Note: Today Commercial Grade is introducing the "Retro Review," a look back at popular commercials from years past. Most "Retro Reviews" will be from the pre-DVR/Tivo era, when sitting through a commercial was nearly a necessity, as there was no fast-forwarding and we lacked the glut of channels that now allow us to simply switch to another show. The format will be the same as a regular review, and each "Retro Review" will be given a final grade.
Nostalgia has a way of making us feel better about the past, of tricking ourselves into thinking that "the good old days" truly were great. In the realm of television commercials, taking a trip down memory lane will show that even though the technology, products, styles, and prices are different now, commercials are about the same as they used to be - wildly hilarious at times and wholly infuriating at others.
In the early 1990s Rally's was a successful fast food empire. They boasted meals that were "fast, fast and cheap, cheap." In my experience those claims were true. This commercial, featuring actor Seth Green (before he became famous for such awesome roles as being the nasty looking friend in Airborne, playing Scott Evil in the Austin Powers movies, and doing a shitload of television and video game voice work) is meant to show Rally's value in comparison to other fast food chains.
As Green racks up the charges on the order we see the family scramble to find money to pay for the massive total. A couple of things confuse me at this point. First, after learning that the order was going to be $62.75 why didn't they just drive away? And is it possible that they truly had no idea how much it was going to cost to feed a family of four at Pricey's? Seems like reckless and ignorant parenting to me. Plus, imagine the letdown for the kids. They were probably really excited to get their hands on some Rally's fries, and I blame the parents for creating false hope for the kids.
Second, where the hell are the kids getting the money they're giving to dad to help cover the cost of the meal? They continuously scrounge money out of their pockets and the car seats. Also, going back to the terrible parenting thing, what kind of asshole parents would ask for money from the kids to pay for dinner anyway? The whole scenario is puzzling.
As for the star, Green plays a pretty good smarmy shithead (he's like a ginger David Spade, only without a hilarious fat guy to carry him through the first half of his career and a masterpiece like Joe Dirt to hang his hat on), and it's totally plausible that he would act like that if he were working at a fast food drive-thru in real life in 1992. "Cha-ching" became quite a popular catchphrase after this commercial came out, and I would guess it helped Green land higher profile roles and eventually become pretty successful.
Rally's would not experience the same long term fortune that Seth Green did. They merged with a very similar fast food chain called Checker's in 1999, and in 2006 went private. They closed many locations.
There is a Rally's about 15 minutes from my house, though, so I went and did some field research (read: overeating to the point of misery) yesterday to see how much a combo meal would cost 20 years after this notable ad spot. I was appalled (though no less hungry) to find that the same combo on the commercial is now $6.09, up from $1.97. A 300% increase? Are we sure they didn't merge with Pricey's? This pricing catastrophe did nothing to slow me down, and while I couldn't quite equal the $62.75 that the family ordered, I did rack up over $10 worth of delicious "Big Bufords" and fries. The commercial says "remember when you could feed your whole family fast food for less than 10 bucks?" To that I answer, no, and apparently I can't really feed myself for less than 10 bucks either.
Final Grade: B
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