For those jaded among you who believe that product placement is ruining modern film and media clearly need to take a look back a few decades. We spotted this incredibly retro television commercial from 1970 for Fanta soft drinks. The fruit-flavored soda that traces its roots back to Nazi Germany (no really! Read here), is the second most popular brand of carbonated sugar water outside of its parent company’s mainstay and namesake, Coca-Cola.
Nevertheless, as according to the YouTube poster’s description, this TV commercial “aired in 1970 from Boston to San Diego. This is a fine example of product placement which costed nothing to Sea-Doo’s parent company, Bombardier Ltd. This was filmed near Key Biscayne, Florida.” French Canadian poster Jefrona states, “I was a Sea-Doo product manager at the time. We had a great time. This video is a piece of history and must be the only copy left.”
Catching wind of this video, a fellow YouTube poster, Mark Thacker wrote: “I was also the guy doing the stunts. You could glide across water only about 2-3 inches deep and not have a problem and also shut down the motor at full speed and beach it (as you see in the commercial), that was me also and the girl I was paired with. They were really fast as well. I couldn’t believe they weren’t instantly popular. Instead, the stand up version became a hit for many years. They finally got smart and went back to the original version. Now the stand ups are relics.”
While we don’t know how much of a “relic” the standups are today, we do get some enjoyment out of this old ad and seeing these original “Model 372” 1969 Sea-Doos (unlike the ’68 model, the ’69 featured a water cooled twin-cylinder engine). For more info on the early Sea-doos, check this site HERE:
