Baseball icon Yogi Berra passed away yesterady at 90. His fame went beyond baseball because of his philosophic, and often tautological, maxims known as "Yogi-isms" that became embedded in our culture.
His cultural relevance was so everlasting in part because of his decades of being a commercial pitchman.
While playing for the New York Yankees in the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared in commercials for Florida orange juice, Camel cigarettes, and Puss 'n' Boots cat food. But these were traditional ads that did not feature Yogi's signature wit.
Later, he sold Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks, Pringles potato chips, Kinney shoes, Stove Top stuffing and Aflac insurance.
But perhaps the ad the best captures the Yogi persona was the 1987 ad for Miller Lite beer, which incidentally, features a silent Jason Alexander – two years before the premiere of Seinfeld – mugging over Yogi's shoulder.
Yogi is identified as a "Famous Baseball Philosopher." Seated at a crowded bar, he begins, "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about Miller Lite. What a profound concept."
"It's got a third less calories than I probably thought it didn't even have. And it's less filling than it would have been if it was more filling than they didn't want it to be. Plus, it tastes as great as you expect if it had more calories than it didn't have in the first place. Think about that!"
They don't make 'em like that anymore.
His cultural relevance was so everlasting in part because of his decades of being a commercial pitchman.
While playing for the New York Yankees in the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared in commercials for Florida orange juice, Camel cigarettes, and Puss 'n' Boots cat food. But these were traditional ads that did not feature Yogi's signature wit.
Later, he sold Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks, Pringles potato chips, Kinney shoes, Stove Top stuffing and Aflac insurance.
But perhaps the ad the best captures the Yogi persona was the 1987 ad for Miller Lite beer, which incidentally, features a silent Jason Alexander – two years before the premiere of Seinfeld – mugging over Yogi's shoulder.
Yogi is identified as a "Famous Baseball Philosopher." Seated at a crowded bar, he begins, "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about Miller Lite. What a profound concept."
"It's got a third less calories than I probably thought it didn't even have. And it's less filling than it would have been if it was more filling than they didn't want it to be. Plus, it tastes as great as you expect if it had more calories than it didn't have in the first place. Think about that!"
They don't make 'em like that anymore.