Atari Commercials

Youtube features not only run-throughs of classic Atari games but also the commercials that shilled them. It's hard to know, 30 years on, just how effective these ads were - they just don't seem that persuasive. The ad makers struggle to define the appeal of video games and their niche in the world: are they for children or families? Should they alienate or connect? Do they simulate the experience of playing tennis or driving a car, or do they represent a past-time independent of external referents?

Many of the ads stress the companionship of playing a video game with someone else, as if it's merely a different kind of board game. This sickeningly family-friendly ad featuring Mr. Hooper of Sesame Street fame is indicative of that strain:


Atari 2600 Commercial
n.d.
:33

but a few, like this Quik crossover, hint at our otaku future.


Nestle Quik/Atari cross-promotion
1983
:32

This endearingly shouty spot featuring Phil Hartman contrasts strikingly with the flattening of affect we usually associate with playing video games:


Activision Ice Hockey promo featuring Phil Hartman
1980
:30

And a few are absolutely manic, like this assaultive Pole Position spot:


Pole Position Commercial
n.d.
1:31

The first video raises another issue: the graphics. The little boy patiently explains to his Pacman noob grandpa, "those are supposed to be the ghosts!" I would have expected the ads to downplay the games themselves - because, well, look at them - but all of the spots I watched prominently featured the actual game play, which leads me to believe that the graphics were enough of an advance to genuinely impress. This Laserblast promo amusingly asserts the superiority of its gameplay to another, seemingly indistinguishable, title.


Laserblast commercial
n.d.
:30

Although the ads aren't above a little jiggery pokery to make the games look more exciting, as in this actually pretty neat Tunnel Runner ad.


Tunnel Runner TV Spot
n.d.
:30

But the majority of them, apart from looking obviously dated, mostly seem uncool. They feature incongruously old characters, have problems with tone and message, and seem to lash around for an effective strategy, emphasizing just how new this whole video game thing was. If there's anyone who was in their target audience reading this, I'd love to hear just how the ads affected you. Here is the most hilariously awkward ad of all, not for Atari but for their blood rivals Intellivision, who engineered quite a coup by securing Henry Thomas and...George Plimpton??


Intellivision Commercial featuring Night Stalker and Lock N Chase
1982
:33


PS. Here are my favorite Atari legends:

1. There are thousands of cartridges of the Atari ET game buried in a pit in the California desert, like victims of a mafia hit. Having "played" the game, I entirely believe it. "Hm, so I'm wandering around in a circle. Wandering around in a circle. Game over?? Take this one out back and shoot it."

2. There was a game called "Polybius" which was test-marketed in the Portland OR area, which was actually a CIA experiment in amnesia and hypnosis. Those who played it still wake up screaming, and have difficulty doing much besides get stoned.
Sounds like every resident of Portland Oregon was privy to this game.