Friday, June 1, 2012

Possibly the strangest commerical of the 1980s: Grace Jones for Honda Scooters




The 1980s had some very memorable advertising campaigns: Toyota's "Oh what a feeling!" Pepsi's "Choice of a New Generation," and of course, model, actress, singer Grace Jones shilling Honda scooters. Who could forget, right? I mean, that hair! That flip-up headlight! The shear oddity of the whole damn thing!

Why did I think of this? Well, a co-worker and I were just talking about '80s sci-fi and fantasy movies, when Conan The Destroyer came up (everyone's second favorite Conan movie). If you're a geek like me, you remember this movie. Then you remember that it cast Grace Jones as Zula (I did have to IMDB that one). Well, this made me think of the time when Honda decided to use Jones as a spokeswoman. Why I remember this, I have no idea, but I do.

To this day, it seems like an odd pairing. In fact, it's kind of creepy. Bonus points for one of the top five flat-top hairdos, though.

5 comments:

Ducati Scotty said...

A) I thought I was the moto guy.

B) You want weird? Why stop at one crazy 80's icon when you can have two?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi5zFQ9plxU

Andy Lilienthal said...

Scott, you're definitely the moto guy, but how can you resist the flip-up headlight on this beast? I had to post it.

And yes, your video link is equally odd. (Here's the clikcable version:)

Honda Scooters - Adam Ant & Grace Jones

Unknown said...

Grace Jones? Hah! The weirdest one was rocker Lou Reed on a scooter.

http://youtu.be/iK6y9_0gsEg

You say you want us to take a "walk on the wild side" on a Honda Scooter? Yeah, that sounds great, Lou. You go ride on ahead...I'll catch up to you later...

DEVO did a scooter ad, too, but that doesn't seem too strange because it fits their image.

Ducati Scotty said...

I think this is the topper:
Miles Davis

I don't know what's more ridiculous: Miles Davis hawking Honda scooters or those clothes he's wearing. God bless the 80s!

Scott

Andy Lilienthal said...

Wow, they had a full-blow oddball scooter campaign, didn't they? That must've cost Honda pretty penny considering the big names.