they would be put into different situations and places.They played hockey, hosted game shows, rapped, sang the blues and, even had an infomercial. These dummies really did do everything but, no matter what they were doing they were always teaching us the dangers of not buckling up.
With the success of the commercials it was not long before celebrity guest stars started to appear in them.There was a celebrity roast commercial that included many popular older comedians including Joan Rivers. There was a Commercial featuring Iron Maiden. There were a couple of commercials that had clips of the Andy Griffith show so that Vince and Larry were being pulled over by Barney Fife (Don Knotts). There was even one with Ray Charles. I would bet good money there were other celebrity guest star commercials but, finding information on these ads is almost impossible, trust me I have been researching for years.
 |
| Vince and Larry in there Crash Car from Tyco's toy line released early 1991 |
With the release of the toy line t.v. stations were less willing to air the commercials not wanting to promote the toys, that along with the fact that the toys were a chocking hazard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pulled the rights from Tyco. Tyco renamed the two main characters and changed there colors, dropped Vince and Larry's name out of the tittle and the line continued, becoming one of the best selling toy lines of 1992, spawning several video games and even one of the first computer generated cartoon pilots. Had the line not quickly declined in popularity in 1993, we would of seen a theatrical motion picture. even though there names got changed this line only did as well as it did due to it's tie with the popular commercials.
This toy line is how I came to love the dummies I may have been born the year the line was released but the fact that the figures were peg warmers at K.B Toys and Toys "R" Us for years insured I got most of the series. I may have never had a Vince or Larry to play with but I was still excited every time one of there commercials would pop up on t.v.
 |
| Vince and Larry T-shirt |
Considered historically important enough for Roger White an associate curator for the Smithsonian to hunt down the costumes and props used in the commercials and in 2010 Vince and Larry were officially conducted into the National Museum of American History collections so, that they will always be remembered for what they accomplished in there 14 years.But does Vince and Larry really have to be just another relic in a museum? With so many 80's properties being rebooted today, is it time to bring them back? Seat Belt safety may not be a huge problem any more but, we do have lots of accidents due to texting. You can't tell me there isn't anything they can do with that. I mean if Jem and The Holograms can get a new movie in 2015, why can't we bring back Vince and Larry?
Do yourself a favor search out the old commercials, have a good laugh and remember,
"YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM A DUMMY,
BUCKLE YOUR SAFETY BELT."
I really appreciate your support on this.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing from you soon.
I’m happy to answer your questions, if you have any.
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Many thanks for your kind invitation. I’ll join you.
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Come to the party with me, please.
See you soon...
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