Time warpin' back to 1982... Remember Dunk, Crunch, Bixie, Brian and Brains?
"OK?!" squawks Brian, whilst Dunk glowers...
Brains and Bixie are horrified by a "titchy" breakfast...One of the fondest remembered TV ad campaigns of the 1980s has to be the Weetabix bovver... er... bix, railing against "tichy" breakfasts and telling us in no uncertain terms that you make it "neet wheat, mate!" Well, if you know what's good for you, you do...
These memorable characters, created by Trevor Beattie (now also known for fcuck, amongst other things), stomped into our lives via the "goggle box" (telly!) in March 1982, and the ads then swept through the rest of the 1980s, finally ceasing in November 1989.
I became aware of them when my little sister became a fan. When she was ill in 1984, I wrote to the "Weetabix gang" at Weetabix HQ for her, and the company sent her a huge package of Weetabix gang posters, felt tips, pictures to colour and other goodies - all free, gratis and for nothing.
It was a much appreciated act of kindness on the part of the company - my sister was quite seriously unwell at the time, and anything that brought a smile to her face was very welcome indeed.
And soon little sis was happily enrolled in the Weetabix Club!
"Computers are OK once you show them who's BOSS!" I never thought that computers would be a part of my life back in the 1980s - although the home computer era was beginning, I preferred Stella Artois and plenty of Nite Spots.
The ad on the right reflects the roller disco fad of the 1980s...
Crocodile Dunkdee... love it! And Choose Your Own Adventure books - popular with many 1980s children. Notice the kids fleeing from the dragon in the illustration are riding BMX bikes!
A word about the WeetOlympix stickers on the right... these have a copyright year of 1984, but this does not refer to the actual year of the stickers themselves - or perhaps they were issued twice! I have reason to remember that they were issued in the run-up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics simply because me and a group of friends, sharing a flat from 1987-1988, collected the stickers and stuck them to the inside of the food cupboard door. We had terrible trouble completing the collection - Bixie was simply not to be found for ages!
Two of the WeetOlympix stickers - Brains Throwing A Mile and Dunk Clearing The Stadium Wall.
More fun and games...
"Are you Robin Hood?" "No, I'm Robbin' your Breakfast!" Brilliant! And energy for BMX riding comes from a WBX start!Many thanks to Peter Gray's Cartoons And Comics blog for providing the comic ads!
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 2010. UPDATED MARCH 2013.
Posts
4 comments:
I think I had a bit of a crush on Bixie.
LOL! Well, she WAS rather lovely!
i loved the weetabix when i was younger.i collected all the stickers,empty boxes,freebies and was a member of the weetabix club.i recently bought somes cutouts of them and bixie,brains and brian soft toys from e bay!i remember having a breakfast set of them,a massive glow in the dark poster from the computer game they had,plus countless cut outs from boxes...i think i had a just do it t shirt with dunk on too!
I had one of the Weetabix gangs' tapes. I think it was Dunk's tape and it had The Jam's "Beat Surender" on it.
Post a Comment