History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / Advertising

** Early ads were more subdued with the characters in an early design form talking to celebrities on how they eat their M&M's and asking which ones are their favorites. They also had a different dynamic between Red and Yellow.

* [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Ronald McDonald]] started off as some guy wearing a cardboard hat and a cup for his nose. Also, hamburgers came out of his "magic" tray. The Hamburglar was a thin old man with a ratlike face, the Grimace had four arms and a New York accent, and the Fry Kids were radically different.

* Early M&M's ads were more subdued with the characters in an early design form talking to celebrities on how they eat their M&M's and asking which ones are their favorites. They also had a different dynamic between Red and Yellow.

* The original Advertising/{{Geico}} Gecko commercials were all about the Gecko, voiced by Creator/KelseyGrammer with an upper-crust vaguely-British accent, complaining about mistaken identity with people calling him when they were looking for an insurance company. Now, the Gecko is Geico's primary mascot and speaks with a more working-class Australian accent.

* Men's Warehouse founder George Zimmer didn't even appear in the earliest commercials. Also, his delivery was much more enthusiastic compared to the deep, gravelly voice he's better known by. [[CatchPhrase I guarantee it.]]

** One of the first commercials that had Red and Yellow competing agents Blue had another Blue sidekick who never shows up in any other ads.

* An early 1990's Pop Tarts commercial depicted the [[AnimateInanimateObject toaster]] as a faceless, non-speaking toaster with a nicer personality. Later 90's commercials depect him as the JerkWithAHeartOfGold character we're used to.

%%* Cereal mascots started off with drastically different characters designs, personalities, and voice acting. Compare the earliest versions of Cap'n Crunch, the Trix Rabbit, Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, Buzz the Bee, and Lucky the Leprechaun.
* [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Ronald McDonald]] started off as some guy wearing a cardboard hat and a cup for his nose. Also, hamburgers came out of his "magic" tray. The Hamburglar was a thin old man with a ratlike face, the Grimace had four arms and a New York accent, and the Fry Kids were [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CemHjih0Kk straight up nightmare fuel]].

* The {{jingle}} for the Empire Today carpeting service ("800-588-2300, Empire! [Today!]") was originally just "588-2300, Empire!" Speaking of which, when they changed to their current phone number the "800" in the jingle was initially added in so hastily that it wasn't even the same pitch as the rest of the jingle at first.

* Cereal mascots started off with drastically different characters designs, personalities, and voice acting. Compare the earliest versions of Cap'n Crunch, the Trix Rabbit, Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, Buzz the Bee, and Lucky the Leprechaun. Then write about it on a wiki somewhere.
* [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Ronald McDonald]] started off as some guy wearing a cardboard hat and a cup for his nose. Also, hamburgers came out of his "magic" tray.
** Originally the Hamburglar was a thin old man with a ratlike face, the Grimace had four arms and a New York accent, and the Fry Kids were [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CemHjih0Kk straight up nightmare fuel]].

* The earlier commercials of The California Raisins were depicted as mostly all the same with no identity or names but sometimes wearing the same two clothes, Later appearances had them with different depictions, reduced number of members to 4 and a solid backstory with a family dynamic and more characters such as an agent, a rival band and music company, their mother and a female side group.

* The earlier commercials of The California Raisins were depicted as mostly all the same with no identity or names but sometimes wearing the same two cloths, Latter appearances had them with different depictions, reduced number of members to 4 and a solid backstory with a family dynamics and more characters such as an agent, a rival band and music company, their mother and a female side group.

* The first Advertising/HeadOn commercial didn't say the slogan "[=HeadOn=], apply directly to the forehead" three times. It was actually people discussing the product, ending with "Should I know about [=HeadOn=]?" Eventually they [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope had to stop claiming the product - basically wax - relieved headaches]] and so they took to the annoying but memorable ad that told you to apply it directly to your forehead, never promising that ''anything'' will happen if you do.

* In the Carfax commercials, the Carfox was originally a non-sentient hand puppet used by a dealer as a means of evading people demanding to "see the Carfax," with the dealer pretending to mishear. He then became a wire puppet (the same kind as the Muppets) and was now speaking on behalf of Carfax, and instead of a hand puppet, as well as sentient in-universe. This would become more Early Installment Weirdness as he would soon afterwards become 3-D CG.

* [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Ronald McDonald]] started off as some guy wearing a cardboard hat and a clown nose. Also, hamburgers came out of his torso.

* The first Advertising/HeadOn commercial didn't say the slogan "[=HeadOn=], apply directly to the forehead" three times. It was actually people discussing the product, ending with "Should I know about [=HeadOn=]?"

* In what is likely the first "[=McGruff=] the Crime Dog" PSA,[[note]]The one that reminds viewers to lock their doors.[[/note]] he sounds more like Jack Keil's[[note]]He provides [=McGruff=]'s voice[[/note]] normal voice, though at some points he sounds more like would in later [=PSAs=]. Additionally, he didn't introduce himself at first, which is justified since he originally didn't have a name until about two years later.

* [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds Ronald McDonald]] started off as some guy wearing a cardboard hat and a clown nose.