The thing I like the most about Lawson-Japan is its corporate philosophy (and I’m not making this up): “Happiness and harmony in our community.” That’s a lot to expect from a convenience store, isn’t it? But maybe the good folks at Lawson-Japan were inspired by this nugget of wisdom from Don Draper, the creative centerpiece of the show Mad Men: “Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you're doing is OK.”
Or, it's a banner in the office that reads, “Happiness and harmony in our community.” But enough with the corporate jibber-jabber. Let’s get right to the good stuff. Here's the mac-daddy of jingles, dramatically embellished in a TV commercial that seemed to run non-stop on Cleveland stations back in the early Seventies.
Is it true? Did they really make it up to Cleveland in 40 hours? Did one man really sleep while the other one drove? How fresh was that stuff? Or, as Draper might ask, does it really matter? It’s like he told the guys at American Tobacco: we can say whatever we want.
Maybe the more important question is, does it make you happy? I was with family and friends at a party a while back and we found ourselves reminiscing about the Big-O jingle. (Here’s another Draperism: “Nostalgia… It’s delicate, but potent.”) Before long, we were singing the whole damn thing at the top of our lungs – and of course, we knew every precious lyric.
Happiness and harmony, achieved.
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Article comments
1 - Ruvy
NU? Where's the jingle already? And why would someone from Brooklyn know from something made up in the pit of Flyoverland?
2 - Tim
Jingle's in the video on pg. 2... And I live in the cultural epicenter of Flyoverland, Akron.
3 - Ruvy
I gotta be honest, Tim. I thought you were talking about the Coca Cola jingle in this piece. EVERYBODY WORLD WIDE knew that jingle. I never heard of Lawson's Big O Orange Juice - ever.
Not even in Minnesota where I lived for 20 years!
4 - Tim
well, you know it now!
5 - Ruvy
well, you know it now!
And I've practically forgotten it already! When I got to YouTube, I played the final sign-off of Chet Huntley from NBC (and a brief but kind tribute from Walter Cronkite), the final sign-off of Eric Sevareid, from CBS News, the final sign-off of Douglas Edwards, also from CBS News, and finally, the last sign-off of Peter Jennings from ABC.
The last was the most painful - he didn't expect that sign-off to be his last. But it was....
I realize that this particular internet magazine originates from Columbus, OH - but Lawson's and its orange juice was a local brand. Of course, you can always watch this commercial, one I saw as a young man, and if you were alive (and sentient) in 1970, so did you.
6 - Art Rock
Truly, the Big O jingle remains forever synapsed somewhere in between Huckleberry Hound and Lawrence Welk. But for sheer economy, I want to be the guy who wrote "Na-BIS-co." Three syllables; better than a damn haiku. Probably the same guy who wrote: "Buy Men-nen." Bet he died rich.
7 - JR
I hadn't seen it before but Tim has made a good case that it is the world's greatest advertising jingle. I know we've all seen the Coke jingle, but it makes no extravagant claims. However, the Big O commercial boggles the mind. These two truck drivers drove that tanker of OJ all the way up from Florida without a stop. No one north of the Mason Dixon line had the equipment or the skill to juice oranges. This is either the farthest a company has ever gone to please the consumer, or an all-time great jingle to numb the senses. Unless someone writes to say they knew those truck drivers who actually paired up to drive the truck, I'm suspecting the latter. And the fact that it had Tim, the culture critic, singing along and memorizing the words, that gives it high marks in my book. I say show me a competitor or I rank it number 1.
8 - Tim
Kind of bummed me out when I discovered the two guys in the spot were actors
9 - Scott Stone
I vote Coke but it is an interesting story...