Obscure question for the old guys. Remember the tiger in the tank promotion?

[Richard Cranium]

 

[Richard Cranium]

 

[Richard Cranium]

 

[SteveSS]

The GTO thing with the tiger reminded me of all the Cougar commercials with the real cougars, feline, and females.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

View attachment 1235585

I had a couple of those.

 

[Cranky]

I bought my 66 Belvedere in 88 and was using Exxon gas at the time. After all, I worked for the company and had a credit card with 10% off on their products but when the Belvedere pinged on it, I reduce the timing thinking it needed a tune up. Nope. Then our Mitsu 2.0 turbo started dying at stop lights so tried a different brand of regular gas (Shell) in the Belvedere and it quit pinging......and same thing with the mid grade gas in the turbo car.....the Shell gas did the trick. They both ran better and no more dying out at lights with the turdbo car.

Wasn't long after that that we had a 'state of the onion' meeting at work. The company had recently launched a 'expect the best from us' campaign with the mechanical group and had a bunch of hype tied into it and we were commended on our work but at this meeting, the refinery manager commented that the refinery made good products......but wasn't the best on the market but not the worse either. Someone stood up and spoke out about how they expected us to be the best but the operations side wasn't expected to do that??? Half of the auditorium attendants got up and walked out. I cut up and canceled my card and haven't used Exxon gas since.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Didn't Pontiac get the GTO tied in with the Esso tiger thing in the mid 60's? I remember seeing ads in old magazines for the GeeTeeOhh Tiger, and they had like 66 or 67 GTOs with the tiger tails.

I am 99+% sure that the Esso and GTO tiger "mascot" was NOT a cooperative effort. I am certainly not aware of any ties between the 2 "tiger" marketing plans. I can't recall what led Pontiac to take the Tiger as their marketing tie in, but that was a strong campaign while it lasted.

 

[w.Hudson]

I remember like it was yesterday in the beginning of the gas shortage of the 70's gas prices jumped 20 cents over night.
At that time people bought gas by the gallon.
My Dad sent me in the store to pay for 5 gallons of gas. He gave me just enough cash to pay for it.
He wanted to know why the pump turned off early and he stormed into the store to ask. The clerk pointed out that gas price per gallon
is now 69 cents. It was 49 cents a gallon yesterday. My Dad had a meltdown and yelled at everyone in the store
" Just take it all ! Take all my money ! Just take it all !"
Not long after that gas prices sky rocketed.

 

[biomedtechguy]

The USA was a better place when those ads were made. Now unless there's a minority in the ad (they are STILL minority races in the USA, but it's not Caucasian..Yet...) or a mixed race couple, (ever notice the husband is usually black?) or LGBTQ+WTF etc, for "fear" some "protected class status" group may call out the spineless company who is advertising the product or service...if "they" aren't represented FAR many more times and at a % MUCH higher than their ethnic makeup of the country...
Tsk Tsk Tsk and SMH...
EDIT: I have been watching a new NBC sitcom called "American Auto" just to see if it's worth my time. So far, it's good enough to watch again. Anyway, the last show I watched was about this very topic, and the wringer they put themselves through to make "an inclusive" commercial was hilarious!

 

[sam dupont]

The attendants must have recognized the Motörhead in me. They gave me tons of promotional crap. I had a stack of these dollars (BTW, they didn't work in coin changer machines):

 

[68BabyBlue]

I remember a 1964 Saturday Evening Post cover heralding Madison Avenue's "Year of the Tiger." It covered a wide cross section of Corporate America at the time.

 

[440 4 speed]

The GTO thing with the tiger reminded me of all the Cougar commercials with the real cougars, feline, and females.

The cougar in the picture sure doesn’t look to meet the criteria for a cougar (40)?

 

[68BabyBlue]

The USA was a better place when those ads were made. Now unless there's a minority in the ad (they are STILL minority races in the USA, but it's not Caucasian..Yet...) or a mixed race couple, (ever notice the husband is usually black?) or LGBTQ+WTF etc, for "fear" some "protected class status" group may call out the spineless company who is advertising the product or service...if "they" aren't represented FAR many more times and at a % MUCH higher than their ethnic makeup of the country...
Tsk Tsk Tsk and SMH...
EDIT: I have been watching a new NBC sitcom called "American Auto" just to see if it's worth my time. So far, it's good enough to watch again. Anyway, the last show I watched was about this very topic, and the wringer they put themselves through to make "an inclusive" commercial was hilarious!

When those ads were made, I was still being harassed on a regular basis, for being an Asian American. Few ads featured people who looked like me, and never in a high status position. Today, the harassment has virtually disappeared (closest thing to it I've run into twice in the last decade was a jerk asking me where I was from, I answer "State College"). I still don't see many ads with people who look like me, in a high status position, the exception being the "Wall Street Journal." My own smug assessment - I think the media has figured most Asians are too smart to be pandered to.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

When those ads were made, I was still being harassed on a regular basis, for being an Asian American. Few ads featured people who looked like me, and never in a high status position. Today, the harassment has virtually disappeared (closest thing to it I've run into twice in the last decade was a jerk asking me where I was from, I answer "State College"). I still don't see many ads with people who look like me, in a high status position, the exception being the "Wall Street Journal." My own smug assessment - I think the media has figured most Asians are too smart to be pandered to.

I don't think you watched enough TV.

 

[Chrycoman]

Imperial Oil in Canada (subsidiary of Standard Oil) used the "Tiger in the tank" theme for 1965.

And the Canadian Plymouth Fury also used the tiger in the main brochure as well as other advertising.

By the way, no B Body cars were built or sold in Canada and the lowest priced 1965 C body Plymouth was the Savoy. Basically a Fury I with Savoy nameplates. Fury I appeared for 1966.

Bill Watson
Vancouver, BC

 

[towtruckAl]

Still have esso tiger tail from 66 or so , girlfriend of the day drove olds 98 she gave it to me , myself I used texaco hi test I think up here it was called sky chief , all my cars were big blocks .

 

[biomedtechguy]

When those ads were made, I was still being harassed on a regular basis, for being an Asian American. Few ads featured people who looked like me, and never in a high status position. Today, the harassment has virtually disappeared (closest thing to it I've run into twice in the last decade was a jerk asking me where I was from, I answer "State College"). I still don't see many ads with people who look like me, in a high status position, the exception being the "Wall Street Journal." My own smug assessment - I think the media has figured most Asians are too smart to be pandered to.

I was typing a reply, but I can't post it in the General Discussion forum. Let it suffice to say at least you didn't have a D) president subject you to internment.

 

[Cranky]

I was typing a reply, but I can't post it in the General Discussion forum. Let it suffice to say at least you didn't have a D) president subject you to internment.

I read your 'deleted' post and I agree with what you said!!! It was nuts back then and agree that it was looking like it was going to happen again.....

 

[Cranky]

I remember like it was yesterday in the beginning of the gas shortage of the 70's gas prices jumped 20 cents over night.
At that time people bought gas by the gallon.
My Dad sent me in the store to pay for 5 gallons of gas. He gave me just enough cash to pay for it.
He wanted to know why the pump turned off early and he stormed into the store to ask. The clerk pointed out that gas price per gallon
is now 69 cents. It was 49 cents a gallon yesterday. My Dad had a meltdown and yelled at everyone in the store
" Just take it all ! Take all my money ! Just take it all !"
Not long after that gas prices sky rocketed.

I remember that crap too. At the time I was driving a 70 Challenger and the gas fill was on the passenger side......and that was a problem where I didn't want to drag the hose over the car if I ended up on the right side of the pumps let alone the hose being long enough. Had words with one gas station attendant and ended up driving off....and just started riding my 350 Honda bike to work instead of messing with them with my car. Bikes could get gas on any day of the week so that made things easier unless it rained. Things really sucked back then....kinda like now with trying to buy groceries....

 

[Turboomni]

Mobil Oil public safety announcement 1966.