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Gremlins Commercials?

X-E reader "Darren" wrote in with a copy/paste from a Gremlins fansite, wanting to have the statements validated -- here they be:

"In addition to the movie trailers there are two more tv commercials. The first one is the Gremlins cereal commercial. It's a short clip which shows Gizmo eating some cereal while a background voice says the typical slogan. The other one is a commercial against drugs. I don't know if this last one really exists, I read about it on a website a few time ago. It showed the old Mr. Wing telling Gizmo how bad drugs can be. Then some gremlins were shown smoking crack and after that, they died. Both commercials are very old (they are based on the first movie) and it's very hard to find more information about them."

Both commercials did exist, though not exactly as they're described here. The Gremlins Cereal commercial -- and you can expect a Gremlins Cereal tribute as soon as I find it, because I've got other materials waiting -- had a cartoon version Gizmo and a great theme song. It was cute, but I don't want to comment too much as memories are sketchy on it and I haven't seen it since childhood....hopefully soon again.

I remember the other commercial much better, and there's probably no other old ad out there I'm more on the hunt for -- save for, maybe, the Ninja Turtle Pies commercial. Anyway, the spot-in-question was kind of a PSA, using new footage of Mr. Wing and Gizmo talking about drunk driving and such and such, juxtaposed with movie clips of the Gremlins drinking at the bar Kate worked at, crashing cars, and basically looking cracked out and drunk. For whatever reason, the PSA made the Gremlins seem 1000x more frightening than they actually were in the film.

Posted by Matt on 02/22/2005. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 61 comments

oh man i remember that stuff….oh yeah first post

Chestnuts roasted by Scourge @ 02/22/2005 8:33 PM

Rrrr! That word ‘juxtaposed’ is used a million times a day in Time and Space class. I hate that word!

Chestnuts roasted by Kennef @ 02/22/2005 8:43 PM

Gremlins alwyas scared the piss out me, or at least made my head hurt trying to figure out the movies. So, if we really wanted to get rid of the gremlins, we would give them crack rocks?

Chestnuts roasted by Warx @ 02/22/2005 9:12 PM

oh wow! i totally remember the gremlins psa…that was a memory i didn’t even think i HAD! god, i love that about x-e. i get these waves of memories from my childhood that i don’t think would surface otherwise. thanks again matt!

Chestnuts roasted by annie_bea @ 02/22/2005 9:13 PM

your article about the gremlins colorforms brought me waaayyyyy back…I had it!

Chestnuts roasted by gerv @ 02/22/2005 9:14 PM

I remember the gist of the jingle from the Gremlins cereal commercial, though I’m a little hazy on a couple of words:

Gremlins! Gremlins!
Bite after bite!
What a (crazy?) way
To satisfy
A (hungry?) appetite!

Or was it a "growling appetite"?

Something like that.

Chestnuts roasted by Steve Brandon @ 02/22/2005 9:46 PM

Very close to that. I think it was "What a tasty way to satisfy a Gremlins appetite," but your guess is as good as mine. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 02/22/2005 9:48 PM

Checking the Internet, the consensus opinion (well, three sources and I had to use "cache" to see two of them) on the second adjective seems to be "Gremlins" (used as an adjective somehow), but one source says "crunchy" instead of "tasty" and, now that I think of it, "crunchy" kind of sounds more correct.

Chestnuts roasted by Steve Brandon @ 02/22/2005 9:57 PM

That PSA sounds pretty interesting, I wanna see it!

Chestnuts roasted by IHAQ @ 02/22/2005 10:47 PM

Ohhhh man, I wanna see that…

Why wasn’t a super deluxe special edition of the Gremlins DVD released last year on the 20th anniversary of the movie, with these commercials in the Special Features section? I didn’t buy the original because I was hoping for one, and I’m being just as foolish about The Goonies too…this is ITS year, it better get a special DVD.

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 02/23/2005 1:53 AM

I ate about a hundred boxes of Gremlins cereal. The movie terrified me and my parents dealt with the phobia by telling me that if I could eat Gremlins, they were obviously no threat to me. I used the same trick with my son a few weeks ago when I bought him shark fruit snacks to cure his fear of Finding Nemo.

I will anxiously wait for the Gremlins Cereal tribute, something I expect to see shortly after the whole Chia Pet endeavor comes to an end.

Chestnuts roasted by Shelby @ 02/23/2005 4:38 AM

Exciting stuff. I have no memory of those two but they sound like gems. I have a Gizmo figure in my classroom and a pencil bag that reads, "Want to feed my Gizmo?" It also has a warning about not feeding after midnight. Of course, one of my students said, "Ohhhh, those Ewoks were so cute." No respect for the Kingston Falls gang. Extra credit for the ROTJ reference anyway.

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 02/23/2005 5:50 AM

I totally remember the Gremlins PSA! I’m pretty sure it ended with Stripe all deformed and melted in the fountain.

Chestnuts roasted by Lou @ 02/23/2005 9:16 AM

I know! The gremlins had soooo much fun at Kate’s bar. It made me want to drink soooo baaaaaaaaaad! PSAs never had their desired effect. (Except that one about the track star and the dancer, e.g. I wanna be a dancer when I grow up, and suddenly the ballerina falls into the swimming pool…AND THERE’S NOOOOOO WAAAAATTER!!!!) e.g.

Chestnuts roasted by The Unstoppable @ 02/23/2005 9:28 AM

Yeah, you see a guy running and hear a kid’s voice say "I wanna be a track star when I grow up." Then a cop’s hand comes into the frame and grabs the back of his shirt and you hear "No one ever says I want to be a junkie when I grow up. Just say no." I remember those ones.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 02/23/2005 9:38 AM

I’ll never forget that Gremlins cereal jingle. You guys are right, it’s

Gremlins Gremlins
Bite after bite
What a tasty way to satisfy a Gremlin appetite.

That PSA was good too. I seem to recall the Miagi dude saying to Gizmo something like "awwwhhh, if drink alcohol and drive car, cause many dangerous crash." Cut to the evil Gremlins crashing a car and Gizmo making little yelping and whining noises after the clips.

Chestnuts roasted by Pedro @ 02/23/2005 11:29 AM

I remember the cereal commercial fairly well.It started out with a voiceover that went"Are you hungry? Hungry as a…….Gremlin"
It then went on to show a live action Gizmo,not unlike the one seen in the movie, gulping down a bowlful of the cereal while the jingle played.I was a Gremlins fanatic as a rugrat so this stuff is permanently burned into my brain.
There was also a third ad for the Hasbro plushie.It showed a kid playing with the thing,showing how to be a responsible Mogwai keeper ( holding an umbrella over it in the rain, eating a cookie in front of it while the clock strikes midnight ) with a jingle that went something like

I love to care for Gizmo cause he’s my favorite pet
I love to care for Gizmo and never get him wet.
Keep him out of the light
and never never feed him after midnight
I love to care for Gizmo,cause he’s a lovable pet

Strange that I can’t remember half the crap I learned in school but I can still remember 20 year old TV commercials.

Chestnuts roasted by robokin @ 02/23/2005 12:22 PM

You know, they never tell you when you can again begin to feed mogwais. At dawn? But they can’t go in the sun so that should have nothing to do with it.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 02/23/2005 12:49 PM

I always took it for granted that you could feed them at daybreak.But it is a good question.

I once fed one of my Gizmo Furbys after midnight and he didn’t turn into a monster and try to eat me.I was dissapointed.

Chestnuts roasted by robokin @ 02/23/2005 12:53 PM

Ok, I’ve been wondering this for a long time, did anyone else pretend to be a mogwai? I remember being in grade school with friends pretending to be them, I don’t remember why of course or how it started. I think it still explains a lot about me now though.

Chestnuts roasted by RAS @ 02/23/2005 1:36 PM

So this is probably a long shot since it’s so recent, but does anyone else remember a Furby-style Gizmo that came out about five or six years back? I remember seeing one, brought all that Gremlinny goodness back to haunt me. Never did pick it up, though I did get a Furby and skin it when it pestered me too much. Heheh.

Chestnuts roasted by onslaught86 @ 02/23/2005 2:13 PM

Aha, missed the reference up thar. In that case, should I go beat myself senseless with garden tools for passing it by?

Chestnuts roasted by onslaught86 @ 02/23/2005 2:15 PM

Yes, and while your at it, up your nose with a rubber hose. God it’s been a long time since I used that one.
By the way everyone, since reading the lyrics to that cereal jingle, I remember it vividly, and it has been running in a loop in my head all day long. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 02/23/2005 2:43 PM

I don’t remember these commercials too clearly (though I vaguely have memories of the anti-drug ad), but I DO remember the commerical for the stuffed Gizmo doll. The jingle went something like "Take care of Gizmo, ’cause he’s my favorite friend!" or something like that. I had a stuffed Gizmo that squeaked when you bounced him up and down or threw him against a wall.

Chestnuts roasted by Melissa Y. @ 02/23/2005 3:02 PM

Onslaught,not only do I remember the Gizmo Furby I have two sitting right by my keyboard as I type.One is still in the original box.I bought a bunch of them when Wal Mart put them on clearance.I have about six still in the boxes and three that I actually played with.I love those things.

Chestnuts roasted by robokin @ 02/23/2005 3:40 PM

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005 at 8:06 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.