The comment caught me by surprise. I was standing in front of one of those automated money machines, depositing a paycheck which was spent three years ago on one of my credit cards, when I saw this sharply-dressed guy out of the corner of my eye.
He sauntered my way, arms waving wildly, like an oversized pigeon trying to fly. And then he stopped, no more than five feet away from me, and stared into my face.
Then he glanced down at my feet, looked back into my stare, and proclaimed, proudly, those immortal words:
"NICE SHOES!"
And off he went, leaving me scratching my head, clueless as to the meaning of his exhibition.
Where he got this concept, of course, is from television. In particular, commercials. The reference to my shoes came from a Nike commercial, first aired last year, starring Bo Jackson. Never mind that I was wearing Reebok's at the time; that fact never came into play (obviously).
The "nice shoes" line has become one of many commercial-quipped bits which are an integral part of civilization. Nike is the uncontested, unofficial leader, thanks to sports gods Bo ("Bo knows shoe endorsements"), David Robinson (as in "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood"), and the tandem performance of Spike Lee and Air Jordan ("Doyaknow? Doyaknow?" and "It's gotta be the shoes!" are the two most prominent).
Of course, Nike is not alone in well-known commercial quotes. Bud Light hit the big time with its "Gimme a light" campaign a few years ago. Wendy's "Where's the beef?" spawned a billion imitations (not to mention sales; no, let's not mention them).
Furthermore, to be well-quoted, a comment does not even need to be an ad. "Read my lips." "A thousand points of light." "Mother of all wars." "Cowabunga, dude!" and "Go ahead, make my day" are some of the more obvious catch-phrases of late. But commercials use the same line on a continual basis, making them even more memorable.
Jingles are also making a comeback. These musical snippets were big in the 1970s and early 1980s, and include several all-time classics: the Oscar Mayer wiener song and "I'd like to buy the world a Coke."
Lately, jingle wars have been fought between soft drinks, which spawned Billy Joel's line a few years ago, "Rock 'n roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore!"
The biggest battle has been the diet drink duel between Diet Pepsi's Ray Charles and Diet Coke's team of Paula Abdul and Elton John. They're cute, catchy and make some people agree with Joel's line.
Of courser jingles were hardly new in the 1970s. One of my mom's favorite commercial memories dates back to the 1950s, when a majority of the ads were still on radio.
It was a Pepsi commercial which mom remembers the best. The sing-song plug went something like this: "Pepsi Cola hits the spot; twelve full ounces - that's a lot; twice as much for a nickel, too; Pepsi Cola is the drink for you." The ad would close with the singers spewing the word "nickel" quickly and repeatedly.
(In case you're wondering about part of that slogan, Pepsi was then sold in 12-ounce bottles for five cents, while Coke was, apparently, sold at the same cost but in six-ounce bottles.)
But the youth of the 1950s were as adept at remembering slogans then as today's youth. And, as is the case of today, my mom and her friends reworked the song, with a slightly different twist:
"Pepsi Cola is the drink; pour it down your kitchen sink; tastes like vinegar, looks like ink; Pepsi Cola is a stinking drink!"
I have no idea what they repeated at the end of the commercial. I am, however, quite positive it was not "NICE SHOES!"
This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.
